County Line Cemetery
Harleton, Harrison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Early settlers to this area included: Eli Henderson McCoy, who came from North Carolina in 1859 and later served in the Confederate Army; Jeremiah Brisco Ormes, who arrived from Mississippi in the 1850s; and Jessie Pierce, who came from Georgia around 1870. These men and their families established what became known as the Crossroads community near the Harrison-Upshur county line. Early residents founded the County Line Baptist Church, affiliated with the Soda Lake Association. They also established the County Line Cemetery on land donated by Dr. T.B. and Buena Vista (Craver) Burford. Although the original deed was lost, Burford descendants formally deeded the land to the church and cemetery again in 1959. The number of unmarked graves indicated some may predate the earliest marked one, that of Eli Henderson McCoy (d. 1863). Other tombstones also reflect military service, as well as memberships in fraternal organizations. Unique graves include two early stone cairns. Maintained by descendants of those buried here, County Line Cemetery is an important link to generations of area residents and the stories of their lives. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the years around the Civil War, settlers drawn from North Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia gathered near the Harrison–Upshur county line to form the Crossroads community, founding a Baptist church and this cemetery on land given by Dr. T.B. Burford. The earliest marked grave belongs to Eli Henderson McCoy, who came from North Carolina in 1859, served in the Confederate Army, and died in 1863. Tombstones bearing military and fraternal emblems—and two rare stone cairns—record the lives of the families who built the settlement.
Why it matters
County Line Cemetery captures a Southern frontier community formed on the eve of the Civil War, its graves tracing migration, faith, and wartime service in one small East Texas neighborhood.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Eli Henderson McCoy
- · Jeremiah Brisco Ormes
- · T.B. Burford
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Shady Grove Cemetery
Winnsboro, TX
One of the oldest burial grounds in Wood County, Shady Grove served the pioneer community of the same name, whose leading settler Reuben Elledge arrived around 1845 and helped organize the county as a commissioner and judge. In 1850 he donated land for a school and Methodist church, and an acre was later set aside for this cemetery, where young Bobby Scoggins—drowned in 1855—may be the earliest burial. Rock cairns, obelisks, Woodmen of the World stones, and graves of Civil War veterans mark the site of early settlement.
Bell-Fountain Cemetery
DeBerry, TX
This East Texas farming community grew up around the early Kinlock post office, its settlers sharing a five-acre burial ground deeded to the Bell-Fountain Baptist Church, founded before the Civil War. The earliest marked grave, a child who died in 1850, and the several Confederate veterans laid to rest here mark the sweep of pioneer life through the war years. After the church burned in 1880 and the congregation dispersed, descendants preserved the site, fencing the plot and raising a tabernacle where the church once stood.
Lockridge Cemetery
Henderson, TX
Henry T. Lockridge settled in Rusk County in the 1850s and, after serving in the Confederate Army, bought the land in 1863 where he and his wife Jane spent the rest of their lives. The family cemetery on that property holds its oldest marked grave from 1881, though earlier burials are believed to lie there. Long inactive after the 1940s, it saw new burials again beginning in 2004, and much of the surrounding land is still owned by Lockridge descendants.
Smith Cemetery
Tyler, TX
This burial ground grew from land granted to Mary M. "Polly" Long by the State of Texas in 1846, part of which her son preserved as a cemetery when he sold the tract in 1881. In use as early as 1857, it holds the graves of local settlers, many of them Long relatives and neighbors, including early county commissioner William Green and Civil War veterans. Its name honors the many members of the Smith family laid to rest among the pioneers here.