DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Stoneham Cemetery in Grimes County. Now, every good piece of ground has a story buried in it, and this one's no different. It starts with a man named Franklin Jarvis Greenwood — born in 1804, and the kind of fellow who showed up in Texas early, arriving in 1829 when this land was still a frontier proposition.
Greenwood donated a piece of his land for a cemetery, and in those days the place went by the name High Point, after a settlement nearby. A modest name. Quiet.
The kind of name that doesn't prepare you for what comes next. The first known interments in that ground were Greenwood's own daughters — Mary Anne, born in 1840, and Harriet. Both of them died in 1856.
Of cholera. You let that sit a moment. A father who gave land for a resting place, and among the first to need it were his own children.
The cemetery held more than grief from cholera, though. Yellow fever came through too, and the graves of those victims were specially marked — a precaution taken to avoid spreading the epidemic further. The ground itself became a kind of warning.
Among all who were laid to rest there, many were descendants of Stephen F. Austin's colonists, people whose roots in Texas ran deep into the earliest chapter of settlement. The place was called High Point for a good while.
Then came 1879, and a man named John H. Stoneham — born in 1829, died in 1894 — gave land for the railroad. After that, both the cemetery and the town took his name.
Stoneham. Simple as that. One man donates land, a place gets its name.
Another man donates land, the name changes. This old cemetery has been holding the stories of both of them ever since.
What the marker says
Franklin Jarvis Greenwood (1804-1882), who came to Texas in 1829, donated land for this cemetery. It was originally called "High Point" for a nearby settlement. The first known interments were Greenwood's daughters Mary Anne (b. 1840) and Harriet. They died in 1856 of cholera. Graves of yellow fever victims were specially marked to avoid spread of the epidemic. Many burials are descendants of Stephen F. Austin colonists. The name of the cemetery and town changed to "Stoneham" after John H. Stoneham (1829-1894) gave land for the railroad in 1879. (1978)