Green Memorial Park Cemetery
Wilson, Lynn County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Located south of the townsite of Wilson, Green Memorial Park Cemetery was established as part of the farming community of Wilson. In 1906, William G. Green and his associates from Shiner, Texas, purchased land and a short time later Green and Lonnie Lumsden (1877-1951), Arkansas native and cousin to Green, bought land from the Wilson County School Lands Block in Lynn County. By 1909, sections were sold to farmers and settlers of the area that came to be known as Wilson. Although Green never resided in Wilson or Lynn County, many of the streets and places bear his name, including Green Memorial Park Cemetery. Lonnie Lumsden, however, moved to Wilson shortly after purchasing land and lived there his entire life and was a tireless advocate for the city. Lonnie and his wife, Callie Lumsden (1885-1981), are buried in Green Memorial Park Cemetery, along with descendants. The first recorded burial is that of Thomas E. Dawson, the father of Callie Lumsden, in December 1923. However, two cenotaphs for Richard Williams and Samuel Coleman are present with earlier dates. Many pioneer families and veterans dating to the Civil War are buried here, including Civil War veteran John Bone King (1844-1935) and World War II veterans William Green Lumsden (1917-1974) and Guadalupe Arellano (1920-2005). In addition, evidence of the thriving German American and Hispanic population of Wilson is found throughout the cemetery in such family names as Wilke, Gicklhorn, Steinhauser, Talkmitt and Dube, as well as Bustamante, Garces and Rodriguez. A cemetery association was established in 1930 to maintain this historic cemetery, a tangible reminder of the area’s heritage. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2016
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This cemetery grew alongside the farming community of Wilson, its land assembled after 1906 by promoter William G. Green and his cousin Lonnie Lumsden, who unlike the absentee Green settled here and spent his life boosting the town. The rows of graves read like a roster of the plains community: pioneer families, a Civil War veteran, World War II soldiers, and a mix of German American and Hispanic surnames that testify to who broke this ground. A cemetery association has cared for the site since 1930.
Why it matters
A rural cemetery is a tangible archive of settlement, recording in stone the immigrant and native-born families whose labor turned the West Texas plains into farmland.
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Related people
- · William G. Green
- · Lonnie Lumsden
- · Thomas E. Dawson
Themes & tags
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