This cache is located at the site of Harrison Cemetery in East
Fort Worth. Many original settlers of East Fort Worth have come to
their final resting place here. It is registered as a historical
site by the Texas Historical Commission. Sadly, it has not been
kept up well in the past years although it was mowed at least once
in 2006 and a lot of overgrowth (especially briars) was removed. I
found this reference to the cemetery:
The following information was extracted
from an article titled "Police, neighbors clean up historic Tarrant
cemetery", which appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Saturday, October 12, 1996, Section B, page 1 & page
8
"The grave of [J. C.] Randol, who died in
1894, and the rest of the old Harrison Cemetery where he is
buried......The cemetery is 125 years old and no one has been
buried there for decades. Tarrant County pioneer D. C. Harrison
bought the land for his family, according to the records of the
Historic Preservation Council of Tarrant County. Mary E. Harrison,
who lived from 1864 to 1871, occupies the oldest grave. R. A.
Randol, who operated a gristmill in what is now east Fort Worth
from 1857 to 1916, bought the cemetery in 1895. Members of the
Randol and Harrison families intermarried. Randol's first wife,
Ronda; and his brother, J. C. Randol, are buried in the cemetery
with about 60 other people.....Even with the land cleared, it still
might be hard to identify Harrison as a cemetery if not for the
graves of J. C. Randol and Confederate veteran Edward D. Tracy. The
two graves are among the few with gravestones. Most of the other
stones are gone, knocked over or eroded....."
The Cemetery is located south of
Interstate 30 on the Eastside of Fort Worth in the area known as
Meadowbrook, near the intersection of Meadowbrook Road and Medlock
Drive, the Bentley Square apartment complex is located
nearby.
The historical marker reads:
When first used, this one-acre cemetery
belonged to Tarrant County pioneer D.C. Harrison. The earliest
known grave is that of Mary E. Harrison (1864-71). Several early
settlers used this site, including R.A. Randol (1850-1922), the
operator of Randol Mill, who bought this tract in 1895 and deeded
it forever as a burial ground. Graves here number about sixty and
include those of the Edward Deason Family, Randol's first wife
Ronda (Harrison) (1859-82), his brother John C. Randol, who died in
an 1894 mill accident, and Nancy Cannon Harrison (1833-83), mother
of Ronda Harrison Randol. (1982)
While you are there, take a short trip south on Meadowbrook
Drive and check out all the fancy homes !!!