New Energy Cemetery
Houston County, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established with the burial of a traveler on the land of Mary (Polly) Rice, this cemetery dates to the Civil War era. The first grave that bears an inscribed tombstone, that of Walter Ashmore, is dated 1870. Over the years members of the Duren and Hill families have deeded acreage for the burial ground. It has served residents of New Energy and surrounding settlements and has been associated with a school and a union church. Descendants of many of the area's pioneers continue to use the cemetery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground began during the Civil War era with the grave of an unnamed traveler on the land of Mary "Polly" Rice, its oldest inscribed stone marking Walter Ashmore in 1870. Over the years the Duren and Hill families deeded more acreage, and the cemetery served the vanished community of New Energy alongside a school and a union church, still tended by descendants of the area's pioneers.
Why it matters
Pioneer cemeteries like this one are often the last physical trace of the small rural settlements that once dotted the Texas countryside.
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Related people
- · Mary (Polly) Rice
- · Walter Ashmore
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Grounds Cemetery
Houston County, TX
George and Catherine Grounds settled this part of East Texas around 1829, near the earlier arrival of Catherine's brother Joseph R. Rice. The cemetery was established in 1860 with George's burial and legally set aside by 1883, and it holds mostly Grounds family members. George's original red sandstone marker was replaced with granite in 1993, but the graveyard remains a representative example of the historic family burying grounds of the region.
Whitehead Cemetery
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The Henry Whitehead family left Mississippi in the 1850s and put down roots in Houston County around 1862, in the midst of the Civil War in which Henry served the Confederacy. He founded this burial ground in 1870 with the grave of his first wife, Mary Ann "Polly." Their descendants, beginning with their son Aaron, have tended the two-acre cemetery ever since, where more than sixty graves now rest.
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This family cemetery on John Edens's land holds some of the earliest known victims of the Edens-Madden massacre, a violent attack near here in October 1838 during the turbulent early years of the Texas Republic. The dead included Edens's wife, several of his children and grandchildren, and neighbors—more than thirty people were reportedly buried on the site, among them the first sheriff of Houston County. Only four marked graves survived into the 21st century, including that of John Edens himself.
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