Jarratt Cemetery
Jacksonville, Cherokee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1850 Devereux and Polly Ann Jarratt of Virginia settled in this area. In 1858 their sons Henry Morris Jarratt and Wade Jarratt set aside the original cemetery plot for family and public burial. The first burial was a transient worker, Mr. Watts, in 1858. Additional land was acquired later from contributions of many. An association was formed in 1961 and a permanent foundation fund incorporated in 1963. Original members of both boards: Dave Cole, Troy D. Haws, Gordon Sharp, J. J. Cole, Bruce Bounds, Dave Josey, John Ousley, Fred Thompson, A. C. Jenkins, Buck Fling, Earl Morton, and M. D. Arrington. Descendants, friends, neighbors and the public have joined to make this a hallowed resting place for loved ones.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Devereux and Polly Ann Jarratt came from Virginia to settle this East Texas ground in 1850, their sons set aside a burial plot in 1858 — its first grave that of a nameless transient worker known only as Mr. Watts. Added to by many hands over the following century, the cemetery became a shared resting place formally organized by descendants and neighbors in the 1960s.
Why it matters
A community cemetery like this preserves the ordinary settlers, family and stranger alike, whose lives filled in the map of frontier Texas.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When Devereux and Polly Ann Jarratt arrived from Virginia in 1850, Texas had been a state for only five years. After its time as an independent republic, it joined the Union in 1845, and a flood of settlers followed. Many came from the older Southern states, drawn by cheap, fertile land in the pine and hardwood country of East Texas.
Cherokee County lay in the middle of that migration. Families cleared farms, founded churches and schools, and slowly turned scattered homesteads into communities. In a region with few towns and fewer institutions, a family burial ground was often one of the first shared spaces a settlement made.
Within a few years that world would be shaken by the Civil War, and later generations would watch East Texas change through railroads, timber, and the twentieth century. Through all of it, cemeteries like this one stayed as the steady record of who had lived here.
People & events
The story starts with a Virginia couple, Devereux and Polly Ann Jarratt, who settled here in 1850. Eight years later their sons Henry Morris Jarratt and Wade Jarratt set aside land for a cemetery. Notably, it was meant not only for their own family but for the public as well.
That generosity shows in the cemetery's very first burial. It wasn't a Jarratt at all but a transient worker remembered only as Mr. Watts, who died here in 1858. We don't know where he came from or what brought him to this corner of Texas, but a stranger was given a resting place in ground set aside by his neighbors.
Over the following century the cemetery grew as many people contributed land. In 1961 a cemetery association was formed, followed in 1963 by a permanent foundation fund. The marker proudly lists the original board members, a roll of local names that shows how the care of this place passed from one pioneer family to a whole community of descendants, friends, and neighbors.
Its place in the American story
Across America, small community cemeteries are some of the most honest historical documents we have. Grand monuments honor the famous, but places like Jarratt Cemetery hold the farmers, wives, children, and passing laborers who actually settled the country. Their names often survive nowhere else.
The Jarratt story also reflects the great westward movement of the mid-1800s, when Southern families like this one carried their customs from the Atlantic states into Texas. The settlers' tradition of setting aside land for a shared burial ground went with them.
Perhaps most striking is the way this cemetery was kept alive. The associations and endowment funds formed in the 1960s are a pattern repeated in rural communities nationwide, where neighbors organized so that pioneer graveyards wouldn't be lost to weeds and time.
If you visit
Jarratt Cemetery lies near Jacksonville in Cherokee County, in the green, wooded heart of East Texas. Like most historic rural cemeteries it is a quiet place, so visit respectfully and remember that it remains an active resting place for local families.
As you walk the rows, look for the older stones. Early markers in cemeteries like this one often record birthplaces in older states, and their changing styles show how the community developed over the decades. See if you can spot family names that turn up again and again across the generations.
The drive through Cherokee County's piney back roads is part of the pleasure. This stop fits nicely into a leisurely East Texas tour of small towns and historic sites, especially if you enjoy the stories behind ordinary lives.
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
- · Devereux Jarratt
- · Polly Ann Jarratt
- · Henry Morris Jarratt
- · Wade Jarratt
Themes & tags
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