Elizabeth Patton Crockett’s grave in the Acton Cemetery outside of Granbury is the smallest state historic site. At .006 of an acre, the grave is marked by an imposing monument of David “Davy” Crockett’s widow looking to the southwest horizon for a husband who would never return.
Born on August 17, 1786, in eastern Tennessee, David Crockett married Polly Finley on August 16, 1806. The couple had three children before Polly died in 1815. Later that year the frontiersman married Elizabeth Patton. The couple had three children, in addition to the three he brought to the marriage and her two by a previous marriage, for a total of eight children.
After being defeated in his bid for U.S. Congress in 1835, David said of his fellow Tennesseeans, “You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.” He died at the Alamo on March 6, 1836, at the age of 49.
Writer Mike Cox found in the State Archives a warrant issued in 1854 to Elizabeth for $24, the widow’s benefit. Mrs. Crockett was also entitled to 1,280 acres in North Texas. It cost her half of that to have a surveyor locate the claim six miles north of present day Granbury.
Elizabeth and two of her children moved to a farm on Rucker Creek. She passed away in Hood County six years later on Jan. 31, 1860, at the age of 71.
Acton State Historic Site is off FM 4/Acton Highway from U.S. 377, north of Granbury.
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This article appears in September 18 • 2015.
