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McGrady Cemetery

Saint Jo, Montague County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Allen R. McGrady and his wife Elizabeth (Cox) moved to this area in 1859. They settled on 160 acres of land along Clear Creek. This cemetery began in the 1860s after a McGrady employee was killed by indians and buried on the family farm. One acre of land was set aside for the graveyard, which became the final resting place for many McGrady family members and neighbors. Allen and Elizabeth McGrady, both of whom died in September 1899, are interred here. The cemetery stands as a reminder of Montague County's pioneer heritage. (1991)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Allen R. McGrady and his wife Elizabeth Cox McGrady moved to this area along Clear Creek in 1859, settling on 160 acres. The cemetery began in the 1860s after a McGrady employee was killed by Indians and buried on the family farm, and an acre was set aside as a graveyard for family and neighbors. Allen and Elizabeth, who both died in September 1899, are buried here among the pioneers of Montague County.

Why it matters

The McGrady Cemetery preserves the hard realities of North Texas frontier settlement, where the dangers of the borderland shaped even where the dead were laid to rest.

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Related people

  • · Allen R. McGrady
  • · Elizabeth Cox McGrady

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Head of Elm Cemetery

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The oldest of three graveyards in Saint Jo—once called Head of Elm—this hillside holds the area's pioneers and their descendants. Local tradition remembers settlers like Enoch Willett and his daughter Mary among those killed in Indian raids and buried here in the 1860s, though the first documented burial is that of infant Charlie Wyatt in 1874. Early residents recalled a far larger cemetery than the scattered surviving stones suggest.

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