Angelina County, Texas Cemeteries

Angelina County, Texas Cemeteries

 

Maps, Transcriptions, Photos and other information for each cemetery.

 

http://historictexascemeteries.com/angelina/angelina-county-cemeteries

Katy Community Cemetery Gets Historic Texas Cemetery Designation

Katy Community Cemetery Receives Historic Designation

from katymagazine.com

The Texas Historical Commission (THC) recently designated Katy Community Cemetery (also known as Antioch Community Cemetery) as a Historic Texas Cemetery. The distinction means the cemetery has been legally recorded through the THC’s Historic Texas Cemetery Program, an important step ensuring its preservation.

This designation is reserved for cemeteries that are at least 50 years old and documented through the Historic Texas Cemeteries process to record their historic association and significance.

Katy Community Cemetery aka Antioch Community Cemetery belongs to the Antioch Baptist Church and is located near the intersection of I-10 and FM1463. In 1929 the church purchased this acre of land from Adam Stockdick for $37.50 for use as the Katy Community Cemetery. It has been in constant use since 1929 and is responsible for the location of I-10 west, which was slated to be constructed north of the present highway. The highway was moved south because of the Katy Community Cemetery.

The City of Katy plans a special recognition at the June 27 meeting of City Council and will install a historic marker at the site in the near future.

Read full article

More Freestone County Cemetery Transcriptions

Two more Freestone County Cemetery Transcriptions added to the TXGenWeb section of the USGenWeb archives:

Wortham Cemetery
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/freestone/cemeteries/wortham.txt

Salem Cemetery near Teague
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/freestone/cemeteries/salem.txt

Freestone County Cemetery Transcriptions

Freestone County Cemetery Transcriptions added to the TXGenWeb section of the USGenWeb archives:

Longbotham Cemetery (a.k.a. Robert Longbotham Cemetery)http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/freestone/cemeteries/longbot.txt

Woodland Cemetery near Kirvin, Freestone Co., TX
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/freestone/cemeteries/woodland.txt

Seven Star Cemetery in Temple, no longer abandoned

Once abandoned and overgrown with grass, the Seven Star Cemetery now has folks who care.

TEMPLE, Texas — For years the Seven Star Cemetery was ignored, unclaimed by anyone until a small group of people decided to take responsibility for a place that holds forgotten souls and lost history.

Bishop J.A. Tolbert, a pastor at Eagles Wings Ministries in Temple, has been working with the Central Texas Juneteenth Committee to save the narrow stretch of land that lies along 14th Street.

Before he began, the plot of land was overgrown with tall grass, abandoned for years. Now cut and clean, the Seven Star Cemetery showcases graves that whisper stories from history that otherwise would have been lost.

Read full article from the Houston Chronicles' chron.com

Historic... yes. Designated... someday.

Arlington African-American Cemetery Tries for a Third Time for the Historic Texas Cemetery Designation

Sometimes, you just have to keep on trying....

The cemetery dates to the mid-1800s ...... African-American cemetery has been rejected twice for the same recognition: once because the state didn't differentiate between the [cemetery and the closely-located Middleton Tate Johnson Plantation Cemetery] and another time because the application was incomplete....

Read full article from the Star Telegram

Confederate Soldier's Grave Honored at Smith Cemetery, Lewisville

Confederate soldier’s grave is marked in ceremony at Smith Cemetery, Lewisville, Denton County

Members of the Lacy Holcombe Pickens Chapter 2615 held a grave marking ceremony, with a new marker at the grave of Capt. Henry Hardin Smith, who served in the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Smith was born Jan. 23, 1817 and died Dec. 1, 1887. He is buried in the Smith Cemetery, which had been so named several years before his death after the family of Thomas Morgan and Elizabeth A. Smith.

The site had been used as a burial ground since 1862 when the Smith’s 20-year-old son, James J. Smith, died was buried on the family farm. His is the earliest marked grave in the Smith Cemetery.

Read full article from the Lewisville Star

Fannin County Historic Commission to dedicate two Historic Texas Cemeteries

New Salem Cemetery and the Shiloh Cemetery both will have Historic Texas Cemetery Marker dedications on Sunday April 22, 2007. Descendants of those buried in the cemeteries will be recognized.

The earliest burial in the New Salem Cemetery was Phillip Greenleaf Williams in 1848. Many of the early settlers in the immediate area are buried in the cemetery. The cemetery is located about 7 ½ miles north of Honey Grove off FM 100 and then about 1 ½ miles east on County Road 2800.

The first known burial in the Shiloh Cemetery is that of John Gwaltney, whose gravesite dates from the early 1860s. Tradition holds that John M. Gross deeded land for this community cemetery sometime before 1871. Today, Shiloh Cemetery is the final resting place for generations of area residents. The cemetery is located about 7 miles north of Honey Grove off FM 100 and then about 2 miles west on County Road 2730.

Read entire article from North Texas eNews

Texas Wreaths Across America observation honors veterans

Ceremony held at Houston National Cemetery

TEXAS -- With honor and reverence for U.S. veterans, Capt. Eric Thompson of the Texas Wing's Thunderbird Composite Squadron opened the Wreaths Across America ceremony Dec. 14 at Houston National Cemetery with a moment of silence. The day started amid dense fog, but about an hour before the ceremony began the fog lifted and revealed a beautiful mild, sunny day. Five wreaths were laid by active duty and retired military personnel from each branch of the military.

A sixth wreath, representing prisoners of war and the missing in action, was Col. Robert Eldridge, Texas Wing commander, addresses the audience at Wreaths Across America at Houston National Cemetery. laid by former U.S. Marine Corps. Sgt. Ron Ridgeway. who was held in Viet Nam as POW or five years. He endured torture, loss of comrades and loneliness.

Read full article

Azle Cemetery Vandals Caught

Teens Arrested for Destruction in Ash Creek Cemetery

Five teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of vandalizing more than 70 graves -- and causing an estimated $100,000 in damages -- at Azle's Ash Creek Cemetery, police said.

"It was damage for damage's sake," Azle police Chief Steve Myers said of the crime spree Wednesday night. "They pushed over headstones, broke others, threw the broken pieces at other headstones and destroyed stone vases meant for flowers."

The cemetery is the oldest in Azle, with graves dating back to the 1870s. The man the town is named after, Azle Stewart, is buried there.

Read full article from the Star Telegram

Matagorda Cemetery: Another Marker for History

Matagorda Cemetery, Matagorda listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Matagorda Cemetery — founded in 1830 and one of Texas’ oldest — has been placed on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places.

Local historical group officials expect two other Matagorda County sites will soon share the notable recognition — the Hensley-Guzman House, built in 1905, and the World War II-era Bay City U.S.O. Building, today’s Bay City Service Center. The 7.2-acre cemetery, at the northeast edge of Matagorda, was first used soon after the town was founded in 1829.The cemetery, which received a Texas Historical Marker in 1970, shows the town’s remarkable, with grave stone inscriptions telling about frontier hardships.

The marker’s text said those buried include: victims of 1862 yellow fever epidemic; soldiers of the Texas Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War; also Karankawa Indian victims. Early Texas leaders buried at the cemetery include Texas Secretary of Navy, Samuel Rhoads Fisher — a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence — Texas’ first Lt. Governor, Albert Clinton Horton, and George Morse Collinsworth, who commanded the Texans at the capture of Goliad in 1835.

The National Register of Historic Places is a service of the National Parks System. Visit their website

Read full article from the Bay City Tribune

Williamson Creek Cemetery, South Austin

153-year-old cemetery is rejuvenated

Young Latter-day Saints volunteers pitch in to restore Williamson Creek Cemetery, a historic African-American graveyard in South Austin.

350 youth volunteers of 20 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregations from Austin and San Antonio revitalized the 153-year-old African American cemetery on Little Texas Lane, near Stassney Lane and Interstate 35

About 260 slaves are buried at the cemetery. The first was James P. Eagle, who died in 1863, said Tony Jones, president of the cemetery association. Jones is a descendant of Alfred Overton, a slave freed by the Emancipation Proclamation who died in 1913.

The other 540 people buried there are slave descendants, one of whom was buried last year.

Read full story from the Austin American-Statesman

Headstone Stolen from Unknown Cowboy Grave

"Unknown Cowboy" headstone stolen from the Belcherville Cemetery in Nocoma.

It was a simple stone, the kind seen all over this tiny cemetery northwest of Nocona. It marked the burial spot for a ranch cowboy. He worked less than a full day for the ranch and was killed in a fall from a bucking horse and buried. No one knew his name.

The stone, stolen in the last few weeks, read plainly, "Unknown Cowboy."

The grave of the unknown cowboy was unknown to a lot of people here; the Belcherville Cemetery is in a remote part of the county. Belcherville is only a bend in the road with a couple of houses on either side. The cemetery is about a mile and a half from the hardtop.

Read full article from the Fort Worth Star Telegram, June 17, 2006

Texas History & Genealogy Blog

Missing Graves in Grand Prairie

Imagine that you've buried a loved one and then go back a month or so later and you can't find the gravesite. Several families in the Grand Prairie are dealing with the loss of a loved one all over again.

Family searches for mother's burial spot

Loved ones who buried Okenetta Piper on April 1 said they were shocked when they couldn't find the spot where she was laid to rest on a recent visit to Southland Memorial Park in Grand Prairie.

Piper's daughter and son-in-law came back on Mother's Day to mark her grave with flowers until the headstone was ready but said they weren't sure where to place them.

"All of the sudden it's like she's not here no more," said Reshard Bradford, son-in-law. "She's out here, but now she's not out here. She's supposed to be in 443, but no one knows what 443 is."

Read full story from WFAA News, May 31, 2006

More complaints of missing graves arise

The Rodriguez family said they buried their father at Southland Memorial Park 11 months ago and captured the day on tape. While they said they thought they knew the exact spot where he was laid to rest, they now said they are unable to find where he was buried.

"We don't know where he's at," said son Chris Rodriguez.

Deborah Whittington said she believes her father ended up in a roadway after he was buried at the cemetery.

"I just wanted to see my dad rest in peace wherever he is," she said.

Two women who buried their sister at the cemetery said they also were unable to find her burial site.

"I don't even come here anymore because it's kind of pointless if you can't find the gravesite," said sister Shelby Record.

Many of the families were shocked to find that there were others in the exact same dilemma.

"We're not alone in this, but something needs to be done" Whittington said.

Read full story from WFAA News, June 1, 2006