HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Caney Cemetery

Campbell, Hunt County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Confederate veteran M. J. Fox transferred a portion of his family property to Methodist church trustees C. A. Wade and G. J. Dean in 1904 for fifteen dollars. Land for the adjacent cemetery was donated to the church by Fox and the Amis family in the same year. It included the Fox family burial plot and the 1895 grave of Fox's sister Elizabeth Neusum. Hers is the earliest known grave in Caney Cemetery. It is believed that these properties were named for nearby Caney Creek. A bequest from community resident Hubert Langley in 1972 provided for long-term maintenance. There were 153 graves in 1997, some with original bois d'arc markers. The Caney Cemetery remains a record of the community. (1998)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Caney Cemetery grew from land that Confederate veteran M.J. Fox and the Amis family gave to Methodist church trustees in 1904, though the earliest known grave—Fox's sister Elizabeth—dates to 1895. Likely named for nearby Caney Creek, the burial ground held 153 graves by 1997, some still marked with weathered bois d'arc wood. A 1972 bequest from a community resident helps keep it maintained today.

Why it matters

Community cemeteries like Caney preserve the memory of the farming families who settled Hunt County, down to the handmade wooden markers of its poorest graves.

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Related people

  • · M.J. Fox

Themes & tags

Westward ExpansionFrontier HistoryLandmark

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