Old Zion Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Old Zion Cemetery in Houston County. Now, some places come into this world with their paperwork in order. Old Zion Cemetery is not one of those places.

The origins of this cemetery are undocumented, and the ground itself isn't talking. What we have instead is something older and, in its own way, more honest than a deed. We have memory.

Local oral history tells us that an early settler named James McCevey buried his slaves at this site. Let that settle on you for a moment, because it ought to. Other accounts say the land came through the descendants of a pioneer named Francis B.

Connor. Two different stories, and the truth is probably somewhere in the red clay between them. What the ground confirms, because the stones are still standing, are the earliest marked burials.

Lewis Burton, born 1819, died 1864. John Caddenhead, born 1816, died 1865. Two men who lived through most of the same years this young republic was finding its footing, and who ended up side by side in the same quiet corner of East Texas.

Then there is Caroline Payne, who died in 1866, interred on two acres that her own family gave over to this cemetery so that others would have a place to rest. That is a gift that keeps on giving, in the most literal sense. And then there is William D.

Harrison, born 1814, died 1868. Oral history says the cold weather that winter was fierce enough to prevent his burial over at Corinth Cemetery, so Old Zion took him in. Whatever the weather had in mind that day, it put Harrison here for good.

The cemetery takes its name from the Old Zion Church that once stood nearby, a congregation that has since gone quiet but left its name on this ground like a signature. Today, Old Zion holds two hundred and fifty marked graves. Among them are veterans, men who went off to the Civil War, to World War I, to World War II, and came home to be buried in Houston County soil.

Two hundred and fifty markers, and who knows how many stories underneath that the stones never got around to telling. That is the thing about a cemetery with undocumented origins. It holds more than it shows.

Always has.

What the marker says

Although the origins of this cemetery are undocumented, local oral history indicates early settler James McCevey buried his slaves at this site. Other accounts say the cemetery was given by the descendants of pioneer Francis B. Connor. The earliest marked burials are those of Lewis Burton (1819-1864) and John Caddenhead (1816-1865). Caroline Payne (d. 1866) is interred on two acres given to the Old Zion Cemetery by her family. Oral history also maintains that William D. Harrison (1814-1868) was buried here because cold weather prevented his interment in Corinth Cemetery. Named for the Old Zion Church which once stood nearby, the cemetery contains 250 marked graves, including those of veterans of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. (2000)