BUCKNER CEMETERY - McKINNEY
US 380
33 13 03N
96 39 48W
Cemeteries of Collin County, Texas, by Joy Gough
Buckner was the first town in Collin County. It was
named by John McGarrah for his home town of Buckner, Arkansas. When
Collin County was formed in 1846 by the state of Texas, the residents
were told to pick a county seat within 3 miles of the geographic center of
the county and name it "Buckner." The residents picked the
existing town of Buckner because it was the only town in the county. However, it
was 7 miles from the center of the county. The exact center of the
county is on the East Fork flood plain. Two sites were picked for
the county seat. Eleven residents voted on the location of the county
seat with 10 picking the present-day McKinney square location. They
tried to name the county seat Buckner as instructed, but the post
office said the name "Buckner" was already in use. The residents
named the county seat "McKinney" after the man who was in the state
legislature from this area, Collin McKinney. The stores in Buckner were
literally dragged to the square in McKinney and the town of Buckner
disappeared. There was a Kiowa Indian tribe that lived near Buckner.
It was led by a chief named Spotted Tail. As long as the Kiowas lived
there, no other Indians attacked the area. Chief Spotted Tail helped
bury people who died in a smallpox epidemic in 1873. He died from
smallpox himself and was buried at the Buckner cemetery. He was given a
white man's burial.
BUCKNER
CEMETERY
The ancient
McGarrah-O’Brien Cemetery is slightly Northeast of the site of Old Ft. Buckner,
the first County Seat of Collin County, and is a part of John McGarrah’s
headright. According to the Peters Colony book, “John McGarrah, a family man,
came to Peters Colony in 1842 and claimed his headright of 640 acres. His patent
was number 981.” He built a little store or trading post, primarily to trade
with the Indians who brought in furs to trade for goods he sold in the little
store. He is listed in the 1850 census of Collin County as a family man, age 45
and came to the area from Fayetteville, Arkansas, where the family migrated in
1821.
Only a few headstones remain in the old cemetery, but according to J. B. Wilmeth
who was an elected official at the first election in 1846, it once had a large
number of graves marked with Bois d’Arc slabs. Those listed as buried there
include:
Edna Fallis,
wife of B. J. O’Brien, 1816 - 1897
Jane, wife of George W. O’Brien, Jan. 27, 1905 - Dec. 17, 1871
David O’Brien, March 4, 1808 - Nov. 1, 1885
Parmelia, wife of David O’Brien, June 27, 1823 - July 12, 1870
Franklin, son of David and Parmelia, July 23, 1853 - July 12, 1870
George W. O’Brien, Dec. 8, 1799 - June 30, 1876
Lorenzo J. Graves, 1818 - 1886
Reily, son of T. F. and A. F. Darnell, 1829 - 1880
Laurence, son of A. G. and N. J. Donaldson, 1879 - 1899
Mary Jane Donaldson, 1854 - 1886
Polly T. Graves, Sept. 22, 1822 - July 31, 1898
Then, too, the
old Indian who lived with his small tribe near Buckner and is credited with
saving the settlement from invasion of Comanche tribes is buried in an unmarked
Christian grave at his own request [ Kiowa chief, Spotted Tail].When small pox
struck [in 1873] he volunteered to help bury the dead and died of the disease
himself.
Historical marker, 1988
BUCKNER CEMETERY
THE LAND SURROUNDING THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY WAS
PART OF A GRANT OBTAINED BY JOHN McGARRAH, A MEMBER
OF THE PETERS COLONY WHO ARRIVED IN THIS AREA IN
1843. McGARRAH FOUNDED A TRADING POST NEAR THIS SITE,
AND SOON THE FORT BUCKNER SETTLEMENT WAS ESTAB-
LISHED. IT WOULD LATER BECOME THE FIRST COUNTY SEAT
OF COLLIN COUNTY.
DAVID WILLIAM O’BRIEN (1808-1885) CAME TO COLLIN
COUNTY WITH HIS FAMILY IN 1857. HE EVENTUALLY ACQUIRED
THE PART OF THE McGARRAH LAND WHICH INCLUDED THIS
SITE. THE BUCKNER CEMETERY, WHICH WAS ESTABLISHED ON
THE O’BRIEN LAND, HAS ALSO BEEN REFERRED TO AS O’BRIEN
CEMETERY OVER THE YEARS.
ALTHOUGH THERE MAY BE EARLIER UNMARKED GRAVES,
THE OLDEST DOCUMENTED BURIAL IS THAT OF FRANKLIN
O’BRIEN (1851-1870). MANY EARLY PIONEERS OF COLLIN COUNTY
ARE INTERRED HERE, INCLUDING VICTIMS OF A SMALLPOX
EPIDEMIC IN THE 1870S. ACCORDING TO LOCAL TRADITION, A
KIOWA INDIAN NAMED SPOTTED TAIL ALSO LIES HERE IN AN
UNMARKED GRAVE.
THE ONLY PHYSICAL REMNANT OF THE BUCKNER COMMUNITY,
THIS CEMETERY SERVES AS A REMINDER OF THE EARLY
HISTORY OF COLLIN COUNTY.
Historical marker application.
BUCKNER
CEMETERY
...There was a
stone for L. J. Graves, 1818 - 1886. Not just a name. He came with a party of 82
souls by wagon train from Missouri, arriving in November 1857. This yong man,
busy though he was in helping clear and put in crops, managed to keep a Journal
entering each night things of interest that had happened. He said “Pa” bought
the little book from a peddler, so he just kept writing about daily events. For
instance, “July 9, 19871, went to McKinney to Church after rescuing Pa’s prize
bull. Stopped at Tuck Hill’s and enjoyed a few glasses of cold sugar and
cinnamon in clear good spring water. Dave O’Brien came by with his load of
lumber he hauled from Jefferson and brought Pa a barrel of sugar he ordered.”
“October 4. Plowed new ground all morning, then to town to hear Governor
Throckmorton speak. On this day 9 years ago I was in a fight at Corinth,
Mississippi and fell into the hands of the foe. Now I am 31 and never dreamed
I’d be so long single. Time, how fast thou flieth.”
On another stone was carved the name David O’Brien, 1808 - 1885. David was one
of 5 brothers who came to Collin County to settle in 1857 and in time David
owned the land on which our first county seat was built, as well as that around
the Old Buckner Cemetery. In time many called it the O’Brien Cemetery. ...
Nearby lies his wife, Parmelia, 1823 - 1879, and that of his brother George,
1799 - 1876. Drury O’Brien, 1806 - 1876, and David’s son, Franklin, 1853 - 1870.
George O’Brien died in 1873 according to very old newspapers, although his
tombstone said 1876. According to the old McKinney Enquirer Small pox swept
through Collin County and so many people died of it that the people were “hard
put to” to find someone not sick to bury the dead.
And here is where the old Indian Spotted Tail comes into the picture. He and his
little band of Kiowas camped near Buckner and he became a real friend to the
settlement, whether for his love of the white settlers or his liking for the
“fire water” Jack McGarrah gave him from the keg he kept in his little store, is
a debated question. But friend he was and old newspapers have written that his
presence just west of Buckner kept many raiders away from the west. When the
settlers died of the dread plague of smallpox, Spotted Tail helped to bury many
people at night, as was the custom when burying victims of the smallpox. It was
not long until he, too, fell victim and lies among the first settlers in an
unmarked grave.
There was a stone reading, P. F. (Mart) Kindle, 840 - 1912, who came with his
parents to old Buckner at its beginning.
Buckner
CEMETERY INDEX
Recommended citation:
Buckner Cemetery - McKinney, CEMETERIES OF COLLIN COUNTY." Collin
County, Texas History and Genealogy Webpage by Genealogy Friends of Plano
Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl>
[Accessed Fri February 13, 2004 ].
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