Guiceland Cemetery
Houston County, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery was established about 1871, when William Guice, infant son of Benjamin and Caston Dania Guice, was buried on family land. The oldest tombstone is that of George W. Brightman (1830-1877). Hundreds of members of the Guiceland Community are buried here, including veterans of the Texas Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam. A one-room building at the site served as a school and location for funeral services until 1908. A tabernacle built in 1936 was replaced by a new building in 1959.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Guiceland Cemetery began about 1871 with the burial of the infant William Guice on family land, and it grew into the resting place of hundreds from the surrounding community. Its graves hold veterans of nearly every American conflict from the Texas Revolution through Vietnam, alongside the settlers who farmed this corner of Houston County. A one-room building here once doubled as school and funeral chapel, later joined by a community tabernacle.
Why it matters
A single country cemetery can gather generations of a community's service and sacrifice, tracing the American story from the frontier through the wars of the twentieth century.
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Related people
- · William Guice
- · George W. Brightman
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Joseph T. Bowman
Houston County, TX
Joseph T. Bowman came to Texas in 1835 as the son of Jesse B. Bowman, who would die defending the Alamo. That December he signed the Goliad Declaration of Independence calling for Texas to break free, and after the revolution he served in the army of the Republic of Texas. He settled with his family in the Houston County area around 1845.
Parker Cemetery
Grapeland, TX
Willis Parker migrated from North Carolina to this part of Texas in the 1850s, drawing kin behind him, and his death around 1857 prompted his parents to set aside family land as a burial ground. The oldest surviving tombstone belongs to his father, dating to 1861. Among the more than four hundred marked and unmarked graves rest members of the Parker and allied families, including veterans of the Civil War and both World Wars.
Joseph Randolph Yarbrough
Grapeland, TX
A native of Louisiana, Joseph Randolph Yarbrough served in the Texas War for Independence, standing guard at the camp opposite Harrisburg during the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. He and his father signed the 1837 petition that created Houston County, and after marrying Phebe Clementine Crawford in 1840, he settled near Grapeland and raised a family of eleven children. His life traces the arc from revolutionary soldier to founding settler.
Dickerson Parker
Elkhart, TX
Born in Tennessee in 1812, Dickerson Parker fought at the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive 1836 clash that won Texas its independence, before his death in 1844. His wife, Lucinda Eaton Parker, is remembered with him. Both were part of the earliest Anglo settlement of Anderson County.