Isaac Low Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Deep in Sabine County, there's a piece of ground that holds more history than its quiet looks let on — and the marker calls it the Isaac Low Cemetery. Let's start at the beginning, which in this case means a man named Isaac Low, born in 1781, a veteran of the War of 1812 who came rolling out of Tennessee and landed in this part of East Texas in 1828.

Now that's already a life well-lived before he even crossed the Sabine. But Isaac wasn't done. When the Texas Revolution came calling, he was operating a nearby ferry across the Sabine River — and he put that ferry to work helping settlers flee from the advancing Mexican army.

You think about that for a moment. Families desperate, scared, everything uncertain, and there's Isaac Low, poling that ferry back and forth across the water, getting folks to the other side. After the Revolution, he settled into civic life and served as a commissioner for Sabine County.

He lived until 1853. And that cemetery that bears his name? He didn't actually give the land for it.

That was his son Jesse. Jesse Low, born in 1812, died in 1848, holds the distinction of having the earliest marked grave at the site. He donated this ground, and then became one of its first residents.

Also resting here is Reddick Pitt Sibley, who carried the rank of captain during the Civil War, a man whose story the marker leaves largely to the imagination. And then there's Eli Low. Eli's marker entry is brief and it is brutal — his murder in 1883 ignited a three-year feud in the surrounding area.

Three years of hard feeling and whatever came with it, all traceable back to one act of violence on this quiet Sabine County land. That's the thing about a cemetery. It keeps the names, the dates, the bare facts.

What happened between those years, between those names — that's what you carry with you down the road.

What the marker says

A veteran of the War of 1812, Isaac Low (1781-1853) migrated to this area from Tennessee in 1828. During the Texas Revolution he operated a nearby ferry across the Sabine River to aid settlers fleeing from the advancing Mexican army. He later served as a commissioner for Sabine County. His son Jesse Low (1812-1848), whose grave is the earliest marked at this site, donated the land for use as a cemetery. Also buried here are Reddick Pitt Sibley, a captain during the Civil War, and Eli Low, whose 1883 murder resulted in a three-year feud in the surrounding area.