McCrury Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. Way back in 1835, five people made the long haul from Missouri to this stretch of Red River County. Wilson, John, and Sam McCrury, and their two sisters.

Five souls, one direction, and a piece of land that would carry their name forward longer than any of them could have imagined. They came, they settled, and the land claimed them in return, the way land always does eventually. John McCrury was the first to go on record.

When he died in 1864, a burial ground was started right there on his land. A private family plot, quiet and personal, the way those things begin. Now, the marker is careful to say his is the oldest documented grave.

Probably earlier burials there, it allows. But John's is the one the records can put a name and a date to. From that family plot, something larger grew.

The McCrury cemetery became a community graveyard for the people of the whole McCrury area of Red River County. Pioneer families, one after another, found their final place in that ground. Many of them are represented there still.

It took until 1953 for the county deed records to officially designate it as a cemetery. By then it had been holding the community's people for the better part of a century. Today the McCrury Cemetery Association maintains it.

Five people from Missouri, one piece of Texas ground, and a place that quietly became home to an entire community's memory.

What the marker says

Wilson, John, and Sam McCrury and their two sisters arrived in this area from Missouri in 1835. A private family burial ground was begun on the land of John McCrury upon his death in 1864. Although there are probably earlier burials here, his is the oldest documented grave. The cemetery became a community graveyard for the people of the McCrury area of Red River County. Many pioneer families are represented here. Officially designated as a cemetery in county deed records in 1953, the graveyard is maintained by the McCrury Cemetery Association.