Patroon Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Patroon Cemetery, out in Shelby County. Now, some places earn their history quietly, one grave at a time. And that's exactly how it went out in the Patroon community.

By the 1830s, settlers were already making their way into this corner of East Texas. Then, in the early 1840s, a family came up from Alabama, Tennessee-born William and Elviry Nethery, bringing their children with them, putting down roots in this Patroon soil. Their son A.M. grew up here.

He married a woman the records call M.H., though folks knew her as Leany. And it was A.M. who set aside a piece of his own property for a cemetery, because he and Leany had to bury their first son. John Nethery.

Born in 1858, gone in 1861. Three years old. That ground, once opened, would not stay quiet.

A.M. went off to serve in the Civil War. And while he was away, fever came for what he had left behind. Leany died.

Their baby daughter Rachel died. Mother and child, buried here in 1862. A nanny stepped in to care for their surviving son Charley, holding that boy together until his father could come home.

Think about that for a moment. A.M. came back from that war to a piece of land holding his first son, his wife, and his daughter. But life kept moving, as it does.

A.M. married again. More Nethery children came and, in time, were interred here too. Neighbors started bringing their dead.

The Patroon post office opened in 1868. Methodist and Baptist congregations took root. Businesses came.

And through all of it, this cemetery grew, generation by generation, into a community burial ground. The people resting here, they tell the whole story of a place. Community leaders and church leaders.

Postmasters, school trustees, artists, farmers. And veterans, from the Civil War on through the American conflicts that followed. The cemetery itself has a particular character worth noting.

The graves face east. Some are marked by vertical stones standing up against the sky like they have something left to say. Today a cemetery association tends the ground as a perpetual care cemetery.

Someone is always watching over it now. Which feels right. Because it started with a father who couldn't look away.

What the marker says

Settlers began moving to the Patroon area by the 1830s. Tennessee natives William and Elviry Nethery brought their family to this area from Alabama in the early 1840s. Their son A.M. established this cemetery on his own property when he and his wife, M.H. "Leany," buried their first son, John (1858-1861). While A.M. was serving in the Civil War, Leany and baby daughter Rachel died from fever and were buried here in 1862. A nanny cared for their son Charley until his father's return. A.M., his second wife, and other Nethery children are also interred in the cemetery, which became a community burial ground. The Patroon post office was established in 1868. The community also supported businesses, as well as Methodist and Baptist congregations. Among the generations of area residents buried here are community and church leaders, postmasters, school trustees, artists, farmers and veterans of American conflicts beginning with the Civil War. The cemetery features east-facing graves, including some marked by vertical stones. Today, a cemetery association maintains the burial ground as a perpetual care cemetery. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003