Lilly Island Cemetery
Barnes, Polk County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This burial ground served residents of several communities that formed in this area beginning in the late 19th century. Former slaves resided in these settlements; some came to Texas from Savannah, Goergia with plantiation owner Daniel Hamilton. When Hamilton passed away, his daughter Margaret, with husband John S. Havis, began to manage the plantation. They donated property for church purposes after two former slaves, Cal Hamilton and Delila Scott, requested land on which to conduct worship services. By the late 1880s, members of Lilly Eylan (Island) Missionary Baptist Church met here to worship. In 1903, the congregation relocated to a settlement between Barnes and Camden which took the same name as the church. The original church site became known as Lilly Island Cemetery. The burial ground served residents of Barnes, Camden and Lilly Island. Many settlers were formers slaves and most farmed. Many of the freed slaves also worked for W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company, which provided boarding and houses, schools, medical services, a company store and a post office for its employees. The company was the area's main employer and thrived until the end of World War II, when many African American workers migrated to urban areas, leading to the decline of this area's communities. The earliest burial here, of Morris W. Washington, an infant, dates to 1884. Other interments include verterans of foreign conflicts dating to World War I. Today, the Lilly Island Cemetery Assocaition cares for the cemetery, which continues to serve the area and remains as a testament to the former slaves and other residents of the Barnes, Camden and Lilly Island Communities. Historic Texas Cemetery-2006.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Lilly Island Cemetery grew from the freedom communities that formed in this corner of Polk County after emancipation, settled in part by formerly enslaved people who had come to Texas from Savannah, Georgia. Two of them, Cal Hamilton and Delila Scott, asked the plantation's heirs for land to worship on, and by the late 1880s a Missionary Baptist congregation met at what became the cemetery site. Many residents farmed or worked for the W.T. Carter lumber company until, after World War II, African American workers moved to the cities and the settlements declined; the earliest burial here dates to 1884.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a testament to the freedpeople who built independent Black communities, churches, and livelihoods in the Reconstruction-era South, and to the Great Migration that later scattered them.
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Related people
- · Cal Hamilton
- · Delila Scott
- · Daniel Hamilton
Themes & tags
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