DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Mount Joy Cemetery has to say — and friend, there's more packed into this Delta County ground than you might expect. Settlers first came to Mount Joy in 1836. That's not long after Texas was even a word on most people's lips, and already folks were putting down roots, turning soil, building something.
What they built was a thriving farming settlement — and by the 1880s, Mount Joy was humming. Now when I say humming, I mean it. Three steam-powered cotton gins running at the same time.
A gristmill. A shingle factory. Stores.
And stagecoaches rolling in and out, linking Mount Joy to the surrounding settlements. Three cotton gins. That's not a village scraping by — that's a community with ambition and a whole lot of cotton.
The people of Mount Joy weren't just working hard, they were building institutions. Presbyterian and Baptist community members together established Mount Joy Baptist Church in 1873. Then, the very following year, a Methodist Episcopal Church organized.
Different denominations, same piece of Delta County earth. And 1873 is a year worth sitting with a moment, because something else happened that year. The first recorded burial in this cemetery — also known as Staten Cemetery — was of Mary Garrett.
The church going up, the dead being laid to rest. A community planting itself deep. W.B.
Chambers made it official in 1891, deeding the land for use as a cemetery. And the town kept on — until, quietly, a post office closed in 1907. Stagecoaches gone.
Gins gone still. But the cemetery remained. Mary Garrett's been here since 1873, and this ground has been holding Mount Joy's memory ever since.
Some places don't survive. Their cemeteries do.
What the marker says
SETTLERS FIRST CAME TO MOUNT JOY IN 1836 AND THE TOWN DEVELOPED INTO A THRIVING FARMING SETTLEMENT. PRESBYTERIAN AND BAPTIST COMMUNITY MEMBERS ESTABLISHED MOUNT JOY BAPTIST CHURCH IN 1873. A METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH ORGANIZED THE FOLLOWING YEAR. AT ITS PEAK IN THE 1880s, THE COMMUNITY HAD THREE STEAM-POWERED COTTON GINS, A GRISTMILL, SHINGLE FACTORY AND STORES, AND STAGECOACHES LINKED IT TO NEARBY SETTLEMENTS. A POST OFFICE CLOSED IN 1907. THE FIRST RECORDED BURIAL IN MOUNT JOY CEMETERY (ALSO REFERRED TO AS STATEN CEMETERY) WAS OF MARY GARRETT IN 1873. IN 1891 W.B. CHAMBERS OFFICIALLY DEEDED THE LAND FOR USE AS A CEMETERY. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY - 2010