Hyde Cemetery
Bridgeport, Wise County, Texas
Marker Inscription
J. E. Barnes purchased this site in 1885 from P. J. Hyde and his wife Mary E. Hyde. The earliest marked graves are those of Barnes' wife Dizania (b. 1861) and son Felix, both of whom died on December 4, 1879. Many early settlers of the abandoned Jim Ned community (two miles north) are also buried here. Named for an Indian chief, Jim Ned was a thriving settlement before 1900 and included a church, school, mercantile store, and post office. About 75 graves at this site are unmarked. Others are indicated only with rocks and fences.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
J. E. Barnes bought this ground from P. J. and Mary E. Hyde in 1885, though the earliest graves — his wife Dizania and their son Felix — date to 1879. The cemetery also holds many settlers from the vanished community of Jim Ned two miles north, a town named for an Indian chief that once boasted a church, school, store, and post office before it faded away after 1900. Around 75 graves here are unmarked, and others are indicated only by rocks and fences.
Why it matters
A cemetery that outlived the town it served is a poignant record of the boom-and-bust rhythm of frontier settlement, where whole communities could rise and disappear within a generation.
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Themes & tags
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