Holly Springs Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out in Van Zandt County, not far from a little place called Martin's Mill, there's a cemetery that's been quietly collecting history since before the Civil War was even a memory. The story starts in 1860, when a man named Robert K.

Gibbs donated three acres of land near this very site for the establishment of Holly Springs Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Three acres. Enough to build a community on.

And that's exactly what happened. Then three years later, right in the middle of the Civil War, right at the height of it, W. E. and Cornelia J.

Roberts stepped forward and deeded approximately three additional acres. Not to build a church. To create a burial ground.

A place where a community at war with itself could still lay its own to rest with some dignity. The site has grown since then, enlarged over the years through later land acquisitions, but those first few acres are where the story roots itself. Now, the first person recorded as interred here was Susan M.

Hanks, who died in 1863. Wife of Hansford Hanks. She came first.

But here's where things get interesting, and cemeteries will do this to you if you let them. Two tombstones in this ground bear earlier dates. James W.

Gray, died 1850. Sarah C. Gray, died 1856.

You'd think that makes them the oldest graves here. And in a way, it does. But those grave sites were among those reinterred from the Ephriam Gray Graveyard, moved here in 1968.

That original Pioneer Gray Cemetery had been sitting 2.5 miles northwest of Martin's Mill. The stones are older. The ground they rest in now is not where they started.

Holly Springs Cemetery has served the residents of Martin's Mill, which sits 1.7 miles southwest, and the surrounding rural communities for over a century. Pioneer area settlers, church and community leaders, military veterans. All of them here.

The cemetery is still in use today, still doing the quiet work it was built to do, still standing as a reminder of the area's rich heritage. Some places earn their keep just by enduring. This is one of them.

What the marker says

In 1860, Robert K. Gibbs donated three acres of land near this site for the establishment of Holly Springs Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Three years later, during the height of the Civil War, W. E. and Comelia J. Roberts deeded approximately three additional acres to create this community burial ground. The site has been enlarged over the years through later land acquisitions. The first person interred here was Susan M. Hanks (d.1863), wife of Hansford Hanks. Two tombstones, those of James W. Gray (d.1850) and Sarah C. Gray (d.1856), bear earlier death dates, but the grave sites were among those reinterred from the Ephriam Gray Graveyard in 1968. The Pioneer Gray Cemetery was originally located 2.5 miles northwest of Martin's Mill. The Holly Springs Cemetery has served residents of Martin's Mill (1.7 miles southwest) and surrounding rural communities for over a century. Individuals interred here include pioneer area settlers, church and community leaders, and military veterans. Still used, the historic cemetery serves as a reminder of the area's rich heritage. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986