Cemetery Wanderings
I had a really neat experience this past summer (2009); troubling in some ways but really neat and gratifying. I urge our members to make a similar effort at visiting burial grounds.
I come by the appreciation of cemeteries in a natural sort of way. I have the unusual background with all of the old maid school teacher aunts – all living in or near Mt. Vernon; and with a real interest in history. My own father’s senior English term paper marked with an “A” is entitled “The History of Franklin County” – and he was writing that in 1931.
My maternal grandfather’s sister, Mae Hughes Masters Milam: Widowed in 1931, she won’t marry again for 17 years. So, in the gap years, she gets a job selling tombstones. She employs a discreet approach: reading obituaries, getting in a car, calling on families all over Northeast Texas, and selling tombstones for the Bergin Monument Yard of Sulphur Springs (and originally of Jefferson). She knew where every cemetery was in about eight counties. And she knew where her own people were buried. She was avidly interested in history, and, when I was a young child, she would load me up and go call on distant cousins and take me to the old burying grounds. She could tell you the state where the marble was mined for tombstones installed a century before.
With my own parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents in the Mt. Vernon city cemetery, it is a bit more difficult to get out to the cemeteries where the great-great grandparents lie (Tranquil and Marshall Springs over on the Trace – that earliest route for settlement of the first arrivals here); and then to go back another generation to the graves of their ancestors in Red River County at English and Old Shamrock and a generation before that to Old Halesboro.
I had not been to the Red River County cemeteries since I graduated from high school and went with Aunt Mae. So on a Saturday afternoon in July my two nephews agreed to humor me and we made a regular family outing of the pilgrimage to the old graveyards in Red River County. Also on the outing were my brothers, John and Sid, sister-in-law Mary, and our adopted Brazilian college student, Eduardo Luz, with me telling him he needed to know the roots of his adopted American family.
Well, I think I said, “Aunt Mae was in the marker business.” So here’s the troubling part of the day. Ok – out at Tranquil, the two marble tombstones of her grandparents were in disrepair. She had a modern large granite marker installed; it is out of keeping with the other Aikin markers nearby (four Aikin siblings and family members all in close proximity). Where did the original marble markers go? Probably some ditch. But the granite will remain.
And then at Old Halesboro: the tombstone of Mary Stark Grant, 1797-1877. I have a picture of the marker; a tall marble marker with an engraved hand and index finger pointing to heaven. Where is it? Aunt Mae put down a very frugal granite marker. You would not be sure that it still marked the original burial; it’s one of those instances where someone just bought a marker to make sure the ancestor was remembered. I have the earlier proof – a photograph taken about
1968 – but where did the historic marker go? My nephews missed out on the historic context.
The day was very fulfilling. My nephews perhaps absorbed a little of my appreciation and reverence for the heritage they have here. The family time was fun. At English, we managed to topple a leaning monument (we were trying to right it). The only good to come of that is that I am now compelled to repair that tall marble monument (Mary Aikin 1806-1866); so I’ll follow the state guidelines for repair. But I want to make sure it will last. I’ll pay for granite, too. Aunt Mae will be proud. But I’ll leave the old marker and so there will be two. And while I’m at it I’ll get another grave more permanently marked with a granite marker to go by her marble stone (Anne Aikin Aikin, 1777-1867 – yes, an Aikin married an Aikin) so that the old grandma who is mentioned in our civil war correspondence can be found in a few more generations. My dad’s sister Ivey Hicks Smith always said that we had good genes and they were enhanced by all the marriages between cousins. I’ve contended it was to ensure that family lands weren’t divided with other families; in any event, those levels of intermarriage are common across the south a century ago.
Check out the Texas Historical Commission Website for great information on cemetery preservation. We have 48 in Franklin County alone that can be documented. We have the great work of Martha Hare and the members of the genealogical society.
At Halesboro we found over half of the tall tombstones toppled; senseless vandalism in an otherwise beautiful setting. Watch over the cemeteries. I truly believe that cemeteries should be treated as parks. It is one way to ensure continuing interest in these rural areas. We should strive to place some inviting benches, to plant some trees and provide shade. Make the public welcome. Maybe children will read the markers. The markers tell the stories.
On May 3, 2010, we’ll have a cemetery walk in the Mt. Vernon City Cemetery. Then we’ll adjourn to the Depot for refreshments and a slide show featuring other cemeteries of the county. Martha Dickson Hare and I will lead the walk. Come join us for food and fellowship. And plan on visiting some of our county cemeteries. A top suggestion is Collier’s Chapel, a beautiful cemetery. You can understand its location. The Methodist church long gone; the cemetery on a hill with the church site; the burials in the churchyard on both sides of a small stream. A mile or so west of Highway 37; north of White Oak Creek. The burials and the beautiful location remain. The visit is worth a picnic outing. Check it out.
