Wiergate, Newton County
JOSEPH LANE (c. 1771 – c. 1850) WAS THE FIRST BURIAL IN THIS RURAL CEMETERY. HIS SON, GREEN LANE, RESERVED A GRAVE YARD MEASURING 20 BY 20 FEET IN AN 1853 DEED TO KENNETH A.P. HARDY. THE SECOND GRAVE IS FOR JAMES PERSINGER HARDY (1795-1855), WHO SERVED IN CAPT. PRICE’S UNIT OF KENTUCKY VOLUNTEERS IN THE ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS IN MAY 1836 AND AS A NEWTON COUNTY COMMISSIONER FROM 1852 UNTIL HIS DEATH. IN AN 1888 DEED, G.J.P. HARDY EXPANDED THE CEMETERY TO TWO ACRES. FEATURES INCLUDE A WROUGHT IRON FENCE, SIX GRAVESTONES WITH NAMES, AND 22 GRAVES WITH IRON ORE STONES MARKING UNKNOWN NAMES. THE LAST BURIAL, FOR T.C. HARDY, DATES FROM 1927. TODAY, THE CEMETERY HONORS EARLY SETTLERS WHO CARVED THEIR LIVES OUT OF THE SURROUNDING FOREST.