Hendrix Cemetery
Sherman, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A native of North Carolina, John Hendrix (1798-1893) came to Texas in 1846 with his wife, Ruth (Strader) (1804-1882), their children, and seven other families. Their first camp in the area is marked by a large boulder in this cemetery. Hendrix ran successful farming and nursery operations and became a prominent and influential citizen of Grayson County. Shortly after his arrival, Hendrix established this cemetery. Located on land he acquired after his settlement here, the one-acre burial ground eventually was deeded to Grayson County. The first known burial, that of the infant son of M. and D. Perdue, took place in 1848. John and Ruth Hendrix are buried here, as is their son Josiah Tompkins and daughter Nancy Hendricks Jennings. There are approximately forty-five marked graves in the Hendrix Cemetery. Many date from the last half of the nineteenth century and some display illegible inscriptions. An unmarked section in the northwest corner of the graveyard was reserved for slave burials. Used for more than one hundred years by Hendrix family relatives and descendants, close friends, and associates, the cemetery is a significant reminder of early Grayson County history.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Hendrix led his family and seven others to Grayson County in 1846, their first campsite still marked by a large boulder in this cemetery. A successful farmer and nurseryman, he became a prominent citizen and established this one-acre burial ground, where the first known grave — an infant of the Perdue family — dates to 1848. A section in the northwest corner was set aside for the burial of enslaved people, a sober record within the roughly forty-five marked graves.
Why it matters
The cemetery documents both the pioneer families who settled North Texas and, in its segregated slave-burial section, the presence of enslaved people bound to that same frontier expansion.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John Hendrix
- · Ruth Strader Hendrix
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
William W. Bell Cemetery
Savoy, TX
English-born William W. Bell emigrated to America in 1820 and reached Texas by 1836, enlisting in the Republic of Texas army in 1837 and later riding with the Texas Rangers and carrying the Republic's mail. When he died in 1845, his family buried him here, beginning a graveyard that holds his wife Elizabeth, several of their children, and—by family tradition—some enslaved people in unmarked graves. Bell descendants formed an association in 1985 to preserve the site.
Old Town of Cannon
Van Alstyne, TX
Elijah Cannon founded this Grayson County settlement in 1852, arriving from South Carolina with his children and enslaved workers to develop 700 acres. The community built a church, cotton gin, grist mill, and wagon factory and by 1885 had an academy and 400 residents—but when the Houston & Texas Central Railroad bypassed it, the town swiftly faded in the 1890s.
Carson Cemetery
Ector, TX
Local tradition holds that this Fannin County cemetery took its name from John Carson, who once owned the neighboring land, and that its earliest graves date to an 1842 Indian raid on the nearby home of Dr. W. M. Hunter. The three victims were Minerva Hunter, her young daughter Elizabeth, and an enslaved or hired African American woman whose name has been lost to record. Cemetery trustees secured title by 1878 and later added land, and Minerva Hunter's grave was finally marked in 1942, a century after her death.
Cannon Cemetery
Van Alstyne, TX
Elijah Cannon brought his eleven sons and the people he enslaved from South Carolina to Texas in 1852, settling this corner of Grayson County. In 1874 the family graveyard was formally deeded as a community burial ground; its oldest documented grave is that of ten-year-old Nancy J. Bowen from 1857. A separate section was set aside for formerly enslaved people, beginning with Billy and Glory Boyd in 1880, and today the cemetery holds more than 700 graves of pioneers and war veterans.