DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Miles Cemetery has to say — and friend, there's more layered into this ground than you might expect. Now, the story starts before the cemetery, before the community even had a name. Back in the 1840s, a man named Irvin Lawson passed his land down to his son, Henry M.
Lawson. That land would become the heart of a place called Lawsonville — situated in what is now Concord, deep in Rusk County. And here's the thing about Lawsonville: it didn't grow slow.
By the 1860s, it was moving fast. The people who built that community? Many of them were former slaves of nearby plantations who had come to Lawsonville to do exactly what folks everywhere are trying to do — build a home, find work, put down roots.
They farmed. They ranched. They worked as sharecroppers and woodcutters.
Community by community, family by family, they were writing their own next chapter. By 1877, Lawsonville had itself a post office, and the woman running it was Amanda Lawson, wife of Henry M. Lawson — she served as postmaster.
Then the 1880s rolled in, and this little community was no small thing anymore. Three sawmills. Three cotton gins.
Three churches. A general store. A school.
Lawsonville was humming. But communities, like people, don't always outlast their own momentum. What remains today — the only remaining vestige of Lawsonville — is Miles Cemetery.
Now, Miles Cemetery started as a family plot. But it grew to hold more than family. It included the burials of the Miles family's slaves, and African-American citizens of the broader community.
The earliest marked grave belongs to Benjamin Franklin Miles, dated 1864. Though you should know — and the marker is careful to say this — a number of unmarked graves suggest the possibility of earlier interments. There are stories beneath this soil that stone and wood never got the chance to tell.
Inside a wrought iron fence enclosure, members of the Miles family rest, among them Albert B. Miles, a professor of surgery at Tulane University. Outside that enclosure, other graves are marked by rocks, by cedar wood, by planted flowers.
Simple markers. Quiet ones. But present.
In 2009, an association was established to oversee the affairs and upkeep of this site — to make sure it keeps doing what it has always done: chronicle the heritage of the Lawsonville community. Three sawmills, three cotton gins, three churches, a school, a post office — all of it gone now. But this ground remains.
And as any Texan worth their boots knows, what a community chooses to bury, and how it chooses to mark those graves, tells you everything about who those people were.
What the marker says
THE COMMUNITY OF LAWSONVILLE, LOCATED IN PRESENT DAY CONCORD, WAS NAMED AFTER HENRY M. LAWSON WHO INHERITED THE LAND FROM HIS FATHER, IRVIN LAWSON, IN THE 1840s. MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF THE COMMUNITY WERE FORMER SLAVES OF NEARBY PLANTATIONS WHO CAME TO LAWSONVILLE TO ESTABLISH HOMES AND FIND WORK. THE COMMUNITY WAS RAPIDLY GROWING BY THE 1860s AND MOST OF THE LAWSONVILLE FAMILIES WORKED AS FARMERS, RANCHERS, SHARECROPPERS, OR WOODCUTTERS. IN 1877, THE LAWSONVILLE POST OFFICE WAS ESTABLISHED WITH AMANDA LAWSON, WIFE OF HENRY M. LAWSON, AS THE POSTMASTER. IN THE 1880s, THE COMMUNITY HAD THREE SAWMILLS, THREE COTTON GINS, A GENERAL STORE, THREE CHURCHES, AND A SCHOOL. THE MILES CEMETERY IS THE ONLY REMAINING VESTIGE OF THE LAWSONVILLE COMMUNITY. ALTHOUGH THE CEMETERY BEGAN AS A FAMILY PLOT, IT INCLUDED THE BURIALS OF THE MILES FAMILY'S SLAVES AND AFRICAN-AMERICANS CITIZENS OF THE COMMUNITY. THE EARLIEST MARKED GRAVE FOR BENJAMIN FRANKLIN MILES IS DATED 1864. HOWEVER, THE PRESENCE OF A NUMBER OF UNMARKED GRAVES SUGGESTS THE POSSIBILITY OF EARLIER INTERMENTS. MEMBERS OF THE MILES FAMILY ARE BURIED WITHIN A WROUGHT IRON FENCE ENCLOSURE, INCLUDING THAT OF ALBERT B. MILES, A PROFESSOR OF SURGERY AT TULANE UNIVERSITY. OUTSIDE OF THIS ENCLOSURE ARE A NUMBER OF GRAVES MARKED BY ROCKS, CEDAR WOOD, AND PLANTED FLOWERS. AN ASSOCIATION ESTABLISHED IN 2009 HAS OVERSEEN THE AFFAIRS AND UPKEEP OF THIS SITE THAT CHRONICLES THE HERITAGE OF THE COMMUNITY.