James Frederick Gomer Cemetery
Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas
Marker Inscription
JAMES FREDERICK GOMER (1797-1870), ANA M. BATEMAN GOMER (1804-1873) AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN, AUGUSTUS AND MARY ANN, CAME TO SABINE COUNTY FROM GILES COUNTY, TENNESSEE IN 1836. LATER, THEY ADDED TO THE FAMILY WITH AMANDA, LEONIDAS AND ANNA. IN 1838, GOMER RECEIVED ACREAGE AND BEGAN TO OPERATE A LARGE FARM. BY 1873, BOTH JAMES AND ANA HAD PASSED AND WERE BURIED ON THE FAMILY FARM ALONG WITH ANOTHER CHILD, CATHERINE, WHO DIED YOUNG. IT IS ALSO SAID THAT SINCE THE AREA WAS ALONG A POPULAR ROUTE, THERE ARE OTHER BURIALS OF INDIANS AND SLAVES OUTSIDE OF THE FAMILY CEMETERY. TODAY, THE CEMETERY IS CARED FOR BY THE JAMES FREDERICK GOMER CHAPTER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
James Frederick Gomer and his wife Ana came to Sabine County from Giles County, Tennessee, in 1836, receiving acreage in 1838 and building up a large farm. By the early 1870s both had died and were buried on the family land alongside a child who died young. Because the farm sat along a well-traveled route, tradition holds that others — including Native people and enslaved individuals — were buried just outside the family plot.
Why it matters
The Gomer cemetery marks a Republic of Texas–era homestead and quietly acknowledges the Native and enslaved people whose graves lie at its edges, a reminder of who else shared this frontier ground.
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Related people
- · James Frederick Gomer
- · Ana M. Bateman Gomer
Themes & tags
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