Liberty Grove Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Liberty Grove Cemetery, out in the northeastern corner of McLennan County. Now, some places leave a big footprint on the map. Liberty Grove was not one of those places, and that is exactly what makes it worth knowin about.

It was a loose-knit farming community, the marker says, tucked into the extreme northeastern corner of McLennan County. Scattered. Spread out.

The kind of settlement where your nearest neighbor might be a hard ride away. But at the center of it all, two things marked the community as something real: a Masonic lodge and a school. As long as you've got those two, you've got a town, even if the town doesn't quite know it yet.

The cemetery sits right on the county line road, the one that divides McLennan and Hill counties. Straddling two counties even in death. That is Liberty Grove for you.

The first marked grave belongs to Mary Burton, who died in 1850. Before the lodge was chartered, before the school district was drawn, before the railroad changed everything, Mary Burton was laid to rest on that ground. There is something to that.

Soldiers found their way here, too. W. M.

Holland, a veteran of both the U.S.-Mexico War and the Civil War, is buried here, having died in 1907. And then there is a story within the story. C.

T. Tinsley, his father-in-law James T. Russell, and his brother-in-law Henry Russell, all Confederate veterans, all three of them, died on the very same day: March 23, 1862.

And all three were buried at this cemetery. The marker doesn't say more than that, and it doesn't need to. After several members of the family were laid in that ground, C.

T. Russell made it official. In 1883, he donated the first portion of the cemetery to three trustees: W.

H. Westmoreland, B. H.

Young, and C. M. Adams.

Then in 1910, A. W. Russell expanded the site by conveying additional acreage to the Liberty Grove Cemetery Association, which had already been established by that point.

The association continues to oversee the cemetery's operations to this day. The community around it had its own quiet milestones. Liberty Grove Masonic Lodge No. 475 was chartered in December of 1877.

The Liberty Grove School District was created in January of 1884. Things were taking shape. But the ground shifted in 1881, and not in a way you could do much about.

That year, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad came through the neighboring town of West. A railroad line is a powerful argument for where a person ought to live, and many people found that argument persuasive. Population drifted toward the rail line.

The Masonic Lodge was moved to West in 1893. The Liberty Grove School was consolidated with the West School in the 1940s. The community, piece by piece, followed the iron rails away from the place that had gathered it.

What stayed behind is the cemetery. Still there on the county line road, still tended by the association, still holding Mary Burton and the Holland family and three Confederate veterans who all left this world on the same March day. The marker calls it a reminder of the many rural farm settlements of early Texas.

That's putting it plain and true. Liberty Grove was never going to be on every map. But the ground it kept is still there, and that ground remembers.

What the marker says

LIBERTY GROVE WAS A LOOSE-KNIT FARMING COMMUNITY LOCATED IN THE EXTREME NORTHEASTERN CORNER OF McLENNAN COUNTY. IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY, A MASONIC LODGE AND SCHOOL MARKED THE CENTER OF THE SCATTERED SETTLEMENT. LIBERTY GROVE CEMETERY IS LOCATED ON THE COUNTY LINE ROAD THAT DIVIDES McLENNAN AND HILL COUNTIES. THE FIRST MARKED GRAVE AT THE BURIAL SITE IS THAT OF MARY BURTON, WHO DIED IN 1850. U. S. - MEXICO WAR AND CIVIL WAR VETERAN W.M. HOLLAND (d. 1907) IS ALSO BURIED HERE. C.T. TINSLEY, HIS FATHER-IN-LAW JAMES T. RUSSELL, AND BROTHER-IN-LAW HENRY RUSSELL, WHO WERE ALL CONFEDERATE VETERANS, DIED ON MARCH 23, 1862, AND WERE BURIED AT THE CEMETERY. AFTER SEVERAL MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY WERE BURIED AT THE SITE, C.T. RUSSELL OFFICIALLY DONATED THE FIRST PORTION OF THE CEMETERY IN 1883 TO TRUSTEES W.H. WESTMORELAND, B.H. YOUNG AND C.M. ADAMS. A.W. RUSSELL EXPANDED THE SITE IN 1910 BY CONVEYING ADDITIONAL ACREAGE TO THE LIBERTY GROVE CEMETERY ASSOCIATION, WHICH HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED PRIOR TO THAT DATE. THE ASSOCIATION CONTINUES TO OVERSEE THE CEMETERY’S OPERATIONS. LIBERTY GROVE MASONIC LODGE NO. 475 WAS CHARTERED IN DECEMBER 1877, AND THE LIBERTY GROVE SCHOOL DISTRICT WAS CREATED IN JANUARY 1884. THE 1881 CONSTRUCTION OF THE MISSOURI, KANSAS AND TEXAS RAILROAD THROUGH THE NEIGHBORING TOWN OF WEST CAUSED A SHIFT IN THE AREA POPULATION, AND MANY CHOSE TO RELOCATE CLOSER TO THE RAIL LINE. THE MASONIC LODGE WAS MOVED TO WEST IN 1893, AND THE LIBERTY GROVE SCHOOL WAS CONSOLIDATED WITH THE WEST SCHOOL IN THE 1940s. TODAY, LIBERTY GROVE CEMETERY SERVES AS A REMINDER OF THE MANY RURAL FARM SETTLEMENTS OF EARLY TEXAS.