DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. The Moore Cemetery sits in Frio County, and before this ground was set aside, the people of this community had to make do — private plots, church cemeteries, graveyards outside the precinct altogether. There was no common ground, no shared place to lay a neighbor to rest.
That changed in 1896, when a man named Moses Veith deeded five acres of land for use as a community cemetery. Five acres. Just like that, this place became the first public burial ground in the community.
And what a community it's been. The folks interred here are pioneers — people who carved a life out of this hard South Texas country — alongside men who fought in Indian battles, in World War I, in World War II, and in other major conflicts beyond those. Generation after generation, all gathered in those five acres Moses Veith gave over.
Now, the town itself carries a name worth pausin' on. Moore. Named for an early Texan known as R.
B. "Mustang" Moore. He lived on a small creek near here, and whatever that life looked like — however he came to earn a nickname like Mustang — the record is clear and the ending is stark. In 1861, he was killed by Comanches.
The town was first called Moore Hollow, and eventually just Moore, and that name has been sitting on this land ever since. So when you stand at the gate of Moore Cemetery, you're standing at the convergence of a lot of things — a gift of land, a generation of pioneers, the wars they answered, and the memory of one man who lived on a creek nearby and left his name on everything that followed. That's the kind of ground five acres can hold.
What the marker says
First public burial ground in community. Before its founding people were buried in private plots, church cemeteries, or in public graveyards outside this precinct. In 1896 Moses Veith deeded five acres of land for use as a community cemetery. Interred here are pioneers and men who fought in Indian battles, World Wars I and II, and other major conflicts. Moore was named for early Texas R. B. "Mustang" Moore, who lived on a small creek near here. In 1861 he was killed by Comanches. The town was first named Moore Hollow. (1970)