Liberty Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Erath County, the land has a way of holding onto its stories. And Liberty Cemetery is one of those places that holds tight.

It starts, as so many Texas stories do, with a family putting down roots. Marion D. and Harriet Pryor Kelley settled in the Liberty community in the mid-1880s. Now, settling in those days wasn't a gentle word.

It meant cutting something out of raw country and deciding to stay. The Kelleys stayed. And in 1891, they took it a step further.

They deeded land, their own land, to Erath County. Land for a cemetery and a school. Two things a community absolutely cannot do without.

But here's the thing about that cemetery. By the time the Kelleys made it official in 1891, the ground had already received its first. The oldest grave belongs to the infant son of W.H.

Handy and Hattie Finnell Handy, from 1890. Before the deed was even signed, before the paperwork was done, a child had already been laid to rest there. That's the kind of detail that stops you cold on a road trip.

The families that followed tell their own quiet chapters. The Dawdys. The Danners.

Two Civil War veterans rest there, John Bell Moring and A. Amariah Swanner, men who had already seen more history than most. And then there's Henry Hunt, a German immigrant, who found his final place in Erath County soil.

Walk among those gravestones and you'll find granite, sandstone, marble, and limestone, each one a choice somebody made. And some of those stones carry symbols: the square and compass of the Masons, the star of the Order of the Eastern Star, the distinctive markers of the Woodmen of the World. Fraternal orders that meant you weren't entirely alone, even out here on the Texas frontier.

The marker calls this cemetery a reminder of the perseverance of early settlers in Erath County. That's an understated way to put it. What this ground really holds is the full weight of people who came out here, built something, lost someone, and kept going anyway.

Liberty Cemetery is still here to prove they did.

What the marker says

LIBERTY CEMETERY MARION D. AND HARRIET PRYOR KELLEY SETTLED IN THE LIBERTY COMMUNITY IN THE MID-1880s. IN 1891, THEY DEEDED LAND FOR A CEMETERY AND SCHOOL TO ERATH COUNTY. THE OLDEST GRAVE IS THAT OF THE INFANT SON OF W.H. HANDY AND HATTIE FINNELL HANDY IN 1890. OTHER BURIALS INCLUDE THE FAMILIES OF J.S. DAWDY, JOHN M. DANNER, CIVIL WAR VETERANS JOHN BELL MORING AND A. AMARIAH SWANNER, AND GERMAN IMMIGRANT HENRY HUNT. GRAVESTONE MATERIALS INCLUDE GRANITE, SANDSTONE, MARBLE AND LIMESTONE, AND SOME INDICATE MEMBERS OF THE MASONS, ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR AND WOODMEN OF THE WORLD. THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY IS A REMINDER OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF EARLY SETTLERS IN ERATH COUNTY. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY - 2010