Olive Branch Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Olive Branch Cemetery in Anderson County. Now settle in, because this one starts the way all good Texas stories do: with people picking up and moving somewhere new, and deciding to stay. Back in the 1850s, this part of Anderson County began to fill up with settlers.

A good number of them came from the same corner of the world, from the vicinity of Brushy Creek, South Carolina. They brought their memories with them, and the marker tells us it is believed that is why the streams in this area and the community itself came to carry that name, Brushy Creek, right here in East Texas. A smaller creek nearby took on a gentler name: Olive Branch.

Now there is something in that name worth pausing on. Olive Branch. People starting over, in new country, reaching for peace and roots all at once.

By 1858, the community had grown enough that someone decided it was time to build. A small one-room building went up, one room doing double duty as a church and a school, the way frontier necessity tends to demand. And on the land right next to that building, a cemetery was established.

The land was not officially deeded as a graveyard until 1858, but here is the thing: the burials had already begun. Marked graves go back as far as 1856. The oldest documented one belongs to Joseph H.

Waddell, who died in 1856 at the age of six. That is the kind of fact that lands quiet and heavy, and deserves a moment of silence before moving on. Resting in that same ground are many of the early pioneers who built this community from scratch.

Among them is Daniel Henderson, the man who actually deeded the land for the church, the school, and the cemetery. He gave the place its foundation, and the cemetery received him in return. Also buried here is James Eastland, born in 1827 and died in 1911, a man who managed to pack several lifetimes worth of service into one.

He served in the Mexican War. He served in the Civil War. And after all of that, he represented Anderson County in the Texas Legislature.

The Olive Branch Cemetery Association was organized in 1978, and they are the ones keeping this ground tended and this story alive. Walk through those old markers sometime, and you are walking through the whole arc of Brushy Creek, from a handful of families arriving from South Carolina, to a one-room building holding a congregation and a classroom at the same time, to a graveyard that was filling up even before anyone got around to signing the deed. That is how communities take hold in Texas.

Quietly, urgently, and with the dead already waiting for the paperwork to catch up.

What the marker says

This part of Anderson County was settled in the 1850s. Many of the early settlers were from the vicinity of Brushy Creek, South Carolina, and it is believed that is why the streams in this area and the community were named Brushy Creek. A smaller creek near this site became known as Olive Branch. In 1858, as the community began to grow, a small one-room building was erected to serve as a church and school. A cemetery was established on land adjacent to the building. Although the land was not officially deeded as a graveyard until 1858, there are marked burials from as early as 1856. The oldest documented grave is that of Joseph H. Waddell, who died in 1856 at age six. Also interred here are many early pioneers and a number of veterans, including James Eastland (1827 - 1911), who served in the Mexican War and the Civil War, and later represented Anderson County in the Texas Legislature. Daniel Henderson, who deeded the land for the church, school, and cemetery, is also buried here. This cemetery is a visible reminder of the early settlers of Brushy Creek. The Olive Branch Cemetery Association, organized in 1978, maintains the historic graveyard. (1988)