Duffau Cemetery

Two sources explain the name differently. The plaque credits Francis T. Duffau, a settler of the late 1850s. The Handbook of Texas says the town was named for Duffo, an Indian (in current usage, a Native man) buried nearby, and mentions no settler of that name. The two texts agree that a post office was established by 1860. Nothing consulted settles which account is right, and the description does not choose. The plaque adds that a separate Duffau Wells office was working by 1884, serving the mineral wells that drew visitors for their health.

What the plaque says

Duffau Cemetery Francis T. Duffau was among the early settlers who arrived in the late 1850s to farm in this community. The Duffau post office was authorized in 1860. Duffau became a thriving trade center but later declined after suffering several disastrous fires and being bypassed by the railroad. The nearby Duffau mineral wells became a health resort, attracting people to the area. A separate post office was in operation at Duffau Wells in 1884. H. B. and Eliza Hollis sold land to the Duffau School District in 1884; the Duffau School merged with Hico schools in 1960. Church of Christ, Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches served the community for many years. The oldest recorded grave in the Duffau Cemetery is that of Nancy Shipman in 1865. Jacob and N. E. McCarty deeded five acres of land for cemetery purposes in 1874. Among the more than 950 marked graves are those of veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, as well as members of a number of fraternal organizations. The Duffau Cemetery Association was formed in 1958, and a trust fund was established in 1964 to help maintain the graveyard. The cemetery continues to serve Duffau and the surrounding communities. (1997)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Dinosaur Valley State Park — 17 mi
  Theropod and sauropod trackways of about 113 million years ago in the bed of the Paluxy River, a National Natural Landmark where R. T. Bird found the first distinct sauropod tracks in 1937.
• Dublin Bottling Works — 20 mi
  The Erath County plant that bottled Dr Pepper with cane sugar from 1891 until a 2012 settlement ended its Dr Pepper license, and that still makes its own sodas the same way.
• Meridian State Park — 22 mi
  A 505-acre park in Bosque County where World War I veterans of a Civilian Conservation Corps company dammed Bee Creek in 1933-34 for a 72-acre lake and cut stone buildings around it.
• Cleburne State Park — 30 mi
  A 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps park on the old Chisholm Trail crossing country, with a spring-fed lake, a hand-carved three-tiered spillway and a CCC bridge in Johnson County.

More markers nearby

• The Rev. Henry Hurley — steps away
• Duffau Baptist Church — 1.4 mi
• Clairette Cemetery — 7.9 mi
• Selden — 8.0 mi