Allphin Cemetery
Elwood, Madison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1829 Ransom Allphin (1812-1854) and his parents migrated from Illinois to Montgomery (present Madison) County. Allphin acquired this property in an 1835 Mexican land grant. He and his wife Elizabeth (Johnston) had seven children. Allphin farmed and operated a grist mill. In 1854, while digging a well here, Allphin discovered clay and soapstone in the soil. He abandoned the well and donated this 5-acre plot for a community burial ground. Allphin died the same year and his was the first grave. The 1918 influenza epidemic accounted for many of the burials.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Ransom Allphin came from Illinois to Texas with his parents in 1829 and secured this land through an 1835 Mexican land grant, farming and running a grist mill on the frontier. In 1854, while digging a well, he struck clay and soapstone, abandoned the shaft, and donated five acres as a community burial ground—becoming its first grave that same year. Later burials, many from the 1918 influenza epidemic, layer generations of local history into the plot.
Why it matters
The cemetery grounds a Mexican-era land grant and one pioneer family's whole arc—settlement, industry, and death—into the soil they helped open to farming.
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Related people
- · Ransom Allphin
- · Elizabeth Johnston Allphin
Themes & tags
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