Stories Beneath the Stones Greer, Mize uncover hidden history of cemetery

It was a healthy dose of curiosity that spurred Lawrence Greer to begin researching the lives of people buried in the Canton Hillcrest Cemetery.

A “most time-consuming, yet fascinating,” project was birthed from a what Greer called “a final project of the Hillcrest Cemetery Restoration Project,” that would identify long-forgotten people buried in the heart of Canton.

The ending result of five years of relentless research, factchecking and factfinding led to the culmination of the book, “Stories Beneath The Stones, The Hidden History Of A Small Texas Town Told Through The Lives Of Those Buried In The City Cemetery.”

Greer was not alone in his quest to unearth the stories buried with some of Canton’s finest, acquiring the help of fellow historian and genealogist Benja Pittman Mize.

Both Mize and Greer agreed that it was not only their intent to honor those buried, but also to write small biographies of the 1,263-people buried in Canton’s historic cemetery.

“Our intent was to honor the individuals who are buried in the Hillcrest Cemetery by telling their stories. What followed was a five-year laborious undertaking that no one wanted to volunteer for,” stated Mize.

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