Suggs Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Suggs Cemetery, out in Robertson County. Calvin A. Suggs and his family made their way to Texas from Georgia in the late 1860s.

They settled in this area around 1868, and Suggs purchased eighty acres of land. Eighty acres. That's not a small bet on a new place.

Out of that land, a cemetery took root, and it became the principal burial ground for the Black Jack community. Not for a generation, not for a few decades. For over a century.

There's something in that worth sitting with for a moment. The oldest grave here that anybody's been able to document belongs to Jera William McWilliams, who died on October 11, 1880. That's the oldest one with a record to its name.

But this ground holds more than documented graves. Many pioneer settlers of this area are interred here, some in marked graves, some in unmarked ones. Names the land is keepin for itself.

Suggs Cemetery is what the marker calls a reminder of the area's early heritage, and that's exactly right. Calvin A. Suggs came out of Georgia, put down roots, bought eighty acres, and the community built something lasting on that land.

Not a building, not a road. A place to lay their people down. That tends to outlast just about everything else.

What the marker says

Calvin A. Suggs and his family came to Texas from Georgia in the late 1860s. They settled in this area about 1868, and Suggs purchased eighty acres of land. This cemetery was established on Suggs' land and has served as the principal burial ground for the Black Jack community for over a century. The oldest documented grave here is that of Jera William McWilliams, who died on October 11, 1880. Many pioneer settlers of this area are interred in the Suggs Cemetery in marked and unmarked graves. It serves as a reminder of the area's early heritage.