Long Creek Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's what this ground remembers. Long Creek Cemetery, Dallas County, Texas: and the story starts before there was much of anything here at all. Capt.

A. Webb was a veteran of the Black Hawk War in Illinois, and sometime in the mid-19th century he staked a homestead near this very spot as part of the Mercer Colony. Now, a man who'd seen that kind of conflict doesn't settle a place carelessly.

He puts down roots. He sends for people he trusts. And sure enough, his father-in-law came.

Benjamin Crownover (a veteran himself, of the War of 1812, no less) made the journey and brought his family with him. Two wars, two generations, one piece of Texas ground. Then the year 1855 arrived, and the land asked something of the people on it.

Crownover's daughter, Leona Caldwell, became the first soul laid to rest in this field, beneath a pecan tree. That is where it all begins. Not with a deed or a declaration, but with a loss, and a tree, and a piece of earth set quietly apart.

Capt. Webb understood what that meant. He later deeded a tract of land to area residents; land meant to hold a school, a church, and a public burial ground.

And the donation of W.H. Caldwell joined his, and together those two gifts formed the very center of the Long Creek community. That is the kind of generosity you don't measure in acres.

Over the generations that followed, this cemetery became a gathering of lives. Buried here are military veterans, ministers, teachers, members of the Masons, the Eastern Star, the Woodmen of the World. The stones themselves (and the landscaping around them) represent a broad spectrum of funereal practices stretching from the 19th century all the way to the present day.

Someone thought this place was worth preserving, and in 1910 an association was formed to maintain the burial ground. It's still at work. Long Creek Cemetery is a link, the marker says; a link to generations of area families.

And standing here beneath whatever sky Texas has decided to offer you today, it's hard to argue with that. Some links hold.

What the marker says

Capt. A. Webb, veteran of the Black Hawk War in Illinois, established a homestead near here as part of the Mercer Colony in the mid-19th century. He was joined later by father-in-law and War of 1812 veteran Benjamin Crownover and his family. In 1855, Crownover's daughter Leona Caldwell was the first laid to rest in this field beneath a pecan tree. Capt. Webb later deeded a tract of land to area residents as the site of a school, church and public burial ground. His donation and that of W.H. Caldwell formed the center of Long Creek community. The Long Creek Cemetery is a link to generations of area families. Burials include many military veterans, ministers, teachers and members of the Masons, Eastern Star and Woodmen of the World organizations. Stones and landscaping at the cemetery represent a broad spectrum of funereal practices from the 19th century to the present, and today, an association formed in 1910 maintains the burial ground. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2005