Saratoga, Hardin County
Alabama native Richard Teel (1833-1918) came to East Texas in the 1850s. He married Nancy A. Hart (1842-1900) in 1858 and they settled here. When the Teels' son, D. J., died in 1893, he was buried here beside the family home. In 1908, after other burials had taken place, Teel legally designated the site a cemetery. The more than sixty graves in the historic cemetery include those of Richard and Nancy Teel, as well as other relatives, friends, and neighbors. Now located in the Big Thicket National Preserve, the cemetery is a tangible reminder of the area's early permanent settlers.