McCarter Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about McCarter Cemetery, out in Houston County. Pull up a chair, this one's got roots that go back a long, long way. John McCarter, also recorded as McCarty, was born in Pennsylvania in 1813.

He came to Texas in 1832, and if that date means anything to you, well, Texas was still a republic waiting to happen. John put down roots, and eventually he put down something more permanent. In August of 1854, he married Jane Lasiter, and together the two of them got to work building a family.

Nine children: Fisher, James, Robert, Mattie, Belle, Mary Susan, Kate, Elizabeth, and David Christopher. Nine. That's not a family, that's a congregation.

The McCarters worked this land, farmed it, lived on it, and in time, they made it the kind of place a community could gather around. Right here in this vicinity stood their farmstead, and right alongside it, they established a cemetery. Now, John McCarter was the first to be interred there.

He died in 1895, and he went to his rest beneath a large obelisk. You don't mark a grave like that unless the people left behind want the world to know somebody significant passed through. That same year, 1895, a man named Joe Hopper was also buried there.

Then came Margaret A. Fulgham Luce, who died in 1897, followed by her husband, Isom Cariel Luce, in 1898. Isom's gravestone carries a note worth pausing on: it indicates his service in the Civil War.

A whole life lived, and that stone still holds the memory of what he answered when his country called. And Jane McCarter, the woman who raised those nine children on this land, she didn't just grieve and let things go. In 1907, Jane formally deeded the land as a cemetery for use by the Grounds Schoolhouse community, now known as the Jones Schoolhouse community.

She died in 1909, but before she did, she made sure this place would endure. Today, the cemetery holds McCarter and Luce descendants, and also descendants of George and Catherine Rice Grounds, the family for whom the community was originally named. A cemetery association keeps watch over it all, holding annual gatherings to tend the graves of family members and early area settlers.

People coming back, year after year, to remember. There's something quietly powerful about that. John McCarter came out of Pennsylvania in 1832, built a life and a family on Texas soil, and when all was said and done, that soil kept them all.

Still does.

What the marker says

Born in Pennsylvania in 1813, John McCarter (McCarty) came to Texas in 1832. He married Jane Lasiter in August 1854, and the couple had nine children: Fisher, James, Robert, Mattie, Belle, Mary Susan, Kate, Elizabeth and David Christopher. The family's farmstead was located in this vicinity, where the family also established a cemetery. John (d. 1895) was the first to be interred here, and his grave is marked by a large obelisk. Other early burials included Joe Hopper (d. 1895), Margaret A. Fulgham Luce (d. 1897) and her husband, Isom Cariel Luce (d. 1898), whose gravestone indicates his service in the Civil War. In 1907, Jane McCarter (d. 1909) formally deeded the land as a cemetery for use by the Grounds Schoolhouse community, now known as Jones Schoolhouse community. Today, the cemetery is the final resting place of many McCarter and Luce descendants, as well as descendants of George and Catherine Rice Grounds, for whom the community was originally named. A cemetery association maintains the burial ground, holding annual gatherings to tend to the graves of family members and early area settlers. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003