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Cottonwood Cemetery Henderson 

County Texas

 

UND OCCURRED

IN 1871, WHEN LANDOWNER SHADRACH GREEN BURIED HIS SON-IN-LAW,

JOSEPH A. P. SMITH, HERE. TEN YEARS LATER, GREEN SOLD HIS LAND

TO ANOTHER SON-IN-LAW, WILLIAM HUGH GRAHAM. A STATE

 REPRESENTATIVE IN THE 25TH AND 26TH TEXAS LEGISLATURES,

 GRAHAM USED MOST OF THE PROPERTY FOR HIS HOME PLACE AND

 FARM, BUT HE  CONTINUED TO OFFER THE AREA NEAR SMITH'S GRAVE

 AS A BURIAL PLACE FOR THE COMMUNITY, AND IT WAS REFERRED TO

 DURING THIS PERIOD OF TIME AS THE GRAHAM CEMETERY. AFTER

 GRAHAM'S DEATH IN 1919, HIS WIDOW, LYDIA CANDACE (GREEN), AND

 THEIR CHILDREN DONATED THREE ACRES OF HIS LAND TO THE PEOPLE

 OF THE COTTONWOOD COMMUNITY FOR USE AS A BURIAL GROUND.

THE COTTONWOOD CEMETERY IS A REFLECTION OF THE HERITAGE OF

THIS PART OF HENDERSON COUNTY. VETERANS OF ARMED CONFLICTS

 FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO VIETNAM ARE BURIED HERE, AS ARE EARLY

 SETTLERS AND LANDOWNERS, INCLUDING MEMBERS OF THE BENGE,

 BREWER, FRAZIER, FOSTER, GREGG, GARRETT, MORTON, ROBERSON,

 WILLMON,  HENDLEY, ALLISON AND OTHERS. 

DESCENDANTS OF THOSE INTERRED HAVE GATHERED ANNUALLY SINCE

 THE 1930s FOR A REUNION AND CEMETERY CLEANING, AND IN 1998 THEY

FORMED THE COTTONWOOD CEMETERY ASSOCIATION. IN 1999 THE

 TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION DESIGNATED THE GRAVEYARD A HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY.

ON JUNE 2, 2001 A TEXAS HISTORICAL MARKER WAS  DEDICATED,

 MAKING THIS ONE OF A FEW CEMETERIES WITH BOTH DESIGNATIONS. 

I HAVE GRANDPARENTS, GREAT GRANDPARENTS AND GREAT GREAT

 GRANDPARENTS,  UNCLES, AUNTS, GREAT UNCLES AND AUNTS AND

COUSINS IN THIS CEMETERY   AS MANY OTHERS DO IN THE COMMUNITY.

Wanda Graham Sheram did  the cemetery history.

Roots In Cottonwood main page

E mail   Lee Roberson 

Zlbr02@highstream.net   for look ups in the Cemetery.

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