Rockland Cemetery, Church and School

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Now, some stories begin with a name carved in stone. This one begins with a family, a survey, and a patch of East Texas ground that's been holding memory for well over a century.

Benjamin Thomas Ellis was born in 1825, son of John I. and Elizabeth Ann Ellis, née Goolsby, over in Alabama. The family pulled up roots and moved to Texas in 1839, and by 1850, Benjamin had a life taking shape right here in Houston County. His wife, Martha E.

Shirley Ellis, was beside him, and they had a one-year-old daughter named Elizabeth, and the land stretching around this very site was Benjamin's own survey, his name on it, his family on it. Now, family oral history tells us the cemetery didn't start as a formal thing. It started the way so many do, quietly, as a family graveyard.

And the first souls laid to rest here, according to that same oral tradition, were Benjamin Ellis Jr., who died in 1843, and his wife Hannah McHenry Ellis, who died in 1861. Those two were the parents of John I. Ellis, Benjamin T.'s own father.

So this ground was holding family long before anyone thought to deed it or name it. The earliest marked grave belongs to Nancy M. Ellis Milliken, daughter of those same Ellis pioneers.

She died in 1862, after the birth of her sixth child. Right beside her lies her husband, John C. Milliken, a member of the Texas militia during the Civil War, who died in 1868.

And not far off, Benjamin T. Ellis himself, who also served in the Texas militia during the Confederacy, rests in that same ground. For a stretch of years, it was just a family place, quiet and tended.

Then, in 1890, something shifted. J. S.

Burton and Ellen L. Ellis Burton deeded the cemetery to the trustees of the newly organized Rockland Church. Ellen's maiden name was Ellis, so the land stayed, in its way, in the family's story.

Two years on, in 1892, the congregation put up a church and school building right in front of that cemetery, and Rockland became something bigger than a graveyard. It became a community. A social center.

People gathering for lessons and worship and the particular comfort of neighbors who know your name. But by about 1900, practicality won out, the way it tends to do in Texas. The building was moved two miles west to sit closer to the homes of the students it served.

The school kept going, and in 1911, Rockland Common School District Number Thirteen was formally created. It ran until 1939, when students were transferred to Lovelady schools. Official consolidation with Lovelady came in 1947.

And the union church, holding its own, continued services in the building all the way until 1942. In 1992, the cemetery grew, a two-acre land donation enlarging the grounds where it all began. It continues in use to this day, a living chronicle, as the marker says, of early pioneers.

On the back of the marker, there's a quiet addition. Names offered in memory: Eltice Higginbotham Barrier, and Joe and Laura Sharp Higginbotham. Somebody wanted them remembered here, in this place where remembering is the whole point.

That's Rockland Cemetery, Church and School. The land told it. The families kept it.

And the ground is still listening.

What the marker says

Benjamin Thomas Ellis (1825-1870) was born to John I. and Elizabeth Ann (Goolsby) Ellis in Alabama. The family moved to Texas in 1839, and by 1850 he was living with his wife, Martha E. (Shirley) Ellis and their one-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, on the land around this site. Family oral history indicates that the cemetery began as a family graveyard. The land is part of the Benjamin T. Ellis survey. According to oral history, Benjamin Ellis, Jr. (d. 1843) and his wife, Hannah (McHenry) Ellis (d. 1861), parents of John I.Ellis, were among the first people buried on this site. The earliest marked grave is that of their daughter, Nancy M. (Ellis) Milliken, who died in 1862 after the birth of her sixth child. Her husband, John C. Milliken, who was a member of the Texas militia during the Civil War, died in 1868 and is buried next to her. Benjamin T. Ellis, who also served in the Texas militia during the Confederacy, is buried nearby. Rockland Cemetery was deeded to the trustees of the newly organized Rockland Church by J. S. and Ellen l. (Ellis) Burton in 1890. The congregation established a church and school building in front of the cemetery in 1892, and the site became a community social center. It served until about 1900, when it was moved two miles west to be closer to students' homes. Rockland Common School District #13 was created in 1911 and operated until 1939 when students were transferred to Lovelady schools. Official consolidation with Lovelady schools occurred in 1947. The union church continued to hold services in the building until 1942. The cemetery, enlarged in 1992 with a two-acre land donation, continues in use and remains a chronicle of early pioneers. (2000) Incising on reverse: In memory of Eltice Higginbotham Barrier and Joe and Laura Sharp Higginbotham