Milford Cemetery

Milford took its name from a mill town. The Handbook of Texas says William R. Hudson, who named the community, had read about a factory town near Boston. In the early 1850s men from Cherokee County bought land in the Mill Creek valley from Arvin Wright at fifty cents an acre, and in 1854 Wright, Hudson and J. M. Higgins laid out lots on a ridge south of the creek. Hudson's house and store went up in 1853 and he became first postmaster. A two-story stone building that served as school, church and hall burned during the Civil War.

What the plaque says

Milford Cemetery W.R. Hudson and J.M. Higgins, early pioneers in this area, came from Cherokee County in East Texas to settle here in 1853. They laid off a townsite in 1854 and named it MIlford. The town developed steadily, and soon boasted homes, a school, post office, churches, and other community institutions. Although there are no specific records to document the establishment of the Milford cemetery, the oldest grave is that of E.F. Kimbrough Smith, wife of W.P. Smith, who died at age 23 in 1855. The size of the cemetery has increased over the years, and it is the final resting place of generations of some early Milford families. Ellis County pioneers buried in this historic graveyard include Texas Revolutionary soldiers Thomas Jefferson Jordan and James McDaniel. Nearly two hundred small graves of infants and young children from the 19th century attest to the often harsh living conditions of the frontier. Also interred here, in addition to the Texas Revolutionary soldiers, are veterans of the Mexican War, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam. An important element of Milford's history, the cemetery stands as a reminder of the area's frontier heritage. (1991)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hill County Courthouse — 14 mi
  Wesley C. Dodson's limestone Second Empire courthouse of 1890 on the Hillsboro square, gutted by fire on New Year's Day 1993 and rededicated in 1999 after a rebuilding that two Willie Nelson concerts helped pay for.
• Ellis County Courthouse — 19 mi
  J. Riely Gordon's courthouse of 1897 in Pecos red sandstone and pink granite, with twenty-one carved stone faces and two cornerstones left by a quarrel over its building.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Milford — 0.2 mi
• Milford Presbyterian Church — 0.4 mi
• Hammel's Branch — 3.6 mi
• Italy Colored City Hall — 4.7 mi