DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Olivet Cemetery, out in Parmer County. Now settle in, because this piece of ground carries a lot of weight for ten acres. It starts, as so many Texas stories do, with big money and big land.
The Capitol Freehold Land and Investment Company — incorporated over in England, back in 1884 — was the outfit that put the financing behind the XIT Ranch. And in November of 1908, that same company deeded a parcel of land for a cemetery to a man named James M. Hamlin.
That cemetery was Olivet. That cemetery was Farwell's first. Among the earliest people laid to rest there was John Armstrong — XIT manager and shipping agent.
The marker tells us he was shot by cattle thieves while loading cattle onto rail cars in Bovina. Out there doing his job, and that's where it ended for him. Let that sit with you a moment.
Then there is the Hassell family plot. A mother. Eight children.
Murdered in 1926. There are no wry asides to offer here, no dramatic pause that does that justice. It is simply recorded, and it should be remembered.
The cemetery holds about a hundred interments that have been identified across those ten acres, and they span a long stretch of American history — veterans of military conflicts going all the way back to the Civil War are buried there. And the names in that ground reach across state lines — prominent families from Parmer County, Texas, and Curry County, New Mexico both have roots planted in this place. Ten acres.
One piece of the Llano Estacado. And more history than most towns ever see.
What the marker says
The Capitol Freehold Land and Investment Company, which incorporated in England in 1884 to finance the XIT Ranch, deeded land for the Olivet Cemetery to James M. Hamlin in Nov. 1908. One of the earliest burials is that of John Armstrong, XIT manager and shipping agent who was shot by cattle thieves while loading cattle onto rail cars in Bovina. A local tragedy is recalled at the plot of the Hassell family, a mother and eight children who were murdered in 1926. About one hundred interments have been indentified in the ten-acre cemetery, including veterans of military conflicts dating to the Civil War. The site was Farwell's first cemetery, and many prominent names in Parmer Co., Texas and Curry Co., New Mexico are represented here.