Land Cemetery

THIS BURIAL GROUND ORIGINALLY SERVED THE CORN HILL COMMUNITY, AN EARLY WILLIAMSON COUNTY SETTLEMENT NAMED BY COUNTY JUDGE JOHN E. KING FOR THE FIELDS OF CORN SURROUNDING HIS HOME. BY THE 1880s, CORN HILL HAD A POST OFFICE, BUSINESSES, CHURCHES, FRATERNAL LODGES, COTTON GINS, MILLS, A NEWSPAPER AND A SCHOOL. LAND CEMETERY IS ON PROPERTY OWNED BY SETTLERS NICHOLAS (d. 1896) AND ELIZABETH ANN (GILES) LAND (d. 1911), WHO IN 1863 BURIED HIS OLDEST SON, JOHN, HERE, ESTABLISHING A FAMILY BURIAL GROUND; THEY SOON OPENED IT TO NEIGHBORING FAMILIES AS WELL. AT LEAST 25 INDIVIDUALS WERE INTERRED IN THE GRAVEYARD BEFORE 1886, WHEN THE SALADO VALLEY CEMETERY ASSOCIATION PURCHASED 4.1 ACRES FROM NICHOLAS AND ELIZABETH LAND FOR CEMETERY USE. OTHERS INVOLVED IN THE LAND TRANSACTION WERE R.K. AND MARY LOU SHAVER, J.B. AND BELL SHAVER, AND TRUSTEES G.B. BUCHANAN, W.P. ROUTON, AND J.W. ROBERTSON. IN 1909, THE BARTLETT WESTERN RAILWAY BYPASSED CORN HILL. THE COMMUNITY OF JARRELL WAS ORGANIZED ALONG THE RAIL LINE AND RESIDENTS SOON BEGAN TO ALSO USE THIS BURIAL GROUND.

CEMETERY FEATURES INCLUDE CURBING, OBELISKS, INTERIOR FENCING, VERTICAL STONES, GRAVE SLABS AND FALSE CRYPTS. THE INTERRED INCLUDE VETERANS OF FOREIGN CONFLICTS AND MEMBERS OF THE KNAUTH, LANGENEGGER, AND SCHWERTNER FAMILIES, GERMAN IMMIGRANTS WHO WERE AMONG THE AREA’S EARLY SETTLERS. THE 1997 F5 JARRELL TORNADO, WHICH RESULTED IN THE DEATHS OF 27 INDIVIDUALS, DAMAGED GRAVESTONES IN THE CEMETERY; MANY WERE LATER REPAIRED. TODAY, THE SALADO VALLEY CEMETERY ASSOCIATION CONTINUES TO CARE FOR THIS BURIAL GROUND, WHICH SERVES AS A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE EARLY RESIDENTS OF CORN HILL AND THE MANY OTHERS WHO HAVE LIVED NEAR SALADO CREEK IN NORTHERN WILLIAMSON COUNTY.