As part of their assignment in Theresa Shaw’s Texas history class at Nolan Middle School in Killeen, the two seventh graders are cleaning up and documenting McBryde’s final resting place. They are working on before and after pictures, plus the story of the half-acre cemetery that dates back to the 1880s.
“Our class had to find a historical site and clean it up,” said J.J. “We had to work with a partner and prove that we did it.”
J.J.’s father, John Roberts, drives past McBryde Cemetery everyday on his way to work in Hutto. Roberts suggested cleaning up McBryde as a project, and the two boys thought that was cool. Pretty soon, J.J.’s mom and siblings, Matthew, 9, and Natalie, 6, wanted to help.
Roberts contacted Mary Duke of Moffatt, a member of the East Bell Genealogical Society who volunteers as a cemetery coordinator for the online Bell County GenWeb. She helped him get in touch with Thomas McBryde of Austin, a direct descendant of Mancel’s brother. “I was delighted when they told me what they wanted to do,” McBryde said.
The little family cemetery - just a mile away from Ding Dong on Highway 195 - is choking with overgrown vegetation, but it does have a Texas State Historical Commission marker erected in 1986.
The marker briefly tells of the McBryde family odyssey from George in the 1860s. When Mancel T. McBryde’s wife, Jane, died in 1885, he selected a site south of the family home for her grave. Mancel and Jane had eight children, four of whom married Hoovers. So, most of the dozen or so stones bear surnames of McBryde and Hoover.
Time has not been kind to the cemetery. A fallen tree has broken part of the chain-link fence and the brush has obscured some stones. Roberts said he is going to help with some of the heavy tasks.
So, early on Dec. 6, the troupe armed with trimmers, hoes and clippers attacked the dense foliage over the dozen or so graves in McBryde. They have until Monday to finish their project and their report, but J.J. and Sam are determined to get it done.
“We’re even thinking about putting out some flowers on the graves,” J.J. said.
pbenoit@temple-telegram.com
