Markley Cemetery Decoration Day

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker at Markley Cemetery Decoration Day tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Now, every good story has a beginning, and this one starts in 1881 — out in Young County, Texas, where the first person laid to rest in what would become Markley Cemetery was a man named M. C.

Norfleet. The ground he was buried in sat right next to the old Plum Grove School. Quiet place.

Fitting, maybe. But here's the thing about quiet places — they can get a little too quiet. By 1890, that burial ground had fallen to neglect.

And if you've ever seen a cemetery left to the mercy of a Texas summer, you know what that means. Weeds, bramble, the slow erasure of names and dates from the memories of the living. Now, some folks might've let it go.

But not these men. A group from the surrounding rural community got together and decided they weren't going to stand for it. J.

C. Calvin. J.

W. Cox. R.

E. Currie. S.

G. Dean. Nelson Owen.

M. A. Stewart.

Andy and Ike Tinney. J. M.

Wallace. And W. M.

Watson. You want to talk about a committee with backbone, there it is. They organized what they called an annual Graveyard Working Day, to be held on the first Saturday in May.

Every single year. No exceptions. In those early years, people came by wagon and horseback.

Some of them camped overnight just to be there. And when the cleaning work was done — when the grass was cleared and the ground put right — they replaced bouquets of wildflowers on the graves. Now that detail right there, that's not ceremony for ceremony's sake.

That's a community saying: we remember you, and we'll keep on remembering. Around 1900, the settlement itself got a name: Markley. Named in honor of A.

C. Markley, an area landowner who had served in the frontier army during the Indian wars. By then, this little community had its own identity, its own traditions, its own dead to tend.

In 1925, they shifted the observation from the first Saturday in May to the first Sunday in May. Small change, same commitment. Now, a perpetual care program has since been initiated, but here's what the marker wants you to know — the decoration ceremonies have persisted anyway.

Every year. Because some things aren't about maintenance. They're about showing up.

Among the graves decorated each year are those of thirteen Confederate veterans of the Civil War: John F. Bussey, J. C.

Butler, Jessie Byrd, R. E. Currie, George J.

Lucas, J. D. Mankins, J.

L. McDaniel, J. L.

Norfleet, Nelson Owen, J. C. Stanley, James Stinnett, Cates Thompson, and David White.

Thirteen names. Thirteen graves. And every first Sunday in May, somebody shows up with wildflowers.

That, friend, is what community cohesiveness looks like when it's got more than a hundred years of practice behind it.

What the marker says

Cemetery was begun in 1881, with interment of M. C. Norfleet, adjacent to the old Plum Grove School. By 1890, the burial ground had fallen to neglect. A group of men from the surrounding rural community, including J. C. Calvin, J. W. Cox, R. E. Currie, S. G. Dean, Nelson Owen, M. A. Stewart, Andy and Ike Tinney, J. M. Wallace, and W. M. Watson, organized an annual "Graveyard Working Day", to be held on the first Saturday in May. In the early years, people came by wagon and horseback, some camping overnight. After the cleaning work had been completed bouquets of wildflowers were replaced on the graves. About 1900, the settlement was named "Markley", in honor of A. C. Markley, an area landowner who had served in the frontier army during the Indian wars. In 1925, the observation was changed to the first Sunday in May. Although a perpetual care program has been initiated, decoration ceremonies have persisted as an annual social event, preserving a heritage of community cohesiveness and participation. Among the grave decorated each year are those of thirteen Confederate veterans of the Civil War: John F. Bussey, J. C. Butler, Jessie Byrd, R. E. Currie, George J. Lucas, J. D. Mankins, J. L. McDaniel, J. L. Norfleet, Nelson Owen, J.C. Stanley, James Stinnett, Cates Thompson, and David White.