By Mrs. A.B. Harmonson

1980

Bourland Cemetery is located on Bourland Road in the city of Keller, Tarrant County, Texas.  It is named for Aureliaus Delphus Bourland who purchased the land

January 15, 1873.[1]

The history of the land begins when Richard Franklin Allen and his wife Rosalenda Brown Allen came to Texas from Missouri in 1847.[2]  Mr. Allen located his claim, cleared some of the land and built his cabin, but due to problems in the Peter’s Colony land office the certificate was not issued until April 15, 1850.  The land was surveyed and title to the property was given by Governor E.M. Pease for the 640 acres on October 3, 1854.

The cemetery began[3] as a private burial ground for the Bourland family.  The exact date of the first burial is not known, but the story told by Mrs. Bourland before her death, November 8, 1936 is as follows:

Elder Bourland was a Primitive Baptist preacher.  Once while he was away from home, a Bourland child died and remembering that her husband had expressed himself that he wished to be buried “on the hill under the big Cedar tree” buried the baby there.

The oldest marked grave is that of A. Delphus White (2 June 1886- 29 Dec 1886) the son of Charles and Frances Bourland White and grandson of A.D. and Martha Bourland.

For several years Elder Bourland permitted friends to inter their loved ones in this family graveyard.  In 1899, the community seeing the need for a public burial ground, appointed a committee of three, Charles White, W.S. Bourland and J.A. Hovenkamp, to act as trustees to purchase land for this use.  On September 25, 1899[4] two and one half acres was bought from Elder Bourland encompassing the existing graves and opened the grounds for public use.

Many of the graves are unmarked, some are now lost therefore it is impossible to count the number of burials.  Veterans who served in The War Between the States are buried here.  Some who fought with the Union Army and others who fought with the Confederate Army.  Also there are those who served in World War I and World War II.

Before her death, Mrs. Bourland gave additional acreage to the Cemetery, but it was not surveyed and deeded until 1947[5] when A.B. Harmonson purchased this tract.  Marvin Sharp and his wife Tera Bourland Sharp added to Mother Bourland’s gift and “5.4 acres of land less the existing 2.8 acres to the Bourland Cemetery.”  The last acquisition of land was in 1977[6] when the Harmonson family donated one acre in memory of A.B. Harmonson who had been a patron of the cemetery for many years.  During the early days the grounds were maintained by the families of those buried and by the annual spring “Cemetery Work Day” when the entire community became involved.  The men brought the necessary tools.  All the graves were cleaned and unused portion was plowed.  The ladies bought baskets of food serving “dinner on the ground”.  This was a day of community fellowship.

As time passed and conditions changed it became necessary to use hired labor[7]  and this presented the need for money.  Freewill donations were accepted, ice cream parties and dinners were held.  Too, Mrs. Bourland had specified that all grave spaces in the new area be sold.  These projects brought in some money and price of the lots has increased from time to time giving funds for employment of a custodian in 1947.

The entrance was built in 1935,[8] by the Works Projects Administration, with native red sandstone gathered in the community.  Keller Garden Club did the landscaping.

In the fall of 1959 an endowment fund[9] was started.  These investments and monetary gifts from friends of the cemetery insures permanent maintenance.