The easiest way to get to Concord Cemetery from Waco is to head out on Highway 84 towards Mexia (or State Highway 31 towards Hubbard) and exit left off either Williams Road or Aviation Parkway. Go past the Sherwin-Williams Distribution Center and L3Harris Technologies on your left. Where Aviation turns into the whimsically named Our Way Road, the small cemetery is on your right.
The cemetery and the nearby Concord Road in Bellmead are all that remains of the pre-Civil War village of Concord, once the home of a couple of churches, a school, a cotton gin and even a switch on the International–Great Northern Railroad. The first interment in the cemetery was Elizabeth Boddie Parrish, who was buried there with her triplets in November 1869.
In an older section of Concord Cemetery is the grave of Elijah Goodnight, surrounded by family members, and whose gravestone makes the startling claim that he was “The last Mexican War veteran, 1848.” Faded but still just barely legible, a series of markings — perhaps indicating military honors — are cut into the top of the stone.
Born on October 16, 1831 of recent German immigrants (Goodnight is anglicized version of Gutknecht), Elijah was the oldest brother of Charles Goodnight, best known as one of the founders of the Goodnight-Loving cattle drive trails. In an interview with the Waco Semi-Weekly Tribune in 1911, Elijah said that Goodnight family came to Texas from Kentucky in 1846, and settled in Old Nashville, a long-lost settlement near the junction of Little River and the Brazos, west of Hearne in what is now Milam County.
But in Spring 1848, Elijah said he left Old Nashville and joined Capt. J. P. Grumbles’ company in Gen. Zachary Taylor’s American army, fighting in a series of successful battles in Northern Mexico. Returning from Mexico, he told the reporter of how he participated in the first dance ever staged in Cameron: “…the young people for more than fifty miles around gathered and danced all night and half of the next day in a long house … on the northeast corner of the public square.”
During the Civil War, Goodnight joined the First Texas Volunteers’ 27th Brigade, serving as a “forager” for Capt. Buchholtz and searching for supplies for Confederate armies in Texas. After the war, he drove goods on an oxen team between Houston and Calvert, though he said he preferred to sleep outside Houston because the frequent yellow fever outbreaks in the city.
In the years following the Civil War, much of Central Texas was still beset by raids by the fearsome Comanches. Years later in 1911, a “hale and hearty” Goodnight told the newspaper of an incident on Hubby’s Hill (or Hubby Hill), a small knob on the prairie of southern McLennan County. On an exploration expedition with George B. Erath, C.M. Hubby and several other men were attacked by a Comanche raiding party. Fleeing from the assault, Hubby dashed up the hill, only to fall into deep hole. Fortunately, the tall prairie grass completely covered the hole’s opening. Goodnight said that Hubby was “quite content and remained where he was” as the Comanches continued to search for him. When the party reached the hilltop and Hubby was not in sight, it was their opinion “that he had took wings and flew away. From that day on, this hill has been known as Hubby Hill.” Hubby did lose his beloved horse that day, however.
In 1883, Elijah bought a plot of land — where the Waco General Tire plant and where, somewhat later, Baylor University’s BRIC complex now stands — and became a successful farmer. Beginning in 1908, he faithfully returned to the annual “Old Settler” reunions in Waco, usually held on the Cotton Palace grounds, where the veterans of earlier wars would be recognized.
In November 1915, Semi-Weekly reported that Goodnight had stopped by the newspaper offices, “as he has done every year for twenty years.” Elijah, by then 85, was said to be “an interesting man to know and talk with. He related a thrilling story of early days, that we hope to print ere long.” Alas, I couldn’t find a copy of that particular story in any subsequent edition.
The following September, the newspaper devoted a full page to the reunion with the banner headline, “Old Settlers Renew Memories of Early Days.” Legendary Waco photographer Fred Gildersleeve even took photographs of the several hundred settlers and veterans present at the Cotton Palace. But the article sadly reported that Goodnight was not “strong enough” to attend.
On the morning of December 2, 1920, Waco Farm & Labor Journal published Goodnight’s obituary on the front page with the headline, “Waco Resident for 30 Years Dies.” His age was given as 89. Goodnight had been married at least four times, the last occurring when he was 75, and had several children. Services were held at the nearby Concord Cemetery.
And that’s about all we know about Elijah Goodnight …
This little cemetery is a pleasant tree-lined place, obviously well-loved and maintained, even today.
But should you imagine that maybe you’d like to be buried out here near Elijah Goodnight and his various family members, Concord has one last surprise for you. The Texas historic marker at the entrance reads: “According to cemetery bylaws, one must be a direct descendant of a person buried at Concord in order to be buried on the grounds.”
