Audie Murphy's mother Josie Bell Killian Murphy and her parents Jefferson
and Sarah Killian are buried at the Aleo Cemetery just south of Farmersville,
Texas.
Josie Murphy passed away on May 23, 1941 after a lingering illness when
Audie was 16 years old. Audie's father Emmett Murphy had abandoned the
family about four years earlier. Upon the death of Josie Murphy, Audie's
youngest sisters, Nadene and Billie, and brother, Joe, went to live at the
Boles Home Orphanage outside of Greenville, Texas. Audie vowed to have the
family reunited ... a promise he made good when he returned home from the
war. With money he'd saved as well as war bonds given to him by citizens of
the local communities, Audie was able to purchase a home in Farmersville,
Texas for his oldest sister Corrine and her husband Poland so that they could care
for Nadene, Billie, and Joe as well as their three children.
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Aleo Cemetery |
In the photo above, the red flowering bush marks the final resting place and grave
of Audie's mother, Josie Bell Killian Murphy. The headstone in the foreground
is the marker of his grandparents.
Aleo Cemetery Facts and Location From the Farmersville Times
Title: Quick Service
Reprinted From the Farmersville Times, October 9, 1997
It's surprising sometimes to see how quickly we get responses to questions we
pose in "Time Out." Last week we mentioned that an out-of-town visitor hadn't
been able to find the Aleo Cemetery, burial place of the late Audie Murphy's
mother. Well, Paul Hightower, the former city employee of many years who now
head's the Copeville Water Supply Corp., walked into the office at 12:20 p.m.
last Wednesday about 5 minutes after our papers got here to give us exact
directions to the cemetery, except he said it is really the Prairie Grove
Cemetery which was founded at a time when the little community of Aleo existed
south of Farmersville. So many people referred to it as the Aleo Cemetery
that the name stuck -- except in the history books, which state correctly
that it is the Prairie Grove Cemetery. Later on, Carol Hightower and Ed Stuart
called us with the same information. We appreciate our readers alertness,
especially when it's not just to report an error we've made. By the way,
the little cemetery is just off CR 643 and Ed says you wouldn't want to try
to walk to the site in your Sunday shoes. It's always a little grown-up and
very muddy when there is some rainfall.
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Jefferson D. and Elizabeth Gill Killian's
Grave
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Photo Provided by Mike West |
Title: Heard about Hainted Holler?
Reprinted From the Farmersville Times, October 16, 1997
Our recent mention of the old Aleo (or Prairie Grove) Cemetery where the late
Audie Murphy's mother is buried resulted in a flurry of responses from
folks who know a lot about the place. We learned something that even some
of the folks who called us may not know about the cemetery. As we noted
earlier, Paul Hightower was the first to call us about the cemetery's location
just an hour after The Times hit the streets week before last. Since then
the phone calls, letters and notes have kept pouring in, and one of the most
interesting bits of information we picked up came from Rose and Rusty Young,
who live on County Road 643 within earshot of the cemetery. Mrs. Young told
us a lot about the history of Aleo, which was the name of a once-thriving
little community where Prairie Grove Cemetery was founded, probably in the
last century. There was a Mathodist church in Aleo, and for some reason the
Methodists who died in those days were buried in one part of the cemetery
and everybody else in another section. The church burned and the community
eventually disappeared, but many people still thought of the cemetery as Aleo,
instead of Prairie Grove.
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Josie Bell Killian Murphy's Grave |
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Photo Provided by Mike West |
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