Union Grove Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Smith County, there's a piece of ground that's been holding stories for well over a hundred years. It starts, like so many good things do, with people deciding to show up.

On September 25, 1887, local residents gathered in the Old Stone Schoolhouse. Twelve of them. Twelve charter members who walked out of that meeting having organized Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church.

Twelve names, one purpose, and a whole lot of future ahead of them. Now, a church needs a home, and a community needs a place to lay its people down. That part came in 1905, when T.W. and Laura Marshall, and J.J. and Mattie Suber donated land to trustees Arthur O'Neal and L.C.

Shuttlesworth, for the church and for a cemetery. Four people giving something permanent so that something permanent could exist. The oldest marked graves in that cemetery belong to Jesse Richard Thompson and Mary Ann Worley Richardson, both dating to 1904.

The ground was already keeping watch before the deed was ever signed. Among those buried there, you'll find Albert Green Pullium, a Confederate veteran, who died in 1918. And alongside him, in a manner of speaking, rest veterans of World War I, World War II, and the Korean Conflict.

Different wars. Different eras. The same ground, the same quiet.

The church building standing there today dates to 1924. And in 1972, a cemetery association formed to oversee maintenance and the homecoming activities held on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekends. They've added a pavilion since then.

Donated more land. The place keeps growing, even as it keeps remembering. That's the thing about Union Grove Cemetery.

For more than a century, families and local residents have gathered there to worship, to remember, to pay respects to those of the past, and to visit with loved ones. The marker says it plain: churches and burial grounds serve as centers of rural communities. Some places don't just hold history.

They hold people together. This is one of them.

What the marker says

On Sept. 25, 1887, local residents met in the Old Stone Schoolhouse to organize Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church with 12 charter members. In 1905, T.W. and Laura Marshall, and J.J. and Mattie Suber donated land to trustees Arthur O' Neal and L.C. Shuttlesworth for the church and cemetery. The oldest marked graves, for Jesse Richard Thompson and Mary Ann (Worley) Richardson, date to 1904. Other burials include those of Confederate veteran Albert Green Pullium (d. 1918) and veterans of World Wars I and II, and the Korean Conflict. The present church building dates to 1924.A cemetery association formed in 1972 oversees maintenance and homecoming activities on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekends. Recent changes to the historic cemetery include a pavilion and enlargement of the property with an additional donation of land.For more than a century, families and local residents have gathered here to remember, to worship, to pay respects to those of the past and to visit with loved ones. Union Grove Cemetery serves as an important historical reminder of the role churches and burial grounds play as centers of rural communities.Historic Texas Cemetery-2004