Texas, Cochran County, near Morton
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The use of this site as a burial ground began in 1923 when a traveling family camped here and their baby became ill and died. Other burials followed, and in 1932 Landowner Morton J. Smith deeded ten acres to the city of Morton for cemetery use. An association was formed in1942, and the site grew with additional land donations and purchases in subsequent years. It was designated a county facility in 1977, enabling the Commissioner’s Court to levy a cemetery tax to support the upkeep and maintenance of this hallowed ground that honors more than 300 veterans and is a chronicle of the heritage of Cochran County.
Historic Texas Cemetery – 2001
(Cemeteries & Burial Sites) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
The use of this site as a burial ground began in 1923 when a traveling family camped here and their baby became ill and died. Other burials followed, and in 1932 Landowner Morton J. Smith deeded ten acres to the city of Morton for cemetery use. An association was formed in1942, and the site grew with additional land donations and purchases in subsequent years. It was designated a county facility in 1977, enabling the Commissioner’s Court to levy a cemetery tax to support the upkeep and maintenance of this hallowed ground that honors more than 300 veterans and is a chronicle of the heritage of Cochran County.
Historic Texas Cemetery – 2001(Cemeteries & Burial Sites) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Erected in 1875 by order of the Cabell Co. Court. The contract was awarded to R.H. Baker, the local postmaster. This design was developed by bridge engineer William Howe in 1840. Length is 112 feet.
African American troops, known as Buffalo Soldiers, were vital in defending the Texas frontier. On July 26, 1877 Buffalo Soldiers from Co. A of the 10th Cavalry began to pursue a Comanche party. During the pursuit, the Comanches led the troops away from water holes as the expedition traveled through Cochran and other counties. After Several days without water, Capt. Nicholas Nolan led his dehydrated soldiers and remaining animals back to Double Lakes in Lynn County; they arrived on July 30, having gone 86 hours without water. Several soldiers left camp in search of water and four died during the expedition: Pvt. John H. Bonds; Pvt. Isaac Derwin; Pvt. John Isaacs; and Pvt. John T. Gordon.
Post Office established here July 1, 1880, with Grandville P. Morrison as first postmaster. Named in honor of John Edward Kenna (1848-1893), member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1879-1883), and later elected to the U.S. Senate (1883-93). O.J. Morrison, son of Grandville Morrison, opened first O.J. Morrison store here in 1890. Evolved into a statewide chain of locally managed department stores.
This burial ground has served the community of Enochs since the early 20th century. In 1924, Isaac C. Enochs, Jr. (d. 1958), a land speculator and sheep rancher, donated land for the settlement, including a site for a cemetery. The oldest interment here is of Julia M. Brown (d. 1936); three others were buried before residents organized a cemetery association in 1947 to care for the property in the growing trading community. Shortly afterwards, the cemetery association and other local organizations added improvements to the grounds. In 1986, the association reorganized and today maintains the cemetery, a lasting reminder of the pioneers who resided in this rural community.
Historic Texas Cemetery – 2006
La Pista de Vida Agua (Trail of Living Water) crossed the Llano Estacado, linking several lakes in the region. Three lakes in Bailey County lie along the trail: Coyote Lake, where the Mackenzie Expedition camped; Monument Lake; and White Lake in Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge. By the late 1700s, a trading route, known as the Comanchero Trail, developed along the road. In the late 1800s, the Ft. Sumner Wagon Road, leading from Colorado City (Mitchell Co.) to Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, where it turned north to join the Santa Fe Trail, overlapped La Pista de Vida Agua. By 1881, a mail route followed the trail. Today, the lakes, which had been used since prehistoric times, no longer provide water, as there is only seepage from springs that once flowed freely.
Founded in 1935 as a wintering area for migratory waterfowl, Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge is on the “central flyway” in a chain of refuges from Mexico to Canada. Migrating birds begin arriving in August and remain until April. The largest wintering concentration of sandhill cranes in North America is most noticeable here from October through March. The site, covering over 5,000 acres, provides habitat for many other species of birds and wildlife. Muleshoe is one of several national wildlife refuges in Texas that protect migratory waterfowl, endangered wildlife species, or unique natural habitats.
One of most famous boundaries in Texas. Marked edge of XIT — ranch empire bartered away by Texas for its Capitol building.
A part of Bexar Territory
Bailey County was created August 21, 1876, and named for Peter James Bailey, a Kentucky lawyer killed at the Alamo during the Texas War for Independence.
A Dutch settlement known as Oakland sprang up in this area about a decade after the founding of nearby Holland in 1847. Many residents worshipped with the Vriesland and Drenthe congregations until they formed their own churches. One group, North Overisel, had a church a half mile to the north. Another group, East Overisel, worshipped in a schoolhouse to the southwest. In 1887 the two merged and built a church in the shape of a cross (Kruiskerk) by moving the North Overisel Church and using lumber from the East Overisel Church. The new church was named the Holland Christian Reformed Church of Doornspijk, after a small town in The Netherlands. In 1890 the name was changed to the Oakland Christian Reformed Church. The 1887 structure stood on this site until 1953, when the present building was erected.
Members of the First Reformed Church in Holland founded this congregation in 1866 to provide a place of worship for the settlers living southeast of town. Heavy immigration from the Netherlands prompted this move. The Dutch language was used exclusively at first, and some services in Dutch continued until 1937. Three buildings have been used for worship; the first church, dedicated in 1867, was destroyed by fire in 1883. Replaced immediately by a second structure, the third and present house of worship was dedicated in 1964.
The main portion of this building was the residence of George N. Smith, a Congregational missionary to the Indians in this area and at Waukazoo's Village on nearby Lake Macatawa. The mission was named after an Indian convert. Built in 1844-45 by Isaac Fairbanks, a government agricultural agent to the Indians, this house is the oldest structure in the vicinity. Nearby were a church and school, and some Indian dwellings. The first Dutch settlers in 1846-47 lodged here and in the Fairbanks cabin on the knoll to the southeast. As the Dutch settlement grew, Smith and the Indians moved away and established a new village on Grand Traverse Bay. Isaac Fairbanks remained in this area and was active in the settlement of Holland.
In memory of the First Pioneers of Graafschaap of which the following are buried here
In 1769, Spanish Governor Pedro Fermin de Mendinueta made the San Joaquin del Nacimiento to 35 pioneering families who had settled the headwaters of the Rio Pureco in 1766. The community was later abandoned owing to raids by frontier Indian tribes, but was resettled in the late 1870's. Originally known as Nacimento, or La Laguna it was renamed Cuba when the Post Office was established in 1887.
Rainfall divides at this point. To the west it drains into the Pacific Ocean, to the east, into the Atlantic
Two plaques on the same monument make up this marker.
Bridge named for Hershel "Woody" Williams, who as a corporal in 3rd Marine Div. during World War II won Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism against the Japanese at Iwo Jima, 23 February 1945.
