Mary Allen Oliver Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Mary Allen Oliver Cemetery in Bell County. Pull over if you can, because this one's worth your full attention. Now, Bell County has always been land that people worked hard to hold on to.

Settlement came early, following the creeks and rivers, and by 1860 most of the county had already been divided into farms. That pattern of working the land, and burying your people in it, is exactly what this story is about. In 1866, two brothers made their way to Washington County, Texas.

Franklin Allen, born in 1818, and his brother Cornelius L. Allen, known as C.L., were just getting started. Two years later, in 1868, they relocated to the Lampasas River in Bell County, and they farmed that land together.

They worked side by side until 1873. Around that time, something shifted. Franklin and his wife, Mary J., struck out on their own and established the farm that would eventually become known as Three Forks Farm, sitting right there in the Three Forks Community.

Franklin Allen farmed that land. He built something on it. And when he died in 1885, the ground he had worked claimed him first.

He became the first person buried in what would become the Mary Allen Oliver Cemetery. That's the kind of thing you don't plan, but somehow it fits. Mary didn't stay alone.

She remarried her neighbor, a man named Benjamin Franklin Oliver. And then in 1900, Mary and Benjamin did something deliberate and lasting. They paid to officially establish a cemetery for the Three Forks Community.

They wanted a proper place for their neighbors, a place that would hold the memory of this community for generations. That same year, 1900, Mary died. She was buried right next to Franklin, her first husband.

Benjamin Franklin Oliver followed her eventually, his death recorded as 1914. Over the years, over eighty residents of the area were laid to rest in that cemetery. The early headstones are primarily sandstone or marble.

The modern ones are granite. But it's the details that make this place something you'd remember. The cemetery holds above-ground crypts for both Mary Allen Oliver and Franklin Allen himself.

And on the headstone of World War I veteran Augustus Oliver, someone had the marine corps emblem engraved, one of the early versions of that emblem, right there in stone for anyone who cares to look. Then there is the grave of Albert Fisher Jones, born in 1915, died in 1984. His grave holds a bronze monument of a man in work clothes, carrying a shotgun, pointing toward the eastern sunrise.

Think about that image for a moment. A working man, facing the dawn, preserved in bronze. Somebody thought carefully about how to remember Albert Fisher Jones.

And that's really the whole of it, isn't it. Headstones marked with personal engravings, patriotic symbols, cultural decoration. Over eighty people who contributed to the area and to the country, remembered and buried together on land that two brothers first came to farm back in 1868.

The Three Forks Community put its history in the ground and marked it well. The Mary Allen Oliver Cemetery is still there to prove it.

What the marker says

Early settlement in Bell County began along creeks and rivers but by 1860 most of the county was divided into farms. The Mary Allen Oliver Cemetery is located on Three Forks Farm in the Three Forks Community. Franklin Allen (1818-1885) and his brother, Cornelius L. (C.L.) Allen, came to Washington County, Texas, in 1866 and relocated to the Lampasas River in Bell County in 1868. They farmed together until 1873. Around that time, Franklin and his wife, Mary J. (d. 1900), established the farm that became Three Forks Farm. When Franklin died in 1885, he was the first person to be buried in what would become Mary Allen Oliver Cemetery. Mary Allen remarried her neighbor, Benjamin Franklin Oliver (d. 1914). In 1900, Mary and Benjamin paid to officially establish a cemetery for the Three Forks Community. That same year, Mary died and was buried next to her first husband, Franklin. Over the years, over 80 residents of the area were laid to rest here. Early headstones in the cemetery are primarily sandstone or marble while modern headstones are granite. Unique features include above-ground crypts for Mary Allen Oliver and Franklin Allen and the engraving of an early marine corps emblem on the headstone of World War I veteran Augustus Oliver. The grave of Albert Fisher Jones (1915-1984) contains a bronze monument of a man in work clothes carrying a shotgun pointing to the eastern sunrise. Other graves and headstones are marked with personal, patriotic and cultural engravings and decoration. Many individuals who contributed to the area and the country are remembered and buried at this historic cemetery.