John Robin Heard Cemetery
Douglassville, Cass County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Land for this one-acre family cemetery (3.5 mi. S) was donated by John Robin Heard (1794-1866), who came to Texas in 1853 and founded the nearby town of Cussetta. First burial occurred in 1861 after the death of Cornelius Floyd (b. 1859), Heard's grandson. The 23 graves include those of Heard and his second wife, Mary Hopkins Heard (1806-1863). The cemetery fence was provided by another of Heard's grandsons, W. Q. Henderson (1858-1934). Descendants formed a cemetery association in 1974 and organized a perpetual care trust fund.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Robin Heard, who came to Texas in 1853 and founded the nearby town of Cussetta, donated the one-acre ground for this family cemetery, where the first burial in 1861 was his infant grandson Cornelius Floyd. Its twenty-three graves include Heard himself and his second wife, Mary Hopkins Heard, while a fence was later provided by another grandson, W.Q. Henderson. Descendants organized a cemetery association and perpetual-care trust in 1974 to preserve the family plot.
Why it matters
Small family cemeteries like this preserve the intimate genealogy of the settler families who built rural northeast Texas one homestead at a time.
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Related people
- · John Robin Heard
- · Mary Hopkins Heard
- · W. Q. Henderson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Floyds' Hill Church - Cemetery
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In 1854 Killis S. Floyd donated four acres for a Missionary Baptist congregation, and the Floyds' Hill Church was organized that December with fifteen charter members. Services first met in a pioneer family's home, then in a log church of 1855 and a frame building raised about 1858 with the help of enslaved labor; Black members worshiped here until Floyd gave land for a separate church. The adjoining cemetery, with some 200 known graves, holds the settlers who came from Alabama and Georgia in the 1850s, and though regular services ended in 1926, descendants still gather each year.
Hickory Grove Cemetery
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In 1872 the Rev. James A. Steger, a Civil War veteran, deeded this ground to trustees of the Hickory Grove Methodist Church for use as a community burial place, though he may have buried family here even earlier. A Methodist sanctuary stood nearby, and a later building served for funerals and school classes. The congregation eventually disbanded, but the cemetery — resting place of several pioneer families — still marks where the community first took root.
John Robin Heard
Linden, TX
Born in Georgia in 1794 to a family that had emigrated from County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1720, John Robin Heard came to Texas in 1853 and founded the nearby town of Cussetta, amassing large landholdings. In 1861 he donated the ground for this cemetery, and his home stood nearby into the 1940s. Twice married to sisters Martha and Mary Hopkins, Heard fathered twelve children — a sprawling family typical of the antebellum settlers who anchored northeast Texas communities.
Methodist Episcopal Church of Douglassville
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Area Methodists founded a church on this site in 1856, soon after Douglassville itself was established, replacing open-air arbors and campgrounds as the community's center of worship. Served at first by traveling circuit riders, the congregation bought land for a parsonage in 1870. The present building, raised in 1908, was later remodeled and enlarged.