Hightower Cemetery
Morgan Mill, Erath County, Texas
Marker Inscription
John Bryan McPheres Hightower was born in December 1822 in Georgia. By 1846, he lived in Red River, Texas with his father and brother. Three years later, he wed Mary E. Morris in Cherokee County, and the couple moved to Erath County with three children by the time of the 1860 census. The family had earlier settled on a large ranch in this area. In 1870, the Hightowers formally set aside almost two acres here for a cemetery. Before that time, they had buried three children at the site, and some of the unmarked graves may date to earlier than 1870. At the cemetery that year, the community buried the first person outside the Hightower family, Reuben Phillips. A search party had found his body near the ranch after he had been attacked by Indians. John B. Hightower died in 1878, and Henry Killian bought the ranch. In 1895, he officially deeded the burial ground to a cemetery association, which has continued to maintain the historic site. Today, the site is the final resting place of military veterans, members of fraternal organizations and generations of area residents. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Georgia-born John B. Hightower brought his family to Erath County before the 1860 census, ranching a large spread on which they had already buried three children. In 1870 the family formally set aside nearly two acres as a cemetery, whose first non-family burial was Reuben Phillips, found dead near the ranch after an Indian attack. Deeded to a cemetery association in 1895, the burial ground still holds veterans, lodge members, and generations of area residents.
Why it matters
A family plot that became a community cemetery, the site records both the everyday mortality of frontier ranching life and the violence of the era's conflicts between settlers and Native peoples.
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Related people
- · John Bryan McPheres Hightower
- · Reuben Phillips
Themes & tags
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