Farrsville Cemetery
Burkeville, Newton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Methodist minister Alfred Farr arrived in Newton County prior to 1860, and the community that grew around his homesite came to be known as Farrsville. The cemetery established at this site was first called Hines Cemetery. M.D. Hines, Sr., owned a homestead near the burial ground, and five early graves bear the name Hines. The earliest known burial is that of Jane Victor Smith, who died in 1859. The site was not officially designated as a cemetery until William Smith deeded a "two acre tract reserved for church, school house and grave yard" in 1878. The name of the burial ground was officially changed to Farrsville Cemetery in 1992 upon the creation of the Farrsville Cemetery Association. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2001
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Farrsville Cemetery holds the early graves of a Newton County settlement that grew up around Methodist minister Alfred Farr, who arrived before 1860. First known as Hines Cemetery for a nearby homesteader, the ground took its earliest recorded burial in 1859 and was formally deeded in 1878 as a tract reserved for a church, school, and graveyard. It was renamed Farrsville Cemetery in 1992.
Why it matters
The paired church, school, and burial ground show how a single frontier preacher's homesite could seed a whole rural East Texas community.
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Related people
- · Alfred Farr
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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