Strong Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just as it stands. Out in Rusk County, there's a patch of ground called Strong Cemetery, and the story of that place goes back further than most people stop to think about. It begins with a Georgia native by the name of John Strong, born in 1806, who made his way to Texas and became a pioneer leader of the Church Hill community nearby.

He was the kind of man a place gets named after. He died in 1854, and here is the part that quietly stops you in your tracks: the earliest marked grave in that cemetery doesn't belong to John Strong himself. It belongs to his grandson, a little boy named John A.

Young, who died in 1853, the year before his grandfather. John A. Young was the son of William and S.E.

Young, she being born a Strong, known to family as Betty. The grandson got there first. Now, after John Strong was gone, it fell to his widow, Mary Strong, born a Whatley in 1809, to give this ground its official purpose.

In 1877, she designated three acres at the site as a cemetery, formal and proper. Mary Strong lived until 1898, long enough to see that ground hold a great many stories. And there's one more layer here that deserves to be spoken plainly.

The north section of that burial ground was first used for the interment of slaves. That's part of this cemetery's history too, and the marker doesn't look away from it, and neither should we. The cemetery was enlarged in 1950 and today it serves both family members and area residents.

One piece of land, carrying all of that, right there in Rusk County.

What the marker says

This cemetery originally served the family of Georgia native John Strong (1806-1854), a pioneer leader of the nearby Church Hill community. The earliest marked grave is that of his grandson John A. Young (d.1853), the son of William and S.E. "Betty" (Strong) Young. Three acres at this site were officially designated as a cemetery in 1877 by Strong's widow Mary (Whatley) (1809-1898). The north section of the burial ground was first used for the interment of slaves. Enlarged in 1950, the Strong Cemetery is now used by family members and area residents.