Younger Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Younger Cemetery in Navarro County. Alexander Younger was born in North Carolina in 1786, and if you'd told him as a young man that he'd one day be putting down roots in the Texas soil, he might have laughed you right off the porch. But that's exactly what happened.

He and his wife Jane Merchant Younger, born in 1798, came to Texas in 1847. They settled first in what is now Ellis County, where they were granted land in the Peters colony. That's a start.

But a start is just that, and by 1850 the Youngers had packed up and moved to Navarro County, where they got serious about farming. Now, land and family go together in a certain way out here, and the Youngers understood that. In 1854, they set aside a portion of the family farm as a cemetery.

The occasion was the burial of their son, George Worthington Younger, born in 1820. What began as a family burial ground didn't stay private for long. The community had needs, and the Youngers answered them, making the cemetery available to local residents.

About 1860, adjacent property, now known as Woodward Cemetery, was first used for the burial of slaves. That ground carries its own weight of history, and it deserves to be said plainly. Alexander Younger himself lived until 1866, and Jane lived on until 1881, long enough to see what that patch of Navarro County earth was becoming.

Over time, additions came through land purchases and through donations from the J. S. Callicutt family and descendants of the Younger family themselves.

Ten acres in all, now, holding over sixteen hundred graves. Pioneer settlers. Early leaders of the Purdon area.

People who built something here and then were laid to rest in the same soil they worked. The cemetery is still in use today, and every May it draws people back for an annual memorial service and homecoming. Some places just hold on to what matters.

Younger Cemetery is one of them.

What the marker says

North Carolina native Alexander Younger (1786-1866) and his wife Jane Merchant (Hancock) (1798-1881) came to Texas in 1847. They first settled in present Ellis County, where they were granted land in the Peters colony. By 1850 they had moved to Navarro County and had begun farming here. This area of the family farm was set aside as a cemetery in 1854 for the burial of the Youngers' son George Worthington Younger (b. 1820). Maintained originally as a family burial ground, it was later made available for use by local residents. About 1860 adjacent property, now known as Woodward Cemetery, was first used for the burial of slaves. Additions to the cemetery have been made through land purchases and through donations from the J. S. Callicutt family and Younger family descendants. The community burial ground now covers about ten acres and contains over 1600 graves. Those buried here include many pioneer settlers and early leaders of the Purdon area. Still in use, the Younger Cemetery has served area residents since before the Civil War. Today it is the site of an annual memorial service and homecoming held each May.