Greenbrier Cemetery
Madisonville, Madison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Lillis Jane and James C. Colwell deeded one acre of land at this site for a community school in 1884. When their four-year-old daughter, Callie Lorena, died in 1888, part of the school property was set aside for a cemetery. A two-room schoolhouse stood beside the cemetery from about 1890 until the 1940s, when Greenbrier began to decline. The cemetery contains the graves of over 200 pioneer settlers and their descendants, as well as veterans of the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean War. It has been cared for by the Greenbrier Cemetery Association since 1939.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1884 James C. and Lillis Jane Colwell deeded an acre for a community school, and when their four-year-old daughter Callie Lorena died in 1888, part of that land became a cemetery. A two-room schoolhouse stood beside the graves from about 1890 until the 1940s, when the Greenbrier community faded. The cemetery holds more than two hundred pioneer settlers and their descendants, along with veterans from the Civil War through the Korean War.
Why it matters
The intertwined school and graveyard capture how a single family's grief and generosity built the shared institutions at the heart of a rural community.
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Related people
- · James C. Colwell
- · Lillis Jane Colwell
- · Callie Lorena Colwell
Themes & tags
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