Little Flock Cemetery
Jewett, Leon County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Little Flock Baptist Church began in this area in 1854. Early member names included Baldwin, Cothern, Hamlet, Lamb, Shipp, Steapleton and Thomas. The churchyard was used as a cemetery as early as 1860, when Meedie Lamb was interred here. The church and community have continued to use the burial ground and property, officially deeded for use as schoolhouse, church and graveyard in 1903 by W.C. Jackson. Between 1907 and the early 1920s, the Bear Grass Coal Company operated two mines in the area, bringing new families to the community. Many associated with the mines are buried here, including several miners of African American and Hispanic descent buried in unmarked graves in the northwest portion of the cemetery. Other community members interred at Little Flock Cemetery include veterans of the Civil War, World War I and World War II, religious leaders, pioneer families and landowners, and Tom Foley, who was a renowned fiddle player. Today, an association maintains the cemetery. Members hold an annual memorial day to reunite and honor area families, whose names and stories are part of the community’s rich history.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Little Flock Baptist Church took root in this corner of Leon County in 1854, and by 1860 its churchyard had become a burial ground for the pioneer families—Baldwin, Lamb, Shipp, Thomas and others—who farmed the surrounding land. When the Bear Grass Coal Company opened two mines here between 1907 and the early 1920s, new families arrived, including African American and Hispanic miners now resting in unmarked graves. Veterans of the Civil War and both World Wars, preachers, landowners, and even a beloved fiddler named Tom Foley lie together in this ground.
Why it matters
A single rural cemetery preserves the layered story of East Texas settlement, from antebellum farm families to an early-twentieth-century coal boom that drew a diverse and often unrecorded labor force.
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Related people
- · Meedie Lamb
- · W.C. Jackson
- · Tom Foley
Themes & tags
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