Lindsey-Randolph Cemetery
Randolph, Fannin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Tennessee native Thomas Lindsey (b. 1794) brought his family to this part of Fannin County in 1837. In the late 1840s, Lindsey donated four acres of his farmland for a school and cemetery. The first burial in the cemetery was for one of Lindsey's slaves. The one-room schoolhouse built next to the graveyard served as a community church where funeral services were held. Over the years, this cemetery has served residents of the surrounding area, including the community of Randolph, which was founded in 1887 on the Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas Railroad. The main street in Randolph was located about 3/4 mile southwest of the Lindsey School and cemetery, and a wooden sidewalk connected the two. In the middle 1890s, the Lindsey School was moved to Randolph, and the original school grounds were added to the cemetery. Among those buried here are Thomas Lindsey and his wife, rebecca, and their son-in-law, the Rev. Burwell Cox, who organized several Presbyterian churches in the area. Other graves located here include those of businessmen, farmers, doctors, pioneer citizens and their descendants, and veterans of several wars.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Tennessee native Thomas Lindsey brought his family to Fannin County in 1837 and, in the late 1840s, gave four acres for a school and cemetery — the first burial here being one of his enslaved workers, a stark reminder of slavery's reach into the antebellum Texas frontier. The one-room schoolhouse beside the graves doubled as a community church, and when the railroad town of Randolph rose in 1887, a wooden sidewalk linked it to the old grounds. Pioneers, farmers, doctors, a church-founding minister, and veterans of several wars all rest here.
Why it matters
That the ground's first grave was an enslaved person, on land a slaveholding pioneer donated, makes this cemetery a quiet witness to how deeply slavery was woven into frontier settlement.
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Related people
- · Thomas Lindsey
- · Rebecca Lindsey
- · Burwell Cox
Themes & tags
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