Montague Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Montague Cemetery has to say, and friends, this one's worth your time. Settle in. The first known settlers in Montague County rolled in back in 1849.

That's before the county itself even existed, before there was any official shape to the place at all. The county got formed in 1857, and a year after that, the City of Montague was created to serve as county seat. Didn't exactly burst out of the gate, though.

The town grew slowly at first. Slowly, quietly, like a fire that hasn't quite decided to take. But then came 1871, and something shifted.

Montague started developing rapidly, new settlers pouring in, the kind of momentum a place either rides or gets run over by. Now, among the early pioneers who helped shape this stretch of Texas was a man named James M. Gibbons.

He came to this area from Tennessee. Lot of folks made that kind of journey, but what makes Gibbons worth remembering is something that happened in 1862, out here on the edge of a frontier county that was still finding its footing. Family history indicates that Gibbons donated the first plot of land in this cemetery.

And the reason he did it, the reason this whole burial ground got its start, was the death of his wife, Elizabeth Lankford Gibbons, in that year of 1862. He gave the ground so she could be laid to rest. That's how a cemetery begins, sometimes.

Not with a plan or a proclamation. With grief, and a man with land, and someone he loved. Gibbons later married Nancy Elizabeth Furr.

She, too, is buried here. And Gibbons himself died in 1899 and is interred in the very cemetery he helped bring into being. Several other family members rest here alongside him, and so do numerous other early settlers of Montague County.

Walk through the Montague Cemetery today and you'll find both marked and unmarked graves. About sixty of the legible tombstones bear dates from the eighteen hundreds. Sixty stones you can still read, still reckon with.

And among those buried here: several Confederate veterans, and a few early Texas Rangers. People who lived through the kind of history that doesn't fit neatly on a stone. Care for the burial sites is provided by the Montague Cemetery Association, keepin' watch over a place that carries the full weight of this county's beginnings.

James M. Gibbons came from Tennessee, gave a piece of land for love, and wound up giving this corner of Texas its memory. That first plot, for Elizabeth, in 1862.

The rest followed.

What the marker says

The first known settlers in Montague County arrived in 1849. After the county was formed in 1857, the City of Montague was created a year later to serve as county seat. The town grew slowly at first, but by 1871 was developing rapidly and experiencing an influx of new settlers. James M. Gibbons, one of the early pioneers, came to this area from Tennessee. Family history indicates that Gibbons donated the first plot of land in this cemetery for the burial of his wife, Elizabeth Lankford Gibbons, upon her death in 1862. He later married Nancy Elizabeth Furr, who also is buried here. Gibbons died in 1899 and is interred in the cemetery, as are several other family members and numerous other early settlers. The Montague Cemetery contains both unmarked and marked graves. About 60 of the legible tombstones bear dates from the 1800s. Several Confederate veterans and a few early Texas Rangers also are buried here. With ties to the early settlement of Montague, this graveyard is an important part of the area's history. Care for the burial sites is provided by the Montague Cemetery Association. (1985)