Page Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Nehemiah Page was not a man who came easy to anything. Born in Sampson County, North Carolina, he fought in the War of 1812.

And if that weren't enough, he survived the Fort Mims attack near Mobile, Alabama. Let that sink in for a moment. The man came through all of that, and kept right on going.

He made his way to Hinds County, Mississippi, where he married Elizabeth Crane in 1830. Together they built a family, seven children in all. Then, sometime in the 1850s, Nehemiah and Elizabeth packed up that family and pointed themselves toward Texas.

They settled on 320 acres, built a log house about half a mile from what would eventually become this cemetery. A piece of ground they could not have known yet would hold so many of their own. Elizabeth was the first to be laid to rest here, on January 22, 1862.

Nehemiah followed the very next year. Quiet as the land around it, that little plot began to fill. By the turn of the 21st century, 38 graves had been dug there, every one of them a Page family descendant or relative.

Among the notable graves, there's a Woodmen of the World monument for W. J. Havard, and burials for veterans spanning the War of 1812, the Civil War, and World War II.

Generations of service, all gathered on those same 320 acres. In 1987, the Page Cemetery Association formed to care for what the marker calls sacred ground. And honestly, after a story like that, it's hard to argue with the word.

What the marker says

Nehemiah Page, born in Sampson Co., N. Car., fought in the War of 1812 and survived the Fort Mims attack near Mobile, Ala. He married Elizabeth Crane in Hinds Co., Miss. In 1830, and the couple had seven children. The family moved to Texas in the 1850s, settling on 320 acres and building a log house about half a mile from this family cemetery. Elizabeth was the first burial on Jan. 22, 1862, and Nehemiah was buried the following year. By the turn of the 21st century there were 38 graves, all for Page family descendants or relatives. Notable graves include the Woodmen of the World monument for W. J. Havard and burials for veterans of the War of 1812, Civil War, and World War II. The Page Cemetery Association formed in 1987 to care for this sacred ground.