Pleasant Grove Cemetery #1

West side of FM 730 between Decatur and Boyd, Texas​

Records do not indicate when a Baptist Church was established in this area, but in a deed dated October 5, 1880, Thomas L. Burton conveyed four acres for one dollar to “the Baptist Church on Martin’s Branch.” No mention of a cemetery was made in the deed. However, the earliest marked grave here is also dated 1880. In 1900, A. L. Bearden deeded one-half acre to S. Gentry, J. B. Burton, and W. B. Crabb, trustees of Pleasant Grove Church, for the use of the church and cemetery. Additional acreage was acquired over the years, including five acres from a. J. Pinkerton in 1945. By the 1960s, care of the cemetery was under the management of a board of trustees. Many notable citizens of the area are buried here, including Thomas S. Burton, who first deeded the land. James Franklin Scaff was helping build a new sanctuary in 1926 when he died from his horse kicking him. His funeral service was the first in the new church and he is buried here. Veterans from the Civil War World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam are among those identified with military service. Well-known names from the community, including Phillips, Gentry, Gregg, Collins, Oates, Walker, Rhone, Spain, and Shaw, are among the families with several burials here. One grave is that of Robert N. Gregg, Jr., a sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, 13st Field Artillery, 36th Infantry Division, U. S. Army, part of the “Lost Battalion” during World War II. Pleasant Grove Cemetery #1 (numbered to distinguish it from two other Pleasant Grove Cemeteries in Wise County, one near Boyd and another between Alvord and Chico) now covers more than seven acres and has more than 1,200 recorded burials. It remains active and is a precious chronicle of generations who have called this area their home.