Claude Cemetery
Claude, Armstrong County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Established 1890) Dan Cavanagh settled here in 1885 and bought this land in 1888. In 1890 he gave a grave site for railroad worker Neal DeBerry. Settler C.C. Bates was buried in 1890, and early burials from the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad right-of-way were later moved here. James and Harriet Grimes deeded the cemetery land to the public in 1905. A cemetery association was organized in 1912, and perpetual care began in 1936 with a $10,000 gift from Jim Hill. Also interred here are veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam. (1973, 1990)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Claude Cemetery began in 1890 when settler Dan Cavanagh donated a grave for railroad worker Neal DeBerry, and it soon gathered the dead of the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad right-of-way along with the town's pioneers. James and Harriet Grimes deeded the land to the public in 1905, an association formed in 1912, and a $10,000 gift from Jim Hill established perpetual care in 1936. Its rows hold veterans of every American war from the Civil War through Vietnam.
Why it matters
A Panhandle burial ground like this maps the arrival of the railroad and the generations of a small town's service and sacrifice across a century of American conflicts.
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Related people
- · Dan Cavanagh
- · Jim Hill
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Claude Monroe Ayers
Claude, TX
In 1887 the Fort Worth & Denver City Railway pushed across the Texas Panhandle, and the man at the throttle of the first passenger train to reach this spot was engineer Claude Monroe Ayers. The new townsite that grew up along the tracks took his first name, as railroad settlements across the West so often borrowed the names of the men who built and ran them. Ayers lived until 1915, his brief moment on the frontier line permanently stamped on the map.
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Claude sprang up in 1887 as the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad pushed across the Panhandle, and it took its name from Claude Ayers, the engineer of the first passenger train through town. First resident Jerry Cavanaugh donated the townsite, and in an 1890 county-seat contest the deciding vote was famously cast by legendary rancher Charles Goodnight. Churches, a school, and the incorporation of the town soon followed, and noted Panhandle historian Laura V. Hamner taught among its early teachers.
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