Valley Mills Cemetery

Valley Mills Cemetery. . By the mid-1850s, F.F. Bloodworth had built a log cabin in the early Valley Mills settlement which served as a school, community meeting place, and the Liberty Hill Baptist Church. In 1855, that congregation had ten charter members but grew to 38 within a few months. A cemetery was also established adjacent to the cabin, with David Mabry (1792-1852), and his wife, Cynthia Mabry (1796-1856) recorded as the first burials. The site was part of the original settlement of Valley Mills, which predated creation of Bosque County by the Texas Legislature in 1854., F.F. Bloodworth's daughter, Frances J. Bloodworth, married A.W. Sears, and in 1867 Sears purchased from his father-in-law 170 acres which included 3.75 acres cleared for a church and schoolhouse, plus the cemetery with eight marked graves and additional unmarked graves. This earliest deed mentioned construction of a fence; the cemetery has been fenced since this time. On Jan. 30, 1891, A.W. and Frances Sears transferred the cemetery to the people of Valley Mills in consideration of $1.00. By this point, there were 83 marked graves and some unmarked. A.W. and Frances Sears conveyed an additional acre in 1908, the same year that the Valley Mills Cemetery Association formed, and the city deeded the cemetery to the association., Now covering more than ten acres, Valley Mills Cemetery includes the burials of generations of citizens, and includes many gravestones depicting fraternal organizations, such as Masons, Order of the Eastern Star, and Woodmen of the World. There are military veterans dating from the Texas Revolution to Vietnam and burials reflecting the continuum of the area's history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2017.