Glenwood Cemetery
Crockett, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Crockett's Oldest Burial Ground - Glenwood Cemetery. In original townsite of Crockett. Opened soon after Houston County was created and the county seat founded in 1837. Burials include early Texas heroes and statesmen; a friend visited by David Crockett on way to the Alamo; a grandnephew of U.S. of U.S. President Monroe; and city's first elected major.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Glenwood Cemetery opened soon after Houston County was carved out and Crockett was named county seat in 1837, during the days of the Republic of Texas. As the town's oldest burial ground, it holds early Texas heroes and statesmen, a man who is said to have been visited by David Crockett on his way to the Alamo, a grandnephew of President Monroe, and the town's first elected mayor. Its weathered stones map the founding generation of this East Texas community.
Why it matters
A burial ground reaching back to the Republic of Texas, it preserves the founders and folklore of a frontier county seat and its brush with the legend of the Alamo.
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Related people
- · David Crockett
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
George G. Alford
Crockett, TX
A New York native and War of 1812 officer, George G. Alford came to Texas in 1836 and served as quartermaster general under Sam Houston during the Texas Revolution. Captured by Mexican forces on a later supply mission for the young Republic, he won his release through the intervention of President Andrew Jackson, then settled into life as a plantation owner and county judge.
Glenwood Cemetery (North Sector)
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This northern section belongs to Glenwood Cemetery, opened in the original townsite of Crockett soon after Houston County and its county seat were established in 1837. Among its burials are early Texas heroes and statesmen, a man said to have been visited by David Crockett en route to the Alamo, a grandnephew of President Monroe, and the town's first elected mayor. The grounds hold the founding generation of this East Texas community.
John Edward Nite_Lucy Stepp Nite
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John Edward Nite, born in North Carolina, married Georgia native Lucy Stepp in 1826 and set out for Texas from Tennessee in 1835 — robbed of $1,800 in gold along the way, yet still able to secure over 1,500 acres along the Trinity River by 1838. John served as captain of a Home Guard Ranger unit and later as the area's mail carrier, while the couple helped found a school for their eight children and their neighbors' families. Their story is that of the striving pioneer families who settled Houston County in the Republic era.
John Lawrence Hall
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A Maryland native who came to Texas in 1831, John Lawrence Hall soldiered through the tumultuous years of Texas independence and after, serving in the Texas Army during the revolution, again under the Republic, and in the war with Mexico in 1846. He parlayed the land grants earned for military service into a career as a successful land speculator. A Mason and friend of Sam Houston, he ran a thriving hotel in Crockett and helped petition for the creation of Houston County.