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In 1853, Asa Messenger, Sr. and his nephew, William Lightfoot, traveled to Grayson County and purchased a considerable amount of land. The Lightfoot family moved to Fannin County soon after, but the messengers made their final move to Texas in 1871. Asa Messenger, Jr. (1842-1879), and his wife, Emma (1846-1936), and their daughter, Henrie Ann, were early settlers in the area that became known as Oak Ridge. In 1881, Emma Messenger donated land for a school, and in 1882 she donated land for a community cemetery after the death of her mother-in-law, Nancy Ann Lightfoot messenger (1812–1882). Additional acreage was added to the cemetery in 1939, conveyed by Ruth Henry Witten, and in 1992 by her daughter, Patricia Witten Mitchell. With more than 700 graves today, Oak Ridge Cemetery was a building block of the community and has become the final resting place for many significant families, several of whom had ancestors who fought in the revolutionary war. Monuments ranging from ornate to simple, marked and unmarked, are spread throughout the cemetery and include woodmen of the world and veterans dating from the Civil War. In 1951, a group met to discuss the maintenance of the cemetery and the Oak Ridge Cemetery association was established. In 1953, the association won first place in a cemetery improvement contest. The association and descendants continue to maintain the cemetery, a focal point and source of historic significance in the Oak Ridge community. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2016 |
