P.A. Watson Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's what the official P.A. Watson Cemetery marker has to say, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now settle in, because this story starts before there was even a cemetery to speak of.

It starts with a family, a wagon, and a winter of hard choices. In 1846, Mrs. Micajah Goodwin was buried on this ground, one of the earliest souls to be laid to rest here, not long after her family had come to this area.

They had no lumber, no carpenter, no proper materials. What they had was a wagon. So they broke down the wagon bed and built her a coffin from it.

And then (and here's where the story earns its weight) they burned brush right across the top of that grave. Not as a ceremony, not as a ritual, but to hide it. To hide it from Indians.

That family gave up their wagon, gave up the thing that had carried them to this place, and then set fire to the evidence of their grief. You don't forget a detail like that. The land held that secret for years.

Then in 1853, a man named Patrick Alfred Watson came down from North Carolina. Born in 1810, and he'd live all the way to 1894; plenty of time to leave a mark. When Watson bought this land, one of the first things he did was set aside one full acre as a cemetery.

He didn't have to. But he did. Then, come 1870, Watson gave land again, and this time a structure went up: the first school and church for the Watson Community.

That church would grow into what became known as West Fork Presbyterian Church. So this one acre, and the man who protected it, anchored not just the dead but the living too; their children, their faith, their community. Now, nothing holds still forever.

In 1956, the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike was routed through this area, and the road came right up around the cemetery. The church was relocated. The turnpike went where it went.

But the cemetery? The cemetery stayed. Right where Mrs.

Micajah Goodwin was buried in 1846, right where Patrick Alfred Watson drew a line in the dirt and said this acre is for something more than commerce or convenience. The road bent around it. Some things, it turns out, don't move.

What the marker says

Mrs. Micajah Goodwin was buried here in 1846, soon after her family came to this area. They constructed a coffin from their wagon bed and burned brush atop the grave to hide it from Indians. When Patrick Alfred Watson (1810-1894) of North Carolina bought the land in 1853, he set aside a one-acre cemetery. In 1870 Watson gave land and a structure was built for Watson Community's first school and church, later West Fork Presbyterian Church. In 1956 Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike was routed around the cemetery and the church was relocated.