Lake Creek Cemetery
Kennard, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Emancipated African Americans established the Durden and Lake Creek communities in the area following the Civil War. For many years most families buried loved ones on their own farms. In 1906, Malissa Scurlock and her two sons, Dan and George, donated three acres of their land as a community burial ground. The first interments were two infants, the daughter of Willie and Pearl McCelvey and the son of Ike (Isaac) and Hanna Berry. The Lake Creek Cemetery Association organized in 1910, with Hayne David as chairperson and Beatrice Murphy as secretary; both continued in these positions until 1959. With generations of burials, this active cemetery is a cherished and tangible link to the past.Historic Texas Cemetery – 2021[second name and date marker -- Lake Creek Cemetery Established 1911 Historic Texas Cemetery - 2021]
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After emancipation, freed African Americans built the Durden and Lake Creek communities here, at first burying their dead on family farms. In 1906 Malissa Scurlock and her sons Dan and George gave three acres for a shared burial ground, where the first interments were two infants of the McCelvey and Berry families. A cemetery association organized in 1910 under longtime officers Hayne David and Beatrice Murphy, and the ground remains an active, cherished link to those founding families.
Why it matters
Lake Creek Cemetery is a rooted record of a freedpeople's community — land they owned, institutions they governed, and generations they honored in the decades after slavery.
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Related people
- · Malissa Scurlock
- · Hayne David
- · Beatrice Murphy
Themes & tags
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