Historical Markers & Landmarks - Cemeteries

Marker Title: Forrest-Rogers-Dollahite Cemetery
Address:
City: Hallsville
County: Harrison
Year Marker Erected: 1996
Designations: na
Marker Location: from Hallsville, about 4 mi. South on FM 450 to FM 968; go about 1 mi. West on FM 968 to CR 3310 (Quail Lane); go about .4 mi. South on CR 3310 to cemetery on East side of road
Marker Text: This cemetery is located on the home site of Elisha T. and Sarah Vincent Forrest, who came to Texas from Tennessee about 1846. Other early settlers included the Rogers and Dollahite families who formed the community of Little Flock South of Hallsville. The cemetery name changed over the years, depending on the ownership of the land. The earliest marked grave is that of Edward Tansil in 1849. Seven generations of the Forrest family are buried here. The three-acre site is maintained by a cemetery association and continues to serve the community as it has for over 125 years.

Marker Title: Greenwood Cemetery
Address: West end of East Avenue
City: Marshall
County: Harrison
Year Marker Erected: 1967
Designations: Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
Marker Location:
Marker Text: Dedicated 1881. Originated in 1840 as a private burial ground for the Van Zandt familys resting place. There are many early Texas leaders and patriots: Isaac Van Zandt (1813-47), came to Marshall in 1839. There is a county named in his honor. James Harper Starr (1809-90), land commissioner, banker, land agent, county named for him. Matthew Duncan Ector (1822-79), Brigadier General CSA, lawyer, county named for him. Alexander Travis Hawthorne (1825-99), Brigadier General CSA, lawyer, businessman, minister. Charles Raguet Bringhurst (1880-82), grandson of Sam Houston. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967

Marker Title: Old Grover Cemetery
Address:
City: Marshall
County: Harrison
Year Marker Erected: 1986
Designations: na
Marker Location: take US 80 about 4 mi. West to FM 968, go South on 968 about .5 mi. to the cemetery
Marker Text: William McKinney conveyed adjacent land in 1848 for the establishment of a community school. Later, a Union church was included and the site became the center of Grover community, a widespread farm settlement. This cemetery is first noted in records of the 1850s. The oldest marked grave is that of Susan Green (d. 1875), who came to this area from Tennessee. Grover began to decline in the 1920s and the schoolhouse and church sanctuary were gone by 1930. The Old Grover Cemetery remains, however, as a reminder of the area's pioneer settlers. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Marker Title: Gum Springs Cemetery
Address: 1220 Gum Springs Rd. (FM 968)
City: Longview
County: Harrison
Year Marker Erected: 2000
Designations: na
Marker Location:
Marker Text: Arjane Hill Yarborough and Cyrena Hill Cox Burnett received their father's 1842 landholdings. According to area lore, a parcel including this site was used as a family burial ground beginning in the 1850s. Arjane sold a portion of her land to a relative, Elizabeth Alexander, who in turn gave an acre adjoining the burial ground to trustees of a community school in 1870. The first known burials in this cemetery were those of three-year-old Annie L. Wilson, who died in 1873, and five-year-old Finis Kimberling, who died in 1875. Cyrena Hill Burnett and her husband Daniel H. Burnett gave property for a public burial ground, to be called Burnett Cemetery, in 1888. In the summer of 1895 a revival was held across the road from the cemetery. Worshipers began holding regular meetings in the schoolhouse, then moved into their own facility adjoining the cemetery. The church, school and cemetery became known as "Gum Springs" for a nearby spring surrounded by sweet gum trees, and the area became a center of the Gum Springs farming community. Among the notable pioneers buried here are Cyrena Hill, Box Burnett and Martha Elizabeth Chilcoat Kimberling, both citizens of the Republic of Texas. Other pioneers interred here include members of the Callahan, Dollahite, Grimes, Kuykendall, Latham, McKay, Miles, Pliler, Rogers, Russell, Taylor, Wilson and Woodall families. W. A. Miles, one of the first three school trustees, served in the Mexican War and lost an arm in the Civil War. At the turn of the 21st century, Miles was one of 58 war veterans interred among the 800 graves on this site, including seven Civil War soldiers; one Spanish-American War veteran; and thirty veterans of World War II, five of whom were killed in action. (2000)


Marker Title: Marshall Cemetery
Address:
City: Marshall
County: Harrison
Year Marker Erected: 1966
Designations: na
Marker Location: US 80 at columbus St., Marshall
Marker Text: Incorporated Dec. 12, 1849. Resting place of many early Texas leaders and patriots: Edward Clark (1815-80), Governor of Texas, 1861; Colonel, C.S.A. Walter P. Lane (1817-92) veteran of Texas Revolution and Mexican war; Brigadier General, C.S.A. John T. Mills (1817-71), Associate Justice Supreme Court, Republic of Texas; District Judge in the state; a county is
named for him. Horace Randal (1833-64), Brigadier General, CSA; also honored by naming of county in his memory. Unknown soldiers who died in local hospitals, honored by an obelisk erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Marker Title: Marshall Hebrew Cemetery
Address: Herndon at Evans St.
City: Marshall
County: Harrison
Year Marker Erected: 1989
Designations: na
Marker Location:
Marker Text: Among the pioneer settlers of Harrison County were a number of Jewish families, many of whom were German immigrants. The Hebrew Benevolent Society was organized in 1867 with 25 charter members. In 1881 the society purchased a plot of land to be used as a burial ground. Known as the Marshall Hebrew Cemetery, this graveyard contains the burials of many prominent citizens and early settlers. The oldest interments are those of the May family, who died in an 1873 yellow fever epidemic. They were originally buried in the city cemetery but were later reinterred here. The earliest documented burials original to this site are those of two children, James Doppelmayer and Florence Bernstein, who died in 1883. There are fourteen unmarked graves here, as well as burials of veterans of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Among the prominent citizens buried in this cemetery are Daniel Doppelmayer, first president of the Moses Montefiore congregation; Rabbi Max Sylvious Handman; members of the Kahn and
Weisman families; and other early business and community leaders.


Marker Title: Webster-Mimosa Hall Cemetery
Address:
City: Marshall
County: Harrison
Year Marker Erected: 1998
Designations: na
Marker Location: 17 mi. E of Marshall on IH-20; 11 mi. N on FM 134
Marker Text: Virginia-born John Johnston Webster (1796-1854) brought his family to the Republic of Texas, petitioning for land on which to establish a home in 1842. In 1844 Webster's son-in-law, the Rev. George F. Heard, became the first person to be buried in the cemetery at Mimosa Hall Plantation. He was followed by Mrs. Mirriam (Brown) Webster. Other notable graves include those of the Rev. William Moore Steele and five Webster slaves or ex-slaves. Veterans of several wars also are interred here. The wall
surrounding the oldest graves was constructed by plantation labor. (1998


Marker Title: Old Powder Mill Cemetery
Address:
City: Marshall
County: Harrison
Year Marker Erected: 1986
Designations: na
Marker Location: on FM 1997, just south of Loop 390, Marshall
Marker Text: Located on part of a site once occupied by a Confederate gun powder factory, this cemetery originated with the burial of slaves on the Powder Mill acreage. After the factory was destroyed in 1865 with the collapse of the Confederacy, the acreage fell into private ownership. One of the landowners, mortician M. M. Rains, began recording the burial here in 1880; however, the earliest known marked grave, that of Millie Abner, is dated 1878. Her husband, David Abner, a former Harrison County Treasurer and member of the 14th Texas Legislature, is also buried here. Old Powder Mill Cemetery is important to the history of Harrison County as the burial ground of many of the leaders of Marshall's black community who played important roles in local religious, social, business, and political affairs. among those interred here are educators H. b. Pemberton, J. r. E. Lee, and Frederick William Gross; war veterans; businessmen and women; and professionals. Also located in Old Powder Mill Cemetery are the graves of many former
members and founders of the colored (now Bethesda Baptist Church, including William Massey, a Confederate soldier who served as first pastor. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986


Marker Title: Smyrna Cemetery
Address:
City: Harleton
County: Harrison
Year Marker Erected: 1997
Designations: na
Marker Location: 5 mi. north of Harleton on FM 450
Marker Text: Pioneer physician John Chadd received a land grant in 1845 made by Texas Governor J. Pinckney Henderson. Dr. Chadd donated land to the community in 1846 to be used for a church, school, and cemetery and chose the community's biblical name of Smyrna. This cemetery dates to 1850 when John Glover was buried in an unmarked grave. The earliest headstone is that of Susana Kirkpatrick in 1850. Dr. Chadd deeded two acres of land in 1874 to the Smyrna Methodist Episcopal Church. The cemetery has been
closely associated with the church through the years. Tombstones mark the graves of Dr. Chadd and his wife Emily Jane Taylor, and other early settlers who lived and died in the area. Among the more than 675 graves are those of veterans of conflicts from the Civil War to the Vietnam War. The Smyrna Cemetery Association was established as a non-profit organization in 1954 by the people of the Smyrna community. Additional land was donated to the cemetery in 1962 and in 1974. Annual meetings have been held at the cemetery since 1946. The site continues to serve Smyrna and many surrounding communities. (1997)


Marker Title: St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery
Address: 1000 E. Travis St.
City: Marshall
County: Harrison
Year Marker Erected: 1999
Designations: na
Marker Location:
Marker Text: Though it is unclear when this land was first used for burials, the oldest known graves date from 1872. At its creation the cemetery served Catholics in Harrison County and St. Joseph Parish, including Carthage, Jefferson, Waskom, Uncertain and Scottsville. Visiting priests served parishioners until the Rev. Thomas Loughery was sent by the Galveston Diocese in 1874. Land for the cemetery was sold to the Diocese by C. F. Chevaillier in 1878. Among those buried here are a number of workers who died while
employed in Marshall's various railroad industries and whose families could not be located. White crosses placed by the Knights of columbus mark many unknown graves. (1999)


Marker Title: Woodley Cemetery
Address:
City: Marshall
County: Harrison
Year Marker Erected: 1993
Designations: na
Marker Location: 12 mi. SE of Marshall on SH 31, then west on Woodley Rd., 5 mi. to cemetery at intersection of West Rd.
Marker Text: Wingate Woodley arrived in the Republic of Texas in 1839 and settled in Harrison County shortly after its formation that year. He received a letter from his father, William (b. 1787), in 1840, asking that he leave the lawlessness of this area and return to the safety of his former home in Georgia. Wingate remained, and in 1843 his father and mother, Telitha (McMichael), left Alabama with their large family and traveled by wagon train to Harrison county. the cemetery began with the burial of their young daughter, Harriett Ellen, here on their family farm in 1844. Woodley family records suggest that this site was set aside for cemetery use in William
Woodley's 1844 will. the will was subsequently lost and never probated. The families of William and Telitha's eleven children and their descendants formed the nucleus of the former community of Arleston and account for most of the people buried here. This site, property of Woodley descendants for more than 100 years, was legally set aside by descendants of George and Caroline (Woodley) McJimsey in 1970. Buried here are veterans of conflicts ranging from the Creek Indian War (Alabama - 1836) to the Korean Conflict. The Woodley Cemetery Trust was established in 1986 to maintain this site.