Hughey Chapel Cemetery

Duane's take

This one comes straight from the official marker, and I'm just the one bringin' it to you on the road. Out here in Grimes County, there's a place called Hughey Chapel Cemetery, and its story starts the way a lot of good Texas stories start. A family, a piece of land, and the quiet, stubborn business of putting down roots.

By 1859, the family of Jefferson Edmond Hughey had settled in this area, staking their claim on a 260-acre homestead. Now, 260 acres isn't a small thing. That's not a garden plot.

That's a commitment. That's a declaration. We are here, and we intend to stay.

And stay they did. The Hugheys built a chapel on that property, one that did double duty for the surrounding families as a schoolhouse. One building, two purposes.

That's the kind of practical thinking that built this state. Then there are the graves. Family members established a cemetery at this site, and the earliest marked burial belongs to Mary Ann Garmany Boozer, Jefferson Edmond Hughey's own mother-in-law.

Her marker dates to 1876. Among the other graves, you'll find Confederate veterans, men whose lives were tangled up in some of the most convulsive years this country ever knew. The property stayed in the Hughey family until 1989.

That is a long stewardship. Generation after generation, tending the same land, the same chapel, the same burial ground where their people lay. Today, that cemetery still stands.

Still connects anyone willin' to look to the early settlers of this corner of Grimes County. Some places hold their history quiet, patient, right there in the ground.

What the marker says

The family of Jefferson Edmond Hughey lived in this area by 1859, settling on a 260-acre homestead. Family members established a cemetery at this site, where the earliest marked burial, that of Mary Ann Garmany Boozer, Hughey's mother-in-law, dates to 1876. In the vicinity of the burial ground, the Hugheys built a chapel that also served area families as a schoolhouse. The property remained in the Hughey family until 1989. Today, the burial ground, which includes graves of Confederate veterans, remains a link to the area's early settlers. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004