Pleasant Grove Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Pleasant Grove Cemetery in Collin County. Now settle in, because this one starts with a burial and ends with something closer to a community coming alive. March 1891.

A woman named Malissa Sides became the first person laid to rest on this particular piece of ground. That's a heavy kind of distinction, to be the first. But who was Malissa Sides?

The marker tells us she was believed to have been half Native American, and that she and her Cherokee half sister, a woman named Ellen Murphy, had both survived the U.S. government relocation of the tribe during their youth. Survived it. Think on that word for a moment.

Whatever that journey cost them, they came through it, and they didn't stop moving. Malissa and Ellen eventually made their way to Collin County from Indian Territory, traveling with Malissa's husband, Henry L. Sides.

They put down roots here. And when Malissa died in March of 1891, this acre of Texas earth received her. Then, that October, just months later, two charter Methodist church members, Franklin J.

Rominger and his wife Nancy, whose maiden name was Van Hues, donated an acre of land to the trustees of the Pleasant Grove Methodist Episcopal Church, South. That acre included Mrs. Sides' gravesite, and it was given to be used as a public burial ground.

The Romingers had planted something beyond just a cemetery. Henry Sides is buried there. Ellen Murphy is buried there.

The Romingers themselves are interred in that same ground they gave away. And so are descendants of these and other pioneer families, generations deep. Now, keeping a cemetery going takes more than good intentions.

For many years, the trustees raised funds and maintained the grounds through stew suppers and annual decoration days. There's something quietly Texas about that, feeding the living to tend to the dead. By 1996, a count revealed more than a thousand graves, most with markers of some kind.

And in the old north section, 141 of those graves belong to infants. One hundred and forty-one. The marker doesn't flinch from saying it plainly: those graves bear witness to the harsh conditions of pioneer life.

Also buried here are seven Confederate veterans and fifty-two other veterans of U.S. and international conflicts. This ground holds people who came from Indian Territory, people who fought in wars near and far, families who lost children young and kept going anyway. Pleasant Grove Cemetery, the marker tells us, continues to serve the area.

It started with one woman in March of 1891, and it's still there.

What the marker says

Malissa (Dodson) Sides became the first person to be buried on this site in March 1891. Believed to have been half Native American, Mrs. Sides and her Cherokee half sister Ellen Murphy survived the U. S. government relocation of the tribe during their youth. The pair came to Collin County from Indian Territory with Malissa's husband Henry L. Sides. In October 1891, charter Methodist church members Franklin J. and Nancy (Van Hues) Rominger donated an acre of land including Mrs. Sides' gravesite to the trustees of the Pleasant Grove Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to be used as a public burial ground. The Romingers, Henry Sides and Ellen Murphy are all interred in the cemetery, as are descendants of these and other pioneer families. For many years cemetery trustees raised funds and maintained the grounds through stew suppers and annual decoration days. A 1996 count revealed more than 1,000 graves, most with markers of some kind. The graves of 141 infants in the old north section bear witness to the harsh conditions of pioneer life; 7 Confederate and 52 other veterans of U. S. and international conflicts are interred here. Pleasant Grove Cemetery continues to serve the area. (1998)