R.A. McCaghren Cemetery
Livingston, Polk County, Texas
Marker Inscription
R.A. McCaghren Cemetery,established 1870. Historic Texas Cemetery-2002
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Established in 1870, this burial ground served the rural community around Livingston in Polk County during the years after the Civil War. Its Historic Texas Cemetery designation, awarded in 2002, marks it as a preserved link to the families who settled and farmed this corner of the East Texas Piney Woods.
Why it matters
Small post-war cemeteries like this one anchor the memory of the frontier families whose everyday lives rarely reached the history books.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Polk County
Livingston, TX
Polk County was carved from Liberty County and organized in July 1846, with Livingston as its seat, in the first months after Texas joined the Union. It was named for President James K. Polk, whose administration championed the annexation of Texas. Early settlements clustered at river landings like Drew's Landing and Swartout, and on land granted by the state in 1854 the descendants of the Alabama Indians still make their home.
West Tempe Cemetery
Livingston, TX
Set aside on August 24, 1883, West Tempe Cemetery served a farming settlement in Polk County during the Reconstruction-era resettlement of the East Texas Piney Woods. Recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2002, it preserves the resting place of the pioneers who built the surrounding community.
Moscow
Moscow, TX
Settled by David Green during the days of the Republic of Texas, this Polk County town opened its first post office as Green's in 1847, renamed Moscow in 1853, and incorporated in 1856 as a stage stop on the Nacogdoches-Liberty Road. Proud of its schools, Moscow ran a free school system as early as 1851 and hosted early industries from a cannery to a factory making architectural pillars. Its arrival as a railroad town in 1881 brought the tiny Moscow, Camden & San Augustine, one of the shortest railroads in Texas.
Midway Cemetery
Livingston, TX
Andrew and Mary McKee came to Texas in 1845 and bought this land in 1854; when Mary died in childbirth in 1857 she became the first person laid to rest here, at a spot she is said to have marked herself. By the close of the Civil War the burial ground served the whole Midway community. Its graves hold pioneer settlers and their descendants, former slaves, and veterans of American wars from the Civil War to Vietnam.