Eureka Cemetery
Eureka, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Settlement in this area began in the 1840s. J. F. and J. M. Floyd, members of the local Richland Associate Reform Presbyterian Church organized in 1876, donated land here in 1878 for church and graveyard purposes. The first recorded burial was that of infant Nellie E. Sloan in 1885. The cemetery has been enlarged over the years and in 1995 contained about 13 acres. Buried here are local religious, education, and business leaders, elected officials, and veterans of conflicts ranging from the Civil War to World War II. The cemetery is maintained by the Eureka Cemetery Association. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845 - 1995
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Settlement in this Navarro County area began in the 1840s, and in 1878 members of the local Richland Associate Reform Presbyterian Church received donated land for a church and graveyard. The first recorded burial, in 1885, was of infant Nellie E. Sloan, and the cemetery grew to about thirteen acres by 1995. It holds the graves of local religious, educational, and business leaders alongside veterans of conflicts from the Civil War to World War II.
Why it matters
Rural cemeteries like this one are the enduring civic record of a settlement's founders, faiths, and the wars its people answered.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Davidson Family Cemetery
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William and Jane Davidson brought their family from Mississippi to Texas in 1851, settling by the late 1850s on hundreds of acres in southeastern Navarro County. The Davidsons prospered as sheep farmers and ranchers in cattle country—earning the nickname "Grangers" for their likely ties to the farmers' fraternal order—while two sons rode off to serve in the 20th Texas Cavalry during the Civil War. Set aside in 1861, this fenced family plot with its stone obelisks holds the graves of the pioneer parents and several of their descendants.
Eureka Methodist Church
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Circuit-riding ministers served scattered Methodist settlers in this Navarro County area before the Civil War, and by the 1880s a formal congregation had formed. In 1881 the church acquired land from Mark H. Bird to build a sanctuary and establish a graveyard now known as Bird Cemetery. After winds destroyed the first sanctuary, the congregation moved to this site in 1902 and has served the community ever since.
Dunn-Johnston Cemetery
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James and Isabella Dunn brought their family to Texas in 1832, and their son James Dunn, Jr., moved to Navarro County in 1850 with his wife and his cousin David J. Johnston. A log building known as Dunn's Schoolhouse rose nearby in that decade, and the cemetery began with the 1865 burial of James Jr. on his own property. His wife and members of the Johnston family, several in unmarked graves, joined him here among the area's earliest settlers.
Long Prairie Cemetery
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