Breckenridge Cemetery
Breckenridge, Stephens County, Texas
Marker Inscription
THE FIRST BURIAL HERE, FOR DR. ALEXANDER MILLER, DATES FROM DEC. 27, 1872. W. R. BROWN OFFICIALLY PATENTED THE LAND FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS IN 1881 AND BEGAN SELLING CEMETERY PLOTS. THE CEMETERY WAS DEDICATED AS OAKLAWN CEMETERY IN 1926; SOME EARLY BURIALS ALSO REFER TO EAST SIDE CEMETERY. THE CEMETERY EXPANDED IN THE 1940s, AND IN 1952 THE CEMETERY ASSOCIATION DEEDED THE PROPERTY TO THE CITY OF BRECKENRIDGE. GRAVE MARKERS ARE PRIMARILY SANDSTONE, MARBLE, LIMESTONE, GRANITE AND BRONZE. VETERANS FROM THE TEXAS REVOLUTION TO THE PRESENT ARE INTERRED HERE. TODAY, THE ONLY CEMETERY IN THE CITY LIMITS NUMBERS MORE THAN 10,000 GRAVES, REFLECTING A CONTINUUM OF THE AREA’S HISTORY FROM PIONEER TIMES TO THE MODERN DAY.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Breckenridge Cemetery began with the burial of Dr. Alexander Miller in December 1872, and W. R. Brown patented the land and began selling plots in 1881. Formally dedicated as Oaklawn in 1926, it passed to the City of Breckenridge in 1952 and has grown to more than 10,000 graves. Veterans from the Texas Revolution to the present rest among its sandstone, marble, and granite markers.
Why it matters
As the community's enduring burial ground, the cemetery is a continuous record of a Texas town from its pioneer beginnings to the modern day.
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Related people
- · Alexander Miller
- · W. R. Brown
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
South Prairie Cemetery
Breckenridge, TX
Founded in 1880, this cemetery served South Prairie, a settlement that once had homes, a post office, blacksmith, store, and school before fading as nearby Ivan and Eliasville drew its people away. Its oldest grave belongs to six-month-old Birddie G. Norton, and among the rest lie pioneers and veterans of the Civil War and both World Wars. A cemetery association keeps it up as the community's last visible trace.
Veales Creek Cemetery
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Named for the Veale brothers who came from Palo Pinto County in the late 1850s to round up unclaimed Texas cattle, this creek and its cemetery mark an early pioneer settlement in Stephens County. Beginning with a two-acre gift in 1891 and marked graves dating to 1879, the burial ground served the community alongside the nearby Veales Creek School until 1947. Among those laid to rest here are veterans of the Civil War through Vietnam, and a descendants' association has cared for the grounds since 1979.
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Dr. Jack Shackelford
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