Lilac Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Milam County, there's a cemetery that's been quietly keeping watch over the land since before most folks alive today drew their first breath. It's called Lilac Cemetery, and its story starts with a doctor named John Herndon Graves.

Born in 1807, Dr. Graves and his family pulled up roots and settled in this area in 1858. Over time, they acquired several large tracts of land out here, the kind of holdings that take patience and intention to build.

Then came 1880. That year, Dr. Graves' daughter and her husband deeded the land around this very site for Lilac Baptist Church, and from the start, it was intended to serve as a cemetery as well.

The ground was meant to hold the living and the remembered both. Somewhere along the way, according to oral history, another area resident deeded a strip of land across the south end of the cemetery, stretching the place out just a little further, like the community itself was reaching its arms wider. The earliest marked grave here belongs to Calvin McCormick, who died in 1870.

And if you look at Dr. John H. Graves' own marker, it tells you he was the earliest-born of all those interred on this ground.

He came into the world in 1807, and when he left it in 1889, this land he'd helped shape was already keeping his neighbors. Four veterans of the Civil War rest here. One veteran of the Spanish-American War.

Nine veterans of World War I. And a number of others who served in wars and conflicts beyond those. Lilac Cemetery doesn't just hold the dead.

It holds Milam County's story, chapter by chapter, name by name, going all the way back to when the ground was first set aside for exactly that purpose.

What the marker says

Dr. John Herndon Graves (1807-1889) and his family settled in this area in 1858. They acquired several large tracts of land over time, and Dr. Graves' daughter and her husband deeded the land around this site for Lilac Baptist Church in 1880. It was intended for use as a cemetery as well. According to oral history, another area resident subsequently deeded a strip of land across the south end of the cemetery. The earliest marked grave on this site is that of Calvin McCormick (d. 1870). Dr. John H. Graves' marker indicates that he was the earliest-born of those interred here. Other burials of interest include four Civil War veterans, one Spanish-American War veteran, nine veterans of World War I and a number of veterans of other wars and conflicts. Lilac Cemetery continues as a chronicle of Milam County history. (2000)