Hardy Cemetery
Wiergate, Newton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
JOSEPH LANE (c. 1771 – c. 1850) WAS THE FIRST BURIAL IN THIS RURAL CEMETERY. HIS SON, GREEN LANE, RESERVED A GRAVE YARD MEASURING 20 BY 20 FEET IN AN 1853 DEED TO KENNETH A.P. HARDY. THE SECOND GRAVE IS FOR JAMES PERSINGER HARDY (1795-1855), WHO SERVED IN CAPT. PRICE’S UNIT OF KENTUCKY VOLUNTEERS IN THE ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS IN MAY 1836 AND AS A NEWTON COUNTY COMMISSIONER FROM 1852 UNTIL HIS DEATH. IN AN 1888 DEED, G.J.P. HARDY EXPANDED THE CEMETERY TO TWO ACRES. FEATURES INCLUDE A WROUGHT IRON FENCE, SIX GRAVESTONES WITH NAMES, AND 22 GRAVES WITH IRON ORE STONES MARKING UNKNOWN NAMES. THE LAST BURIAL, FOR T.C. HARDY, DATES FROM 1927. TODAY, THE CEMETERY HONORS EARLY SETTLERS WHO CARVED THEIR LIVES OUT OF THE SURROUNDING FOREST.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This piney-woods burial ground began with the grave of Joseph Lane around 1850, and in 1853 his son set aside a small plot that grew over the decades into a two-acre family and community cemetery. Among those buried here is James Persinger Hardy, who served with Kentucky volunteers in the Army of the Republic of Texas in 1836 and later as a Newton County commissioner. Wrought iron, a handful of inscribed stones, and rows of iron-ore rocks marking unknown graves recall the settlers who wrested their living from the surrounding forest.
Why it matters
Rural cemeteries like this one are the most durable record of the ordinary pioneer families who cleared and settled East Texas, preserving names and service that would otherwise be lost.
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Related people
- · Joseph Lane
- · James Persinger Hardy
Themes & tags
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