DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best by every word. Out here in Eastland County, the land holds its stories quietly — and this one goes back to a community that most folks have never heard of, a place once called Liberty Hill. Small, yes, but don't let that fool you.
Liberty Hill had a school, two churches, a general store, a drugstore, a blacksmith shop, and a cotton gin. That is a town with ambitions. That is a town that meant to stay.
And communities that mean to stay, they tend to do one thing before almost anything else. They set aside ground for the ones who go on ahead. In 1899, a man named Samuel B.
Webb — born in 1856 — and his wife Amanda J. Webb — born in 1869 — deeded the land that would become Liberty Cemetery. Whatever else Samuel and Amanda gave to Liberty Hill, they gave this: a place of permanence when everything else was still being built.
Now, the earliest dated graves in that cemetery tell a story that asks you to slow down and just sit with it for a moment. Those graves belong to a young woman named Viola Wood Holder, born in 1889, and her infant son. Viola was the Webbs' daughter-in-law.
She died in childbirth in 1907, and her baby boy did not survive either. There's nothing wry to say about that. There's nothing to dress up.
The ground received them both, and the years have remembered them as the beginning of this cemetery's record. After that, the generations came. Confederate soldiers rest here.
Veterans who served in World War I and World War II were brought home to this ground. Families who settled Eastland County, who worked it and shaped it and handed it down — they are here too. Liberty Hill, the community, may have quieted over the years, but Liberty Cemetery keeps on standing.
Samuel Webb himself, born 1856, died 1931. Amanda Webb, born 1869, died 1954. They outlasted much of what they helped build.
And in a way, they're still there — on land they once signed over so that this piece of Eastland County would never be forgotten. Some towns leave behind courthouses. Some leave behind legends.
Liberty Hill left behind its people, resting together on a hill that still carries the name.
What the marker says
Originally known as Liberty Hill, the small but thriving community that once stood near this site included a school, two churches, a general store, drugstore, blacksmith shop and a cotton gin. Land was deeded for a cemetery in 1899 by Samuel B. Webb (1856-1931) and wife, Amanda J. Webb (1869-1954). The earliest dated graves are those of their daughter-in-law, Viola Wood Holder (1889-1907), who died in childbirth, and her infant son who did not survive. Confederate soldiers and veterans of World Wars I and II are laid to rest here, along with generations of families who settled and developed this area of Eastland County. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2000