DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Sardis-Edgefield Cemetery has to say — and it's a story worth pulling over for. Several families made a long journey to Cherokee County, Texas, coming all the way from Edgefield District, South Carolina, where they had worshipped together as members of the Church of Christ in Salem. The Berry family came.
The Martin family. The Coleman, Nickolson, and Jennings families. They arrived and looked around at the landscape, and something about it — the lay of the land, the light, the timber — reminded them of home.
So they put down roots. In 1848, they established the Edgefield community, naming it for the district they'd left behind. Six years later, in 1854, they raised up the Sardis Baptist Church.
These were people building something meant to last. Now, not everything that followed was joyful. The earliest burials on this site may have taken place during a measles epidemic — 1857.
Think about that. A community still young, still finding its footing, and the ground begins to receive its people. The cemetery was known, for a time, as Meazle Cemetery — because in 1866 a man named William Meazle purchased the property.
When his heirs, Elizabeth Meazle and George Masters, sold the land in 1899, they made sure to write a provision into the deed protecting the graveyard. Some things, they understood, you don't just sell off and walk away from. The first marked burial here was that of Rebecca Bolton Neal, born in 1791, died in 1873.
Her stone stands as a fixed point in this chronicle. And then there's Peter Berry — born 1818, died 1898. The marker tells us Berry was a great-grandson of one of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence.
He was a veteran of the Seminole Indian War in the Florida Territory. And during the Civil War, he served as a member of the Texas State Troops. At least two other Confederate veterans are interred here as well, along with several veterans of later wars.
The ground holds more history than most people passing by on the road would ever suspect. There are also a number of unmarked graves, believed to be those of early settlers and slaves. The marker doesn't dress that up, and neither will I.
The Sardis-Edgefield Cemetery Association was chartered in 1982. By 1999, there were more than 323 marked graves on this land. The cemetery continues to serve the people of Cherokee County — a living record, the marker says, of its early settlement.
Those families came from Edgefield, South Carolina, looked at this East Texas ground, and thought: this will do. More than a century and a half later, the place is still keeping their memory. That's as close to permanence as most of us are ever going to get.
What the marker says
Several families came to this area from Edgefield District, South Carolina, where they were members of the Church of Christ in Salem. Among these settlers were the Berry, Martin, Coleman, Nickolson and Jennings families. They established the Edgefield community in 1848 and the Sardis Baptist Church in 1854. The landscape in this vicinity reminded them of their home, and most of those buried here are early settlers and their descendants. The earliest burials on this site may have taken place during the measles epidemic of 1857. The first marked burial was that of Rebecca Bolton Neal (1791-1873). The cemetery was known as Meazle Cemetery for a time because William Meazle purchased the property in 1866. His heirs, Elizabeth Meazle and George Masters, sold the land in 1899 but made provision for the graveyard in the deed. Other graves of interest include that of Peter Berry (1818-1898). Berry, a great-grandson of one of the signers of the U. S. Declaration of Independence, was a veteran of the Seminole Indian War in the Florida Territory and was a member of the Texas State Troops during the Civil War. There are at least two other Confederate veterans and several veterans of later wars interred here. The Sardis-Edgefield Cemetery Association was chartered in 1982. By 1999 there were more than 323 marked graves in the cemetery. There are a number of unmarked graves, believed to be those of early settlers and slaves. The Sardis-Edgefield Cemetery continues to serve the people of Cherokee County and remains a chronicle of its early settlement. (1999)