New York Cemetery
New York, Henderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The New York Cemetery, established in the 1870s near the local Methodist church, grew from a tiny burial ground through the generous land donations of area settlers. The earliest marked grave is that of Enoch Tunnell (1816-1879). Twelve more graves appeared by the end of 1883, including those of many infants and young children. Mrs. Martha Dismuke gave an acre of land to the Methodist church for a public graveyard in 1883. She was the mother of Rissa Dismuke Hall, the third wife of Dr. Thomas Hunt Hall, a physician and circuit-riding Methodist minister. Their nine children were cared for by Martha Dismuke after Rissa Hall died in 1891. The Rev. James Carr Walker, who established the first New York community store and the Methodist church, sold parcels of his extensive landholdings to newly settled farmers. He and his wife, Mary Fain Walker, had ten children. Mary Walker gave half an acre for the public cemetery in 1884 following James Walker's death. Nancy E. Walker, a daughter of James and Mary Walker, and her husband John Harrison Reynolds are reported to have given an additional half acre of land to the cemetery. Horace Clinton Hall, a son of Dr. Thomas and Rissa Hall who owned the New York store for several years, and his wife Viola Beckham Hall gave more land to the growing cemetery. Dennis W. and Clara (Tindel) Sholars and Seaborn C. and Laura (Garrett) Tindel gave the southern portion of the cemetery in 1939. One of the first graves in that section was that of Clara and Calvin's father, Seaborn F. Tindel, in 1941. By the end of the 20th century, the cemetery included more than 600 graves and continued to serve as a chronicle of the New York community. (1999)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The New York Cemetery grew from a tiny 1870s burial ground beside the local Methodist church into a community graveyard sustained by the gifts of many settlers. Martha Dismuke gave an acre in 1883, Mary Walker half an acre in 1884 after her husband—founder of the community store and church—died, and later families added still more land. Circuit-riding minister-physician Dr. Thomas Hunt Hall and his kin are among the many families whose graves, more than 600 by century's end, chronicle the New York community.
Why it matters
Assembled acre by donated acre, the cemetery shows how a frontier settlement's churches, stores, and families wove themselves into a lasting community.
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Related people
- · James Carr Walker
- · Thomas Hunt Hall
- · Martha Dismuke
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
New York Baptist Church
New York, TX
The Reynolds family arrived from Georgia in 1856 and, as devout missionary Baptists, gathered a community of worship that formally organized as a church in 1865. In 1873 the family deeded five acres for a two-story building shared by the Baptists, Methodists, the local school and the Masonic lodge. The congregation joined the Southern Baptist Convention in 1915 and, through revivals, singing and creekside baptisms, remained a center of community life for generations.
Davis Reynolds
New York, TX
In 1856, Davis Reynolds hauled his family — and several enslaved people — by wagon and on foot from Gordon County, Georgia, to Henderson County, Texas. Optimistic about its future, he named his settlement New York and donated land for the community's first cemetery, where his daughter's 1863 burial was the first marked grave. His hopes for a great city faded when the railroad bypassed New York in 1901, but the church, cemetery, and family store still endure.
Leagueville Cemetery
Murchison, TX
The Leagueville community grew from the Aaron York survey, and tradition holds its cemetery began beside an early schoolhouse on land donated by B.T. and Annie Roberts. That pioneer schoolhouse also hosted worship, and in 1880 the congregation that became Leagueville Baptist Church organized there. The oldest marked grave, that of Alabama native Jacob Colvin, dates to 1863, and pioneer families like the Reagans, Adairs, and Colvins rest among many unmarked early burials.
Pilgrim's Rest Primitive Baptist Church
Athens, TX
This congregation was first constituted in Alabama in 1850, then carried west by a caravan of covered wagons led by Samuel Tine Owen. Camped on Baptist Branch in January 1851, the roughly 150 travelers were so taken with the beauty of the country that they abandoned their planned trek to the California gold fields and settled here, building a log cabin church. The mother congregation gave rise to several other area churches before disbanding after an 1892 move.