Concord Cemetery
Troup, Cherokee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1845, people settled the eastern portion of Texas because of inexpensive land and available water. In 1847, Reverend Richard Martin, an early Concord settler, and Reverend W.P. Henry established the Trinity Presbytery in the area. Both Martin and Henry provided ministers on horseback to Mound Prairie near Palestine to below Crockett. Early settlers worshipped in a brush arbor on the banks of Clear Springs Creek which is now known as Camp Ground Creek. Settlers built a permanent church that also served as a school, but around 1870 the building was destroyed by fire. A new church was built one and one-half miles north on the present location adjacent to the Concord Cemetery. Samuel Johnston donated two acres to the board of school directors to build a public school. in 1891 Wesley and Emma Martin donated acreage for the cemetery, but several graves had already existed. Additional land was deeded in 1933 by Taylor and Francis Martin and in 1967 by Elmer D. Martin. The oldest burials are located in the middle section and marked with tall vertical stones. The oldest documented grave is of William Moses who died in 1878. Many veterans who served in the Civil War, World War I and II, Korea and Vietnam are also buried in the cemetery. Notable veterans include Dr. Simeon Kee, medical corps in Galveston; Reverend Lewis Holcomb, Liken’s Texas Cavalry; and Emerson Draper, Company B, 1874th English BN. The cemetery provides a record of the area’s pioneer families and is still used by their descendants. Before the annual July meeting, it is a tradition to visit the cemetery onSaturday to make sure the graves are clean and in order, and to place flowers on the gravesites. Family members are dedicated to preserving and maintaining the cultural and historical traditions of the cemetery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Settlers drawn by cheap land and good water reached this part of East Texas in the 1840s, worshipping first in a brush arbor by Camp Ground Creek before building a church that doubled as a school. The Concord Cemetery grew alongside that congregation, its oldest documented grave dating to 1878, and land was deeded to it by the Martin family across the decades. Buried here are veterans of the Civil War, both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam, tended each year in a cleaning tradition kept by pioneer families' descendants.
Why it matters
The cemetery preserves the layered memory of an East Texas pioneer community and the generations of its sons who served in America's wars from the 1860s onward.
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Related people
- · Richard Martin
- · W.P. Henry
- · William Moses
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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