Calvary Cemetery
Trinity County, Trinity County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Sometime between 1865 and 1874 Alexander and Jane (Tucker) Smith moved from Alabama and settled here in the community of Nogalus Prairie with their daughter, Ann, and sons Thomas, Rederick, Kirby, and NAthan Marion. The Cemetery site was originally part of 156 acres acquired by Nathan M. Smith on June 2, 1874. According to Smith family tradition, on a date prior to 1888 the cemetery was established when Alexander Smith set aside a one-acre section here out of his son's 156 acres to bury Nathan, who had been murdered. However, the 1875 dates on the grave sites of James McClain and the unidentified child of J.W. and T.E. Bowman indicate earlier burials. The cemetery later was deeded to the local Calvary Baptist Church by descendants of Alexander Smith. In 1908 Mrs. Z.A. Lovelady donated 2.5 cares and J.M. and Millie Kee donated 0.4 acres to enlarge the cemetery. In 1965 another 1.6 acres was donated to the cemetery by Davis family members. The Calvary Cemetery Association, formed in 1962, purchased two acres from the Champion International Corporation in 1988. Among the more than 380 grave site recorded here in 1992 were those of veterans of the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean Conflict.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After the Civil War, Alexander and Jane Smith brought their family from Alabama to settle the Nogalus Prairie community, and this ground became its burial place—by family tradition, first opened to bury a son, Nathan, who had been murdered, though grave dates from 1875 hint at even earlier interments. Over the following century, churches, families, and associations expanded and cared for the cemetery, which by 1992 held more than 380 graves, among them veterans of the Civil War, both World Wars, and Korea.
Why it matters
This burial ground chronicles a Southern pioneer community's full arc from Reconstruction-era settlement through generations of service in the nation's wars.
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Related people
- · Alexander Smith
- · Nathan M. Smith
Themes & tags
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