Campbell-Elrod Cemetery
Barry, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Land for this cemetery was given to the Harmony Methodist Church in 1855 by Navarro county pioneer David Wilson Campbell. Ten acres were donated to the church trustees, with part to be set aside as a graveyard and known as Campbell Cemetery. David Campbell was buried here in 1879. The land was conveyed to J. M. and Eunice Elrod in 1908. They gave the land containing the cemetery back to the church in 1914. Although there are some unmarked graves, the earliest documented burial is that of Ensly Willis (1856-1859). Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Navarro County pioneer David Wilson Campbell donated ten acres to the Harmony Methodist Church in 1855, setting part aside as a burial ground that came to bear his name. Campbell himself was laid to rest here in 1879, among marked and unmarked graves of early settlers, the earliest documented being a child who died in 1859.
Why it matters
Frontier cemeteries like this one are the enduring records of the first families who settled the Texas prairie, often the only trace left of vanished pioneer communities.
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Related people
- · David Wilson Campbell
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
David Wilson Campbell
Barry, TX
David Wilson Campbell left Georgia for a still-young, still-contested Texas in 1835, arriving just as the fight for independence from Mexico was breaking open. He shouldered a musket with the Texas army in 1836, then traded soldiering for the plow, breaking ground as one of Navarro County's early farmers. In 1845 he deeded ten acres to the Harmony Methodist Church, and a corner of that gift became the family cemetery where generations of Campbells now rest.
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Barry Baptist Church
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