Marystown Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker for Marystown Cemetery in Johnson County, let me tell you what it says, the way it deserves to be told. Now, if you were rollin' through Johnson County, Texas, back in the 1850s, and you came upon Quil Miller Creek with its springs runnin' almost year-round and beautiful trees standing tall all around you, well, you might just decide you'd found the place. And families did exactly that.

They settled in, they put down roots, and they started building something. One of the earliest of those settlers was a Cumberland Presbyterian minister by the name of J. S.

Wilshire. By 1853, he was out there farming with his wife and seven children. A preacher, a farmer, and a father of seven.

That's a full life any way you count it. Then in 1869, a man named Thomas W. Hollingsworth opened a mill and a large mercantile store.

The town that grew up around all of this was named Marysville, for his wife, Mary, who happened to be the community's first schoolteacher, teaching right there in her own home, just west of what would become the cemetery. Now Texas, being Texas, already had a Marysville somewhere else. So when a post office started operating in 1874, the name on the door read Marystown.

It operated under that name all the way until 1901. Of that whole community, the mill, the store, the school in Mary Hollingsworth's home, only two things remain today. The Baptist Church.

And the cemetery. Marystown Cemetery covers more than two acres, sitting on the 1859 survey of Isaac A. Jackson.

Around 1860, Jackson set aside that land for use as a cemetery when he buried a family member there, a family member whose grave is now unknown. Think on that a moment. The man who gave the land for the burial ground, his own kin resting somewhere beneath it, the exact spot lost to time.

The oldest marked grave belongs to Martha Jane Ware, born Ledbetter, who died on March 13, 1864. And then there's this, about fifteen of the burials in that cemetery are diphtheria victims from a passing wagon train. A wagon train, rolling through in the 1870s, leaving its dead behind in the red Johnson County soil.

Fifteen souls who set out going somewhere and never got there. Among the pioneer settlers buried here are Isaac and Fannie Jackson, Thomas and Mary Hollingsworth, and Robert and William Billingsley, and those last two names carry some weight, because Robert and William Billingsley were two of the signers of the 1854 petition to create Johnson County itself. The county you're driving through right now?

These men helped bring it into being. Many veterans of U.S. military conflicts dating back to the Civil War are interred here as well. Several headstones show fraternal associations, the Woodmen of the World, the Masons, organizations that meant something to the men and families who lived and died in this place.

The cemetery's character is traditional. You enter through a historic wrought iron arch gate. Family plots are mostly curbed or fenced.

The general landscape has been kept as it has always been. In 1987, the Marystown Cemetery Association formed to provide maintenance and oversight of this historic burial ground, because someone decided these graves, and the record they carry of area families and a pioneer rural community, were worth tending. Marystown the town is mostly gone.

But out there past that wrought iron gate, among the trees near Quil Miller Creek, the people who built it are still keeping company with each other. And that, in its own quiet way, is something.

What the marker says

MARYSTOWN CEMETERY FAMILIES MOVED TO THIS AREA IN THE 1850s, SETTLING AMONG THE BEAUTIFUL TREES SURROUNDING QUIL MILLER CREEK AND ITS SPRINGS WHICH RAN ALMOST YEAR-ROUND. ONE OF THE EARLIEST SETTLERS, CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER J. S. WILSHIRE, FARMED WITH HIS WIFE AND SEVEN CHILDREN BY 1853. IN 1869, THOMAS W. HOLLINGSWORTH OPENED A MILL AND A LARGE MERCANTILE STORE. THE TOWN WAS NAMED MARYSVILLE FOR HIS WIFE, MARY, THE COMMUNITY’S FIRST SCHOOLTEACHER, WHO TAUGHT IN HER HOME JUST WEST OF THE CEMETERY. A POST OFFICE OPERATED FROM 1874-1901 WITH THE NAME OF MARYSTOWN, SINCE TEXAS ALREADY HAD A MARYSVILLE. ONLY THE BAPTIST CHURCH AND CEMETERY REMAIN FROM THE HISTORIC SETTLEMENT. MARYSTOWN CEMETERY COVERS MORE THAN TWO ACRES OF THE 1859 SURVEY OF ISAAC A. JACKSON. ABOUT 1860, HE SET ASIDE THE LAND FOR USE AS A CEMETERY WHEN HE BURIED A FAMILY MEMBER WHOSE GRAVE IS NOW UNKNOWN. THE OLDEST MARKED GRAVE IS FOR MARTHA JANE (LEDBETTER) WARE, WHO DIED ON MARCH 13, 1864. ABOUT 15 BURIALS ARE DIPHTHERIA VICTIMS FROM A PASSING 1870s WAGON TRAIN. PIONEER SETTLERS BURIED HERE INCLUDE ISAAC AND FANNIE JACKSON, THOMAS AND MARY HOLLINGSWORTH, AND ROBERT AND WILLIAM BILLINGSLEY, TWO SIGNERS OF THE 1854 PETITION TO CREATE JOHNSON COUNTY. MANY VETERANS OF U.S. MILITARY CONFLICTS DATING TO THE CIVIL WAR ARE INTERRED HERE. SEVERAL HEADSTONES DEPICT FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS INCLUDING WOODMEN OF THE WORLD AND MASONS. THE GENERAL LANDSCAPE IS TRADITIONAL IN NATURE. ENTRANCE IS THROUGH A HISTORIC WROUGHT IRON ARCH GATE. FAMILY PLOTS ARE MOSTLY CURBED OR FENCED. THE MARYSTOWN CEMETERY ASSOCIATION FORMED IN 1987 TO PROVIDE MAINTENANCE AND OVERSIGHT OF THIS HISTORIC BURIAL GROUND AND ITS GRAVES WHICH PROVIDE A RECORD OF AREA FAMILIES AND A PIONEER RURAL COMMUNITY.