Dennis Cemetery
Hughes Springs, Cass County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Allen and Eliza Ann Dennis and their family were among the earliest settlers of this part of Cass County. In 1856 they purchased the land surrounding this site. Eliza Ann Dennis died on January 27, 1873, and was buried on the family farm. Allen Dennis died in 1880 and was interred next to his wife. The land surrounding their graves became a family cemetery, which was later enlarged by a contribution of land from the E. G. Smith family. Among the over three hundred burials in the Dennis Cemetery are those of many Cass County pioneers, including members of the Smith, Baughmon, Mason, Bufford, Stiles, and Nelson families. The graveyard also contains a number of unmarked burials. The Dennis Cemetery first appeared in county deed records in 1878, when the Dennis family sold the property to d. W. Webb. The two-acre plot was reserved for burial purposes, and in a later deed in 1890 it was referred to as the Dennis Graveyard. The Dennis Cemetery serves as a physical reminder of early settlement in Cass County. Still a community burial place, it is maintained by a cemetery association formed in 1976.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Allen and Eliza Ann Dennis were among the first families to settle this corner of Cass County, buying the surrounding land in 1856. When Eliza Ann died in 1873 she was buried on the family farm, her husband laid beside her in 1880, and the plot grew — enlarged by a gift from the Smith family — into a community graveyard. More than three hundred people rest here, including pioneers of families like the Smiths, Masons, and Nelsons, many in unmarked graves, with the burial ground still tended by an association formed in 1976.
Why it matters
A pioneer family cemetery like this is a durable record of early settlement, preserving the names — and the anonymous graves — of the people who first put down roots in the county.
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Related people
- · Allen Dennis
- · Eliza Ann Dennis
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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