Stephens Cemetery

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm goin' straight off what the official marker says, so here's the story of Stephens Cemetery, just as it was recorded. Now, William Henry Stephens was born in 1826, and his wife Elizabeth Dockery in 1827, and somewhere along the way they decided Kentucky wasn't the end of the road. In the early 1860s, they packed up and came to this part of Parker County, and they didn't come alone.

They brought their sons with them: Shelby, Hugh, Nathan, and Jonas, and together, that family put down roots. They established a farm, the kind of place built by hands you know and trust. But here's where the story turns quiet.

In 1876, Hugh Stephens died. He was twenty-nine years old. They buried him right there on the family farm, and that grave (Hugh's grave) became the first documented burial in what would come to be known as the Stephens family cemetery.

Think about that for a moment. A young man, twenty-nine years old, gone before the century turned, and his resting place became the foundation of something that would outlast nearly everyone who knew his name. William Henry himself would follow in 1891.

Elizabeth had already gone before him, in 1888. The farm had seen joy and harvest and loss, and the ground held all of it. Today, only four graves carry legible stones.

Four. But those who study such things believe at least twenty-seven family members are interred in that cemetery. Twenty-seven souls, most of them marked only by memory and time and the particular silence of old ground.

And yet the place hasn't been forgotten. Descendants still maintain that historic graveyard. The Stephens family came out of Kentucky in the early 1860s, built something real, and their people have been tending it ever since.

Some legacies are written in stone. Some are written in the act of coming back to cut the grass.

What the marker says

William Henry Stephens (1826-1891) and his wife Elizabeth Dockery (1827-1888) came to this area from Kentucky in the early 1860s. Together with their sons Shelby, Hugh, Nathan, and Jonas, they established a family farm. In 1876, at the age of 29, Hugh Stephens died and was buried on the family farm. His is the earliest documented burial in the Stephens family cemetery. Although only four graves are marked with legible stones, it is believed that at least twenty-seven family members are interred here. Descendants maintain the historic graveyard. (1989)