Union Grove Cemetery

UNION GROVE CEMETERY

HADEN HARRISON EDWARDS (1812-1864), A SOLDIER, MERCHANT AND LEGISLATOR, PURCHASED THIS LAND FROM THE REPUBLIC OF MEXICO IN 1835. EDWARDS SERVED IN THE FIRST CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS, IN THE FIRST AND EIGHTH TEXAS LEGISLATURES, WAS A MEMBER OF THE SECESSION CONVENTION IN 1861 AND WAS PRESIDENT OF THE SABINE PASS AND EAST TEXAS RAILWAY. BECAUSE OF HIS BUSY SCHEDULE, EDWARDS SOLD 270 ACRES TO JAMES RILEY PHILLIPS FOR HIS FAMILY HOMESTEAD IN 1857. PHILLIPS AND HIS WIFE, REBECCA J. (MACKEY), RAISED THEIR THREE CHILDREN ON THIS LAND. THE CREATION OF THE PHILLIPS CEMETERY BEGAN WITH THE BURIAL OF FLORENCE PHILLIPS (1849-1855). THE OLDEST MARKED BURIALS BELONG TO REBECCA’S PARENTS, JOEL LEWIS MACKEY (1801-1855) AND MARY FONVILLE MACKEY (1801-1858). BY THE MID-1880s, THE AREA BECAME KNOWN AS THE UNION GROVE COMMUNITY.

WILLIAM MARSHALL PHILLIPS, JAMES AND REBECCA’S FIRSTBORN, INHERITED THE LAND AND CONTINUED TO FARM THE LAND. ANOTHER SETTLER, JOHN O’BYRNE, OPERATED A SAWMILL NEARBY. IN 1913, WILLIAM PHILLIPS’ WIFE DEEDED ACREAGE TO O’BYRNE, J. L. MACKEY, A.M. PHILLIPS AND THE COMMUNITY FOR A CEMETERY. EVENTUALLY, THE NAME OF THE CEMETERY WAS CHANGED TO UNION GROVE CEMETERY TO BETTER SERVE THE COMMUNITY. ADDITIONAL ACREAGE WAS PURCHASED IN 1986 AND 2001. THE LANDSCAPE OF THE CEMETERY IS TRADITIONAL WITH WHITE OAK, PINE AND POST OAK TREES AND A VARIETY OF HEADSTONES INCLUDING CONCRETE, FIELDSTONE, GRANITE, MARBLE AND WOOD GRAVE MARKERS. VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR, WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II, THE KOREAN WAR AND THE VIETNAM WAR ARE BURIED HERE. THE UNION GROVE CEMETERY ASSOCIATION MAINTAINS THIS HISTORIC PIONEER CEMETERY.

HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2010

MARKER IS PROPERTY OF THE STATE OF TEXAS.