Erath County
Cemetery Photographs
Oak Dale
Cemetery
Huckabay, Texas
on Hwy 180
Historical Marker text:
Founders of Oak Dale Community began arriving in 1867. They included: John R. Pickard; George Lidia, who
became Pickard's son-in-law; the Rev. James M. Johnson, a Methodist minister; and William Jasper Mefferd.
These men and their families, including Johnson's four sons, harvested timber along the Bosque River to
build cabins and began farming the land. Samuel Johnson chose Oak Dale as the settlement's name for the
abundance of the trees in the area.
By 1868, the wife of both John Pickard and James Johnson were interred here on Pickard's land; the graves
are now unmarked. The first marked burial is that of two-day old Ruth Ann Johnson (d. 1877).
Local residents established Oak Dale School, which consolidated with Stephenville in 1951. There were also a
Baptist Church and a Methodist Church until the mid-20th Century, when they likewise moved to the county seat.
Today Oak Dale Cemetery is a link to the early settlement, which began to decline in population during
the great depression and World War II. It is the final resting place of generations of area residents,
including military veterans of conflicts dating to the Civil War.
Copyright © 1997-present USGenWeb Project Archives