Hitch Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Tarrant County, there's a piece of ground that remembers. It's called Hitch Cemetery, and to understand what it is, you've got to understand the man whose name it carries.

William Henry Hitch was born in Kentucky in 1818, and by the time his story finds its way to Texas, he'd already lived enough life to fill a novel. He came up through Tennessee first, and then in 1855, he loaded his family up and brought them here: to a large farm that would eventually carry his name into the next century and beyond. William Henry Hitch lived to 1893, long enough to see what he'd built take root.

But here's the thing about this cemetery that catches you quiet if you let it. The oldest grave belongs to Haden T. Hitch.

Born 1846, died 1858. Son of William H. and Esther Hitch. Twelve years old.

Some stories don't need dramatizing; they just need telling. And the Hitch family wasn't out here alone, either. William had a way of persuading people, apparently, because buried alongside the Hitch family are relatives from the Trigg family, the Liggett family, and the Martin family, all of whom had moved to Texas at the urging of William H.

Hitch himself. One man, one farm, and a whole constellation of families who followed his word out to this place. That cemetery stands today as a visible reminder of those early pioneers.

The roots go deep in Tarrant County. Hitch Cemetery is proof.

What the marker says

This cemetery was once part of a large farm owned by Kentucky native William Henry Hitch (1818-1893), who brought his family here from Tennessee in 1855. The oldest grave in the cemetery is that of Haden T. Hitch (1846-1858), son of William H. and Esther Hitch. Besides the graves of Hitch family members, the graveyard also contains the burials of relatives in the Trigg, Liggett, and Martin families, all of whom had moved to Texas at the urging of William H. Hitch. The Hitch Cemetery stands as a visible reminder of those early pioneers. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.