HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Frith-Jones Cemetery

Jefferson, Marion County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Frith-Jones Cemetery Established 1876 Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Established in 1876, Frith-Jones Cemetery lies near Jefferson in the piney woods of East Texas, once a bustling riverport town. Designated a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2006, it preserves the graves of families from the Reconstruction-era community. The two family names it carries hint at the intertwined households that settled the surrounding land.

Why it matters

East Texas family cemeteries preserve the local memory of Reconstruction-era communities and the settlers who shaped them.

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