DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Old City Cemetery in Polk County. Now settle in, because this one starts, as so many Texas stories do, with a child. The year is 1840.
A four-year-old boy named Josephus Choate is laid to rest in the ground. His father is Moses Livingston Choate, born in 1794, and his mother is Ursula Choate, born in 1807. They had come as early pioneers out of Kentucky, and they had pushed their way into Texas back when this whole corner of the map was still part of Mexico.
The Mexican government granted them a league of land, and Moses Choate set about building something on it. He called his little settlement Springfield. That burial ground where young Josephus rested, it was family land, and it would grow into something far larger than any of them could have imagined.
When Polk County was created in 1846, Moses Choate donated a hundred acres of his land near Springfield to serve as the county seat. And he changed the name of the town. Springfield became Livingston.
He set aside a section of land, a block and a half, for religious and educational purposes. Through the 1850s, a Masonic lodge went up on that property, with a schoolroom built right into it, and a church rose there too. The cemetery, the Choate family cemetery, sat right alongside them.
Later in the century, those institutions relocated, and when they left, the cemetery quietly expanded to fill the entire block. By 1906, burials there had almost ceased. The last interment took place in 1940.
A hundred years of Polk County history folded into that ground. Among the people buried there: at least twenty-five citizens of the Republic of Texas, two veterans of the Mexican War, and thirty veterans of the Civil War. A few memorial markers stand for persons who are actually interred elsewhere, remembered here all the same.
Today there are 167 visible tombstones. At least 65 burials have no marker at all. And more than 70 grave sites have been destroyed over the years, gone without a trace.
That little four-year-old boy, Josephus Choate, he was the first. He didn't know he was layin the cornerstone of something. None of them ever do.
What the marker says
This historic graveyard began in 1840 with the burial of four-year-old Josephus Choate, son of Moses Livingston Choate (1794-1867) and Ursula Choate (1807-c. 1880). Early pioneers from Kentucky, the Choates moved to Texas and received a league of land while this area was still a part of Mexico. On his land, Choate established a town he called Springfield. After Polk County was created in 1846, Moses Choate donated 100 acres of his land near Springfield for the county seat and changed the name of the town to Livingston. A one and one-half block section of land, which included the Choate family cemetery, was set aside for religious and educational purposes. A Masonic lodge (with a schoolroom) and a church were built on that property in the 1850s; after those institutions relocated later in the century, the cemetery expanded over this entire block. By 1906, burials in the Old City Cemetery had almost ceased, and the last interment took place in 1940. At least 25 Republic of Texas citizens, two Mexican War veterans and 30 Civil War veterans are buried here. A few memorial markers stand to honor persons interred elsewhere. There are 167 visible tombstones and at least 65 unmarked burials, with more than 70 grave sites destroyed over the years. As a reminder of the early heritage of Texas and Polk County, the Old City Cemetery is an important cultural resource for the community. (2001)