Heards Prairie Cemetery

HEARDS PRAIRIE CEMETERY

AN 1841 INDIAN AMBUSH IN THIS VICINITY, WHICH CLAIMED THE LIFE OF MAJOR G. W. HEARD, GAVE HEARDS PRAIRIE ITS NAME. LATER SETTLERS, INCLUDING THE BATES, BRANTNER, GARNER, JONES, JENKINS, JOHNSON, MANOR, OLDHAM, STANFORD AND WARE FAMILIES, ESTABLISHED PETTEWAY, NAMED FOR MIKE PETTEWAY, WHO OPERATED A GENERAL STORE. BY 1900 THE COMMUNITY HAD THREE CHURCHES, TWO SCHOOLS, STORES, A COTTON GIN, A GRISTMILL AND A WOODMEN OF THE WORLD LODGE. A POST OFFICE OPERATED IN THE THRIVING SETTLEMENT FROM 1887 TO THE 1940s. AFTER WORLD WAR II, PRODUCTION OF COTTON AND OTHER CROPS DIMINISHED AND THE AREA TURNED TO RANCHING. LATER, MUCH OF THE SURROUNDING LAND WAS BOUGHT FOR COAL MINING. MOST OF THE HISTORIC RESOURCES OF PETTEWAY HAVE VANISHED.

ON OCT. 4, 1876, JOHN R. HENRY DONATED THREE ACRES OUT OF THE W. J. SMITH LEAGUE TO HEARDS PRAIRIE MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH “FOR THE PURPOSE OF CREATING A HOUSE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP…ALSO FOR GRAVEYARD AND SCHOOL PURPOSES.” R. L. GUNTER AND WIFE DONATED ANOTHER TWO ACRES IN 1903; THE CEMETERY NOW OCCUPIES 3.5 ACRES, WHILE THE CHURCH AND A HISTORIC PAVILION ARE SITED ON 1.5 ACRES. THE SCHOOL NO LONGER EXISTS. HEARDS PRAIRIE CEMETERY HAS ALSO BEEN KNOWN AS HURD’S PRAIRIE, POST OAK AND PETTEWAY. THE OLDEST MARKED GRAVES ARE FOR MARY ISABELLA DIBBLE WARE (d. FEB. 1876), LEE M. GARNER (d. MAY 1876), HESTER OLDHAM (d. DEC. 1876) AND MARCELLUS SANDERS (d. MAY 1877). TOWN NAMESAKE MIKE PETTEWAY IS ALSO BURIED HERE, AS ARE DOZENS OF VETERANS DATING FROM THE CIVIL WAR. MARBLE, GRANITE, LIMESTONE, CONCRETE, CAST IRON AND FIELDSTONE GRAVE MARKERS IDENTIFY HUNDREDS OF MARKED GRAVES; THERE ARE ALSO UNMARKED BURIALS. THIS ACTIVE CEMETERY SERVES AS THE FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR GENERATIONS OF RESIDENTS AND AS A CHRONICLE OF THE PAST.

HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2011