St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Out here in Harrison County, there is a piece of ground that holds more questions than answers, and that is part of what makes it worth your time. St.

Joseph Catholic Cemetery. The oldest known graves date from 1872, though the marker is honest with you: it is unclear when this land was first used for burials. Something was happening here before anyone thought to write it down.

The cemetery served Catholics across a wide stretch of country, Harrison County and St. Joseph Parish, places like Carthage, Jefferson, Waskom, Uncertain, and Scottsville. Quite a congregation of towns, each one sending its faithful to this ground.

For a while, visiting priests made the rounds to tend to the parishioners. Then, in 1874, the Galveston Diocese sent the Reverend Thomas Loughery, and the parish had a shepherd of its own. The land itself was sold to the Diocese by C.

F. Chevaillier in 1878, so the ground became official, signed and recorded. But here is the part of this story that settles in quiet and stays with you.

Among those buried here are workers, men who came to Marshall and found employment in its various railroad industries. They died on the job, or near enough to it, and when the time came, their families could not be located. No one came to claim them.

No name carved in stone. The Knights of Columbus placed white crosses over many of those unknown graves, and those crosses are still standing. Every one of them marks a man the world lost track of, but did not entirely forget.

What the marker says

Though it is unclear when this land was first used for burials, the oldest known graves date from 1872. At its creation the cemetery served Catholics in Harrison County and St. Joseph Parish, including Carthage, Jefferson, Waskom, Uncertain and Scottsville. Visiting priests served parishioners until the Rev. Thomas Loughery was sent by the Galveston Diocese in 1874. Land for the cemetery was sold to the Diocese by C.F. Chevaillier in 1878. Among those buried here are a number of workers who died while employed in Marshall's various railroad industries and whose families could not be located. White crosses placed by the Knights of Columbus mark many unknown graves. (1999)