Historical Marker
Oak Grove Community
Historical marker location:
Gainesville, Texas
( 7 mi. E on FM 678, 0.3 mi. S on CR 219)
Marker installed: 2005
In the 1860s, George Sanford Norrid left his Missouri home with his wife, Tabitha, and family and moved to Texas, settling in this area and offering their home for church services. In 1875, F.M. Dougherty and George Norrid deeded land for a Methodist Epsicopal church; Norrid's donation preserved land for a cemetery. When Tabitha Norrid died in January 1876, she was the first buried in what became the Oak Grove Cemetery. Area families used the church building for school and worship until 1884, when they moved the building, and with it the school and church, to nearby Woodbine. The Methodist church later deeded its land to the cemetery association, which maintains the burial ground. (2005).