Volunteers Sought to Clean Up Historic Patton Cemetery

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

HOUSTON COUNTY — Patton Cemetery sits up a grassy hill from FM 227, marked by a sign between Ratcliff and State Highway 21. When Ricardo Rubio stopped there, he found an overgrown cemetery and branches down against the gate.

“Oh my gosh, this thing is in disrepair,” Rubio recalled thinking. “It needs help.”

Rubio said he had been driving back from Lufkin when he saw the marker and decided to climb the hill. What he found prompted him to begin researching the cemetery and contacting people connected to its history.

His research indicates the cemetery was established in 1834 and last used in 1889. Rubio said he has identified 17 people buried there, including six infants, by comparing the headstones with family records. The cemetery measures about 66 feet by 45 feet.

Rubio said a Patton descendant told him that a man had maintained the cemetery until he died. No one has regularly cared for the site in about 10 to 15 years, Rubio said. He also said the landowner wants the cemetery maintained but is too old to do the work.

For Rubio, cleaning the grounds is a way to care for a part of Texas history.

“I think it’s because it’s a part of history of Texas,” he said. “This family moved here and started trying to make a life for themselves here.”

The work he envisions is focused on clearing and restoring access, not changing the cemetery. Volunteers would cut the grass, remove the clippings, trim fallen branches and straighten the gate if possible. Rubio also wants to clear a path around the cemetery and the slope leading up from the roadside marker so visitors can look in from the gate.

“We don’t want to rearrange anything. We want to leave everything the way it is,” he said.

Rubio said the headstones are difficult to read and should not be disturbed. If a stone has fallen, he said, volunteers could put it back in place, but otherwise the markers would be left alone.

Because the cemetery is small, Rubio hopes to recruit about 10 people so volunteers can work without getting in one another’s way. He is still looking for help, and no cleanup date has been set.

People interested in volunteering can call Rubio at 361-415-4252.

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]