Starkey Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Settle in, because this one starts with the land itself. North Texas land, fertile and waiting, drawing settlers in significant numbers after 1850.

Montague County got itself established in 1858, and the area began to grow the way frontier places do: one family at a time, one hard season at a time. B. L.

Starkey and his sons Columbus and Napoleon made the journey from Ellis County, bringing their families along, arriving about the time of the Civil War. They put down roots in country that didn't ask easy questions and didn't offer easy answers. Now, according to oral history, Starkey Cemetery began in the 1860s, and the way it began will stay with you.

A pioneer family named Wells had just arrived. They were settling in for the winter, green to the land, finding their footing, when their small daughter died. That is the kind of grief that has no bottom.

The Wells family went to Columbus Starkey, their closest neighbor, and asked permission to bury the child on the Starkey family land. Columbus said yes. Another of the Wells children died that same year, and was also interred there.

Two children. One winter. And from that sorrow, a community cemetery took shape.

The property, consecrated by grief, became shared ground. Then in the 1870s, B. L., Columbus, and Napoleon Starkey organized a Methodist church on that very site.

The sacred and the sorrowful, standing together. By 1875, the families laid to rest here included members of the Mounts, Lemons, and Flatt families, names woven into the fabric of that north Texas community. And yet, the first of the Starkey family themselves to be interred on this land were twins, Helen and Ellen, daughters of Napoleon and M.

C. Starkey, who died and were buried in 1886. The Starkey community school stood nearby too, attended by students from surrounding areas, funded by the Starkey family.

A church, a cemetery, a school. That is a civilization, right there on the frontier. Now, how do we know so much of this?

We know it in large part because of a woman named Matilda Ellen McKinney Sloss, born in 1850, who came to this area as a young girl. In 1940, in an interview with another church member, the woman known as Grandmother Sloss sat down and related much of the oral history that survives about this area in the 19th century. One woman's memory, given freely, carried across time.

Starkey church and cemetery remain active today, a place of worship, a burial ground, and a chronicle of the pioneer settlers who made something lasting out of grief and fertile land and the willingness to share both.

What the marker says

Drawn to fertile lands of north Texas, settlers began arriving in this area in significant numbers after 1850. Montague County was established in 1858 and the area began to grow. B. L. Starkey and his sons Columbus and Napoleon came from Ellis County with their families about the time of the Civil War. According to oral history, Starkey Cemetery began in the 1860s. A newly-arrived pioneer family named Wells was settling in for the winter when their small daughter died. The family asked Columbus Starkey, their closest neighbor, for permission to bury the child on the Starkey family land. Another of the Wells children died that same year and was also interred here. The property soon became a community cemetery. B. L., Columbus and Napoleon Starkey organized a Methodist church on this site in the 1870s. By 1875, those interred here included members of the Mounts, Lemons and Flatt families. The first of the Starkeys to be interred on this site were twins Helen and Ellen, daughters of Napoleon and M. C. Starkey, who died and were buried in 1886. The Starkey community school, attended by students from surrounding areas, was funded by the Starkey family. Matilda Ellen McKinney Sloss, born in 1850, came to the area as a young girl. In a 1940 interview with another church member, "Grandmother Sloss" related much of the oral history that is known about this area in the 19th century. Starkey church and cemetery remain active as a place of worship and burial ground as well as a chronicle of the area's pioneer settlers. (1999)