DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and friend, this one's got layers worth peelin' back. The ground beneath Pecan Grove Memorial Park has been holding stories since before most of Texas was even a thought in a surveyor's mind. It starts with a grant — the Republic of Texas, in 1845, signing over this land to a man named Samuel McFarland.
But to really feel the weight of this place, you've got to go back just a few years further than that. Only four years before that grant was made, a pioneer from Tennessee — Dr. William E.
Throckmorton, born in 1795, gone by 1843 — had brought his family to this area and begun what became the first permanent settlement around here. Four years. That's how thin the margin was between raw wilderness and a community taking root.
By the 1850s, the land belonged to a man named R.A. Davis, and it was in those same years that the first known burials occurred. The ground had begun its long, quiet work.
Now — you want to know how a cemetery gets its name? The marker will tell you plain: it was derived from a handsome stand of trees. Pecan trees, growing right there, dignified and unhurried, the way pecans do.
Ownership by the public came in 1870, when five men — Isaac F. Graves, I.D. Newsome, G.A.
Foote, E.R. Stiff, and Thomas J. Brown — purchased a 21.3-acre tract together.
Then came 1889, and the original charter, issued to Pecan Grove Cemetery Association, Inc., a private corporation. Additional land came in 1892, and again in 1960. And in 1964, a new charter arrived with a new name — Pecan Grove Memorial Park — granted to commemorate the courageous and compassionate pioneer men and women of this vicinity.
That phrase isn't decoration. The marker means it. Consider one of those pioneers buried in this ground: Dr.
James Webb Throckmorton, born 1825, died 1894. Texas Legislator in the 1850s. Confederate brigadier general during the Civil War.
Governor of Texas in 1866 and '67. And then, intermittently from 1875 to 1888, a member of the United States Congress. One man.
One arc of a life. And the earth here holds him still. Every spring, Pecan Grove Decoration Day brings people back to walk among the trees and remember.
The pecans keep growing. The ground keeps its word.
What the marker says
This park is situated on property granted by the Republic of Texas to Samuel McFarland in 1845, only four years after the first permanent settlement in this area was begun by a pioneer from Tennessee, Dr. William E. Throckmorton (1795-1843), and his family. By the 1850s, when the first known burials occurred, R.A. Davis owned the land. The name of the spot was derived from a handsome stand of trees. Ownership by the public began in 1870 with the purchase of a 21.3-acre tract by Isaac F. Graves, I.D. Newsome, G.A. Foote, E.R. Stiff, and Thomas J. Brown. The original charter was issued in 1889 to Pecan Grove Cemetery Association, Inc., a private corporation. Additional land was purchased in 1892 and 1960. The name "Pecan Grove Memorial Park", granted in a new charter in 1964, commemorates the courageous and compassionate pioneer men and women of this vicinity. One of these, Dr. James Webb Throckmorton (1825-1894), was a Texas Legislator in the 1850s; became a confederate brigadier general during the Civil War; was Governor of Texas in 1866-67; and was in the United States Congress intermittently from 1875 to 1888. Pecan Grove Decoration Day is held every spring. (1976) Incise on the back: Marker Sponsors: Geo C. Webb, Pres., W.P. Carter, V.P. & Supt., E.T. Simpson, Sec. & Treas., R.D. Horn, Dir., Ben Whisenant, Dir., Ova James West, Historian, (1975)