Mooreville Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way down in Falls County, there's a cemetery that's been keeping watch over the land since before the Civil War was even a memory. And it all starts, as so many good Texas stories do, with one stubborn soul who showed up first.

His name was Robert Moore, an Irishman, and in the 1850s he decided this particular stretch of ground near Cow Bayou was exactly where he wanted to be. He opened a general store on top of a hill south of that bayou, and that was that. The man planted himself.

By 1859, several other families had followed, drawn in the way folks tend to follow someone who seems to know what they're doing, and the community took on the name Mooreville. Now that's how a place earns its name without anyone having to vote on it. Then came the war, and the years after.

A Confederate veteran named Edward McCullough, born in 1834, came to Mooreville in 1865, and in time he purchased land that included this very site. It was during his ownership that the cemetery was established. The graveyard, from the very beginning, seems to have served the whole community, not just one family or one church, but everybody.

The earliest marked graves date to 1866, and they carry the surnames Martin, Grayum, and Russell. Think about that. Just one year after Edward McCullough arrived, people were already being laid to rest here.

The burial ground's existence was first recorded in deed records in 1876, when McCullough formally deeded the land for a burial ground. He made it official. He gave it over.

Edward McCullough died in 1902, but the ground he gave endured. Since World War II, the Mooreville Cemetery Association has maintained the historic burial ground, and the association was formally established in 1973. Among its members, you'll find many descendants of Mooreville's original permanent settlers, people whose family names may well echo those earliest stones from 1866.

A general store on a hill. A piece of deeded ground. Graves going back to 1866.

That's pioneer heritage you can put your hand on, and in Falls County, it's still right there waiting for you.

What the marker says

Irishman Robert Moore was the first person to settle permanently in this area. Arriving in the 1850s, he opened a general store on top of a hill south of Cow Bayou. By 1859 several other families lived here and the community became known as Mooreville. Confederate veteran Edward McCullough (1834-1902) came to Morreville in 1865 and later purchased land that included this site. During his ownership this cemetery was established. The graveyard appears to have been used by the community at large from its beginning; the earliest marked graves, which date to 1866, bear surnames of Martin, Grayum, and Russell. The burial ground's existence was first recorded in deed records in 1876, when Edward McCollough deeded land for a burial ground. Since World War II, the historic burial ground has been maintained by the Mooreville Cemetery Association, which was formally established in 1973. The association counts among its members many descendants of Mooreville's original permanent settlers. The Mooreville Cemetery is an important cultural resource in this area. It remains a tangible reminder of this community's pioneer heritage. (1992)