Tubb Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how that official marker reads, in my telling. Somewhere in Leon County, there's a patch of ground that's been holding stories since before the Civil War, and the marker out front calls it Tubb Cemetery. Now, two men lent their names to this place.

Elisha Floyd Tubb, born 1805, died 1862, and G. W. Tubb, born 1818, died 1896.

Early area landowners, both of them, and both of them are right there in the ground they once walked on. That's a particular kind of permanence. But here's where things get interesting, because the first documented burial in this cemetery isn't a Tubb at all.

It's a man named Joel D. Leathers, born 1795, died 1849. And Joel didn't just wander into Leon County by accident.

According to oral tradition, he and his wife Mary were sent here by General Sam Houston himself, because Joel could speak several Indian dialects. Now the marker doesn't say more than that, but you sit with that detail a moment. General Sam Houston.

Several dialects. Sent here. That's a man who carried something rare and useful, and somebody knew it.

Mary Leathers, born 1800, died 1865, is buried here alongside him. You look around that cemetery and the gravestones tell you more. There are markers reflecting military service from the Civil War, from World War I, from World War II.

Generation after generation, the people of the nearby communities of Malvern, Nineveh, and Oakwood brought their dead here. The Tubb Cemetery Association keeps the place today. It's a burial ground that started with a frontier appointment from a general, grew through wars and decades, and it's still tended.

Some places just hold on.

What the marker says

Tubb Cemetery was named for early area landowners Elisha Floyd Tubb (1805-1862) and G. W. Tubb (1818-1896), who are both interred here. The first documented burial is that of Joel D. Leathers (1795-1849); his wife, Mary Leathers (1800-1865), is also buried here. According to oral tradition, they were sent here by General Sam Houston because Joel could speak several Indian dialects. Gravestones in the cemetery reflect the military service of Civil War, World War I and World War II veterans. The burial ground has served the nearby communities of Malvern, Nineveh and Oakwood and is maintained by the Tubb Cemetery Association. (2001)