Greenview Community and Cemetery
Miller Grove, Hopkins County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1839 the Rev. Green Weaver (1795-1863), a prosperous merchant and slave holder from Illinois and Iowa, settled here with his four sons. A Christian church minister, the Rev. Weaver performed marriages and visited sick neighbors. He married Nancy McCorry and built a two-room log cabin. An old wagon trail from Shreveport crossed their plantation. The first burial in 1848 was that of the Weavers' five-month-old daughter Martha. The plot was placed near the home so her mother could walk to the grave. Only family members were interred here until 1878 when the burial ground was opened to the public. In 1884 the Rev. Weaver's son Joseph gave land for a church. The neighbors donated the lumber and constructed this community house. It served as a church building and school. That same year, "Weaver Neighborhood Cemetery" was renamed "Greenview" by Mary and Weaver Mosely. She chose "Green" in memory of her father and "View" for the sight from the old homestead. The Greenview School operated until 1914 when it was consolidated. This free public cemetery of more than 1200 graves is still in use. Memorial services are held here the first Sunday in July. (1979) Historic Texas Cemetery medallion (2014)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1839 the Rev. Green Weaver, a merchant, minister, and slaveholder, brought his family to this Hopkins County land and built a two-room log cabin along an old wagon trail from Shreveport. The family burial ground began in 1848 with the grave of the Weavers' infant daughter, placed close to home so her mother could walk to it, and opened to the public in 1878. A community grew up around the church and school that the Weavers' descendants helped establish, and the renamed Greenview Cemetery still holds more than 1,200 graves.
Why it matters
It preserves the layered story of a pioneer family whose farm, faith, and burial ground seeded a lasting rural Texas community.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In 1839, when the Rev. Green Weaver settled here, the area that became Hopkins County was frontier country in the Republic of Texas. Northeast Texas was drawing settlers from the American South and Midwest, who came by wagon along rough trails. Many of them came out of Louisiana, and the trail from Shreveport that crossed the Weaver land was one of those overland routes.
Life in these years was built around family, farm and faith. Settlers put up log cabins and cleared fields. Ministers like Weaver often travelled among scattered households, marrying couples, visiting the sick and holding services long before towns had churches of their own.
The marker plainly notes that Weaver was a slaveholder. His farm, which the marker calls a plantation, was part of a society in which slavery was legal and central to the economy. The enslaved people who lived and worked on this land are part of the site's history too, even though their names are not recorded on the marker.
After the Civil War and into the late nineteenth century, rural Texas communities gradually built shared institutions like churches, schools and public cemeteries. Greenview's story follows that arc, from one family's homestead to a neighborhood center.
People & events
The Rev. Green Weaver lived from 1795 to 1863. He had been a prosperous merchant in Illinois and Iowa before coming to Texas in 1839 with his four sons. A minister of the Christian church, he did the work of a frontier pastor, performing marriages and visiting neighbors in sickness. He married Nancy McCorry, and they made their home in a simple two-room log cabin.
The cemetery began with a heartbreaking loss. In 1848 the Weavers' daughter Martha died at just five months old. She was buried close to the house so that her mother could walk to the grave. It is one of the most tender details on any Texas marker. Frontier families lost many children, and burial grounds often began exactly this way, beside the home.
For thirty years only family members were buried there. In 1878 the burial ground was opened to the public, and it became a resting place for the whole surrounding community. In 1884 Weaver's son Joseph gave land for a church. The neighbors donated lumber and built a community house that served both as church and school.
That same year the "Weaver Neighborhood Cemetery" got a new name. Mary and Weaver Mosely chose "Greenview": "Green" in memory of her father, the Rev. Green Weaver, and "View" for the sight from the old homestead. The Greenview School lasted until 1914, when it was consolidated.
Its place in the American story
Greenview's story shows how countless American rural communities came to be. There was no founding charter or grand plan, only a family homestead, a grave, a donated plot of land and neighbors pooling lumber. Places like this were the building blocks of rural America, and their churches and schools were often the only public buildings for miles.
The closing of the Greenview School in 1914 reflects a national trend. In the early twentieth century, states across the country began consolidating one-room and small rural schools into larger districts. It was meant to improve education. It also often took away a small community's central gathering place.
The site also reflects the country's hard history. The Rev. Weaver was a minister and a slaveholder, a combination that was common in the antebellum South. Honest local history keeps both facts in view, and this marker does so plainly.
Finally, Greenview is a living example of a tradition found across the South: community cemeteries kept up by descendants and neighbors, with a yearly gathering to remember the dead. The first-Sunday-in-July memorial service ties today's families to 1848.
If you visit
Greenview Cemetery is a free public cemetery, still in use, with more than 1,200 graves. Visit quietly and respectfully, remembering that families still come here to mourn. The site carries both a 1979 marker and a Historic Texas Cemetery designation from 2014.
As you walk, look for the oldest stones and think about little Martha's grave, the first burial in 1848, placed near the home so her mother could reach it. The Mosely naming story invites you to look around, too. Try to picture the "view" from the old homestead that gave Greenview half its name.
This is rural Hopkins County, and the drive itself is part of the experience: farmland, quiet roads and small communities that grew from settlements much like this one. It makes a thoughtful stop on a back-roads tour of Northeast Texas.
If you're nearby on the first Sunday in July, you may find the community gathered for its annual memorial service. It's a rare chance to see a tradition that has kept this place alive for well over a century.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Rev. Green Weaver
Themes & tags
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