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In 1824, Hiram Brinlee (1807-1885) and his brother George traveled with the Collin McKinney family from Kentucky to Texas. On that wagon train was Elizabeth McKinney (1813-1889), niece and ward of Collin McKinney, who later signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. Hiram and Elizabeth married in 1832 and moved in 1834 to Pecan Point in present-day Bowie County. In 1844, after a flood on the Red River, the Brinlees moved to present-day Collin County on the western bank of Sister Grove Creek, just east of Melissa. Hiram Brinlee built and ran a general store and operated a blacksmith shop in a community known as Stony Point or Chambliss.
Brinlee Cemetery is located east of the family homestead and is one of two cemeteries that served the early Chambliss community. Hiram Brinlee set aside land for a burial ground with members of his family interred in the northwest section. The earliest marked grave is that of a child, J.C. Osborn, buried in 1874. However, a child of Hiram and Elizabeth, Collin A. Brinlee, died in October 1849, so the cemetery may have been in use well before the 1870s. Many of the graves are for young children and for accidental deaths, a reflection of the challenges of early Collin County settlers. Hiram and Elizabeth Brinlee are buried here along with many of their descendants. Two other pioneers buried here are Josiah Nichols and his wife, Elizabeth (Fitzhugh) Nichols. The cemetery contains about 70 marked graves and includes a number of veterans. There may be unmarked graves, some of them Brinlee slave burials, although descendants believe they were buried closer to the Brinlee house. The Brinlee Cemetery is one of the last tangible reminders of the early rural community of Chambliss. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2020 |
