DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Now, every family has a place where the roots go deepest — where the names stop being names and start being ground. For the Parkers of Houston County, that place is a cemetery tucked into what folks knew as the Jones Schoolhouse Community, and the story starts long before anybody was buried there.
Joseph A. Parker — went by Joe, Jo, Josephus, take your pick — was an Alabama man who made his way to East Texas and put down roots by 1847. That October, he married Nancy Ann Allen over in Cherokee County, and the two of them built a life together.
By 1850, the Parkers had settled in Houston County. The 1860 census found them with six children, which tells you the house was full and the land was busy. The family used this site to bury their friends and their relatives, quietly and without much ceremony, the way people did.
The earliest marked graves belong to W.R. Norred, who died in 1864, and Herbert Foard, who died in 1869. Nancy's father, John Allen, is out there too, and a good number of his descendants alongside him.
Now, Joe Parker himself — oral tradition holds he's buried here. But the red fieldstones that once marked many of those gravesites? In the 1960s, hired caretakers moved them.
So Joe's exact resting place, if it's here at all, is one of the many unmarked graves. That's the kind of detail that lingers in the air on a quiet afternoon. Former slaves are also buried in this ground.
The marker names no names for them — just holds the fact, plain and still, the way it deserves to be held. The cemetery kept its family character for decades until September 1914, when Ben Parker — Joe and Nancy's grandson — and his wife Nannie officially deeded the land for use as a cemetery. At that moment, it became something larger than one family's keeping.
It became a community cemetery. Today, a cemetery association maintains the burial ground. Walk through and you'll find large, vertical stone markers and wrought iron fencing standing watch.
The place preserves what time so often tries to scatter — the ties between the Parker family and the community they helped build. Some roots, it turns out, go all the way down.
What the marker says
Alabama native Joseph A. (also Joe, Jo or Josephus) Parker settled in East Texas by 1847. In October of that year, he wed Nancy Ann Allen in Cherokee County. The Parkers were living in Houston County by 1850, and the 1860 census listed them as having six children. Residents of the Jones Schoolhouse Community, the family used this site as a cemetery for their friends and relatives. The earliest marked graves are for W.R. Norred (d.1864) and Herbert Foard (d. 1869). Nancy’s father, John Allen, and many of his descendants are also buried in the cemetery. Ben Parker, grandson of Joe and Nancy, and his wife, Nannie, officially deeded the land for use as a cemetery in September 1914. At that time, the burial ground became a community cemetery. In the 1960s, hired caretakers moved the red fieldstones that marked many of the gravesites. Oral tradition holds that Joseph Parker is buried in one of the many unmarked graves. Former slaves are also buried here. Today, a cemetery association maintains the burial ground. Cemetery features include large, vertical stone markers and wrought iron fencing. The cemetery preserves the ties between the Parker family and the community. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003