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HISTORICAL MARKERS - CEMETERIES

BASCOM CEMETERY - FM 848, Southeast of Tyler - Subject Marker - 1995 - East - West


HUBBARD FAMILY CEMETERY - Hide-A-Way Lake Subdivision, Southwest of Lindale - Subject Marker - 1978

HUBBARD FAMILY CEMETERY

THIS SITE ONCE OVERLOOKED THE PLANTATION HOME OF RICHARD B. HUBBARD (1800-1864) AND HIS WIFE SERENA CARTER, WHO CAME HERE FROM GEORGIA IN 1854. THEY OPERATED A PROSPEROUS 720-ACRE PLANTATION WITH 44 SLAVES. THEIR SON RICHARD BENNETT HUBBARD (1832-1901), LATER A GOVERNOR OF TEXAS, HAD GRADUATED FROM HARVARD LAW SCHOOL AND SET UP HIS PRACTICE IN TYLER.

WHILE YOUNG HUBBARD SERVED WITH THE CONFEDERATE ARMY DURING THE CIVIL WAR, HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN MOVED TO THE PLANTATION. HIS TWIN DAUGHTERS MATTIE AND HATTIE0 DIED IN 1863 AND WERE BURIED ON THIS HILL. ALSO BURIED HERE ARE HUBARD'S FATHER, HIS INFANT DAUGHTER CLAUDIA AND HIS WIFE ELIZA (d. 1868). THE LAST INTERMENT WAS HIS NINE-YEAR-OLD SON BENNIE IN 1877. SLAVE BURIALS ARE MARKED WITH IRONSTONE IN THIS FAMILY PLOT.

HUBBARD SERVED AS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, 1874-1876, AND GOVERNOR, 1876-1879. HE WAS A RAILROAD PROMOTER AND A LEADER IN THE STATE AND NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY. PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND APPOINTED HIM UNITED STATES MINISTER TO JAPAN. DURING HIS SERVICE THERE, 1885-1890, HIS SECOND WIFE JANIE ROBERTS DIED OF CHOLERA. SHE AND HUBBARD, ALONG WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY, ARE BURIED IN TYLER'S OAKWOOD CEMETERY. (1978)


OAKWOOD CEMETERY - West Oakwood & North Palace, Tyler - Subject Marker - 1978

OAKWOOD CEMETERY

ORIGINALLY CALLED LOLLAR'S CEMETERY AND LATER CITY CEMETERY. FIRST BURIAL GROUND WAS LOCATED ON LAND PURCHASED BY JOHN LOLLAR IN 1846. FIVE ACRES WERE RESERVED FOR CEMETERY USE. WHEN LOLLAR SOLD HIS LAND TO JOHN MADISON PATTERSON IN 1849 WHEN BURIALS BEGAN IN THE 1840S BUT MANY EARLY GRAVESTONES HAVE BEEN LOST. THE FIRST MARKED GRAVE IS THAT OF FOUR-YEAR-OLD F. M. SCOTT WHO DIED IN 1852. THE GRAVES OF NUMEROUS CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN THE CIVIL WAR ARE SITUATED IN A RAISED SECTION EAST OF CENTRAL DRIVE . IN ANOTHER SEPARATE PORTION IS THE JEWISH - BETH-EL CEMETERY WHERE THE OLDEST GRAVE IS THAT OF 19-YEAR OLD RAHAEL WOLINSKY, WHO DIED IN 1884. IN 1903, ADDITIONAL LAND WAS ACCRUED AND THE CEMETERY RENAMED OAKWOOD. CITY OFFICIALA HIRED WILLIAM A WOLDERT TO MAP THE GROUNDS, LOCATE OLD GRAVES, AND LAY OUT MORE WALKWAYS. FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS WERE MADE BY WPA LABOR IN THE 1930S. WHEN OAKWAS WAS AGAIN ENLARGED. BY THE 1980S THE BURIAL GROUND CONTAINED IN 19.5 ACRES OVER 3,000 MARKED GRAVES. MANY OF TYLER'S MOST PROMINENT CITIZENS ARE BURIED HERE, INCLUDING JUDGE STOCKTON P. DONLEY TEXAS SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, AND GOVERNOR RICHARD B. HUBBARD WHO ALSO SERVED AS U. S. AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN. (1978)


SABINE CEMETERY - Northeast of Lindale - Subject Marker - 1985

SABINE CEMETERY

THE SABINE METHODIST CHURCH WAS ORGANIZED IN 1894 BY THE REV. L. L. PATE. THIS CONGREGATION WAS NAMED FOR ITS PROXIMITY TO THE SABINE RIVER. LAND FOR THE CHURCH, SCHOOL AND CEMETERY WAS DONATED BY JOE CRONE.

THE FELLOWSHIP WAS SERVED FIRST BY CIRCUIT PREACHERS BUT IN 1922 BEGAN SHARING A MINISTER WITH THE LINDALE METHODIST CHURCH. IN 1969, THE SABINE AND LINDALE CONGREGATIONS MERGED. THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY, SABINE METHODIST CHURCH HAS PLACED AN EMPHASIS ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION AND HAS PROVIDED FELLOWSHIP FOR MEMBERS WHO OFTEN LIVE MILES APART IN THE SURROUNDING RURAL AREA.


SHAMBURGER CEMETERY - CR 334, Northeast of Tyler - Subject Marker - 1990

SHAMBURGER CEMETERY

MEMBERS OF THE PETER SHAMBURGER FAMILY CAME TO THIS AREA OF TEXAS FROM MISSISSIPPI IN 1847. PETER AND HIS FAMILY LIVED NEAR STARRVILLE. HIS SON, MATHEW, MARRIED JULIA ANN SHOCKLEY IN 1849 AND SETTLED IN THE FRUIT COMMUNITY (LATER RENAMED PINE SPRINGS). MATHEW AND JULIA'S SON, T.J., ALONG WITH OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS AND NEIGHBORS, PIONEERED THE GROWING OF FRUIT TREES AND ROSES IN SMITH COUNTY. MATHEW AND T.J. WERE AMONG THE FIRST TO RAISE ROSES ON A COMMERCIAL BASIS IN EAST TEXAS.

LAND SURROUNDING THIS SITE WAS PURCHASED BY T.J. SHAMBURGER AND HIS WIFE, SETTIE, IN 1874. THE NEXT YEAR, THIS FAMILY GRAVEYARD WAS CREATED UPON THE DEATH OF THIER TWO-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER, NETTIE. IN LATER YEARS OTHER SHAMBURGER FAMILY MEMBERS WERE INTERRED HERE, INCLUDING MATHEW AND JULIA; T.J. AND SETTIE; AND A NUMBER OF CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN, AND IN-LAWS. THE LAST OF T.J. AND SETTIE'S CHILDREN TO BE BURIED IN THE FAMILY PLOT WAS A SON, WILLIAM MARTIN, IN 1967.

AMONG THE GRAVES HERE ARE THREE UNMARKED BURIALS. THE SHAMBURGER CEMETERY SERVES AS A REMINDER OF A PIONEER EAST TEXAS FAMILY AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO SMITH COUNTY'S AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. (1990)


TROUP CITY CEMETERY - McKay and Georgia Streets, Troup - Subject Marker - 1981

TROUP CITY CEMETERY

THIS COMMUNITY BURIAL GROUND ORIGINALLY SERVED THE EARLY SETTLERS OF ZAVALA, LATER KNOWN AS TROUP, A TOWN ESTABLISHED ALONG A LINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL & GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD IN 1873. SINCE NO LAND WAS SET ASIDE FOR A PUBLIC CEMETERY WHEN THE TOWN WAS PLATTED, EFFORTS WERE MADE TO SECURE A TRACT FROM THE RAILROAD. AS A RESULT OF THE INFLUENCE OF CITY LEADERS, PROMINENT LOCAL RESIDENTS, AND JUDGE WILLIAM WRIGHT MORRIS, THE AREA REPRESENTATIVE TO THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE THE RAILROAD PROVIDED 1.67 ACRES OF LAND AT THIS SITE IN 1875 FOR A BURIAL GROUND KNOWN THEN AS ZAVALA CITY CEMETERY.

THE EARLIEST KNOW GRAVE IS THAT OF SOUTH CAROLINA NATIVE WILLIAM A. ARMS. ORIGINALLY BURIED IN NEW ORLEANS, HE WAS REINTEERRED HERE IN THE 1870s BY HIS WIDOW MARTHA ANN (WALKER) ARMS AND HIS SON MARION FRANCIS ARMS. ALSO BURIED HERE ARE THREE EARLY MAYORS OF THE CITY, DR. ERASMUS MANLEY HANNA, WILLIAM CLARK SPRUCE, AND JUDGE STEPHEN DECATUR MORRIS. LEADERS IN SECURING THE FIRST RAIL LINE TO THE AREA THEY WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN HAVING THIS SITE SET ASIDE FOR USE AS A PUBLIC CEMETERY. OTHER GRAVES HERE INCLUDE THOSE OF PROMINENT LOCAL RESIDENTS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AREA. (1981)


UNION CHAPEL CEMETERY AND CHURCH - US 110, West of Lindale - Subject Marker - 1986

UNION CHAPEL CEMETERY AND CHURCH

THE EARLIEST MARKED GRAVE IN THIS CEMETERY, THAT OF OLIVE COSBY MAYNE, IS DATED AUGUST 1873, ONE MONTH BEFORE EARLY AREA SETTLER AMPLIAS SMITH DEEDED 3 ACRES OF LAND HERE FOR A METHODIST CHURCH AND CEMETERY. THE CONGREGATION SOON BUILT A SANCTUARY THAT SERVED UNTIL A NEW STRUCTURE WAS ERECTED IN 1949. SMITH AND OTHERS GAVE ADDITIONAL LAND OVER THE YEARS, THUS GREATLY ENLARGING THE SIZE OF THE CEMETERY. MANY MEMBER OS PIONEER FAMILIES IN THIS RURAL AREA ARE BURIED HERE, INCLUDING LAND DONOR AMPLIAS SMITH (1813-1888) AND HIS WIFE, MARTHA (1825-1883).

TEXAS SESQUICENTENNIAL 1836-1986


WOOD - VERNER CEMETERY - FM 724, West of Tyler - Subject Marker - 1993

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