Megargel Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Out here in Archer County, the land holds its stories quiet, and this cemetery holds some of the oldest ones going. Pull up close, because this one starts before the town even had a name.

Back in the 1880s, this stretch of Archer County was already home to a handful of families putting down roots in hard soil. One of them was James Colgan, an Irish native, and his wife Nancy. They were something of an exception out here, because most of the other families in the area were of Bohemian descent.

Names like Kulhanek, Bohac, Kunkel, and Pechacek. Different languages, different traditions, same wide open Texas sky above them all. For a while, that was the neighborhood.

Then 1910 arrived, and it arrived with a rumble. The GT&W Railroad came through, and just like that, the town of Megargel was established. A railroad has a way of making something official.

But 1910 also brought something quieter and harder. That same year, a doctor named W.T. Webb buried his son.

The boy's name was Arza. He had lived just two days. And in that grief, Dr.

Webb made the first burial in what would become the community cemetery. The first name written into this ground belonged to a child who never saw his third sunrise. The cemetery grew from there.

Soldiers rest here, veterans of conflicts stretching all the way back to the Civil War. Generations of those Bohemian families. Neighbors of the Colgans, and neighbors of neighbors they never knew.

An association maintains the grounds today, keeping the connection to all of it intact. Because some stories only survive if somebody decides they're worth tending.

What the marker says

Residents of this part of Archer County in the 1880s included Irish native James Colgan and his wife, Nancy. Most other area families were of Bohemian descent, with names including Kulhanek, Bohac, Kunkel and Pechacek. The GT&W Railroad came in 1910, and the town of Megargel was established. That same year, Dr. W.T. Webb buried his two-day-old son, Arza, the first interred at what became the community cemetery. Others buried here include military veterans of conflicts dating to the Civil War. An association maintains the cemetery, preserving the link to the area's rich history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003