Deadwood Cemetery
Carthage, Panola County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The community of Deadwood was established in the 1830s by the Adam LaGrone family. A family burial ground was begun on the LaGrone farm in 1847 when Adam LaGrone's wife, Christeena, died. Adam was buried next to his wife nine years later. Although the land did not officially appear in county deed records as a public cemetery until 1859, members of the community were buried here before that time. A testament to early Panola county history, the Deadwood cemetery is still in use and maintained by descendants of pioneer families. (1988).
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The community of Deadwood took root in the 1830s with the Adam LaGrone family, and its burial ground began in 1847 when Adam's wife Christeena died; he was laid beside her nine years later. Though not formally recorded as a public cemetery until 1859, it was already serving the settlement, and descendants of those pioneer families maintain it yet.
Why it matters
Cemeteries like Deadwood are the durable record of East Texas's earliest Anglo settlement, marking where frontier families put down permanent roots.
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Related people
- · Adam LaGrone
- · Christeena LaGrone
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Born in South Carolina in 1788, William McMillan Sr. moved to Alabama, married Elizabeth Wren, and brought his family to Texas in the late 1830s, receiving a Republic of Texas land patent in 1846 just as the Republic became a state. The settlement around his home was named McMillan's Post in 1848, with William as its first postmaster. The family set aside this ground for neighbors who had nowhere else to bury their dead; its infant graves and five victims of the 1919 influenza epidemic testify to hard frontier conditions. A Reeves descendant's 1976 gift added the family name to the more than 300 graves.
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