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Civil WarReconstruction & Gilded Age

Whitehead Cemetery

Houston County, Houston County, Texas

Marker Inscription

The Henry Whitehead family came to Texas from Mississippi during the 1850s and settled in Houston County about 1862. A confederate veteran, Henry Whitehead (1821-1877) established this family cemetery on his land with the burial of first wife, Mary Ann "Polly" (Priest), in 1870. Only one of their seven children, Aaron, is buried here. The descendants of Aaron (1854-1927) and Elizabeth (1859-1928) Whitehead have continued to use and maintain the family burial ground. The site covers more than two acres and contains over sixty graves.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

The Henry Whitehead family left Mississippi in the 1850s and put down roots in Houston County around 1862, in the midst of the Civil War in which Henry served the Confederacy. He founded this burial ground in 1870 with the grave of his first wife, Mary Ann "Polly." Their descendants, beginning with their son Aaron, have tended the two-acre cemetery ever since, where more than sixty graves now rest.

Why it matters

Family cemeteries like this trace the migration of Southern families into Texas and the enduring bonds of kinship that maintained them for generations.

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Related people

  • · Henry Whitehead

Themes & tags

Westward ExpansionMemorial

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