Oakwood Cemetery
Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established in 1846, this cemetery was originally known as the Walcott Graveyard. The earliest documented burial in the cemetery is that of James G. Gilmer (1814-1846). A native of Kentucky, Gilmer came to Texas in the late 1830s and settled in this area. He was buried on his family land, and his widow, Elizabeth Parrish Gilmer, later married Benjamin Stuart Walcott. Mr. and Mrs. Walcott gave the land containing Gilmer's grave to the community as a public graveyard. It later became known as Oakwood Cemetery because of the area's large oak trees. Members of Honey Grove's early pioneer families are interred in the graveyard, as are many of their descendants. Over 275 veterans of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II are represented here, some with gravestones and some, whose bodies were not returned, with memorials. Also buried here are members of Honey Grove's pre-Civil War slave community and freed black citizens. Land acquisitions over the years have increased the size of the cemetery. An entrance gate was erected in 1910, and a fence was built around the graveyard about 1913. the Oakwood Cemetery Association, formed in 1923, maintains the historic cemetery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Begun in 1846 as the Walcott Graveyard around the grave of Kentucky-born pioneer James G. Gilmer, this ground became a public cemetery when the Walcott family deeded it to the Honey Grove community. Beneath its oaks lie the town's founding families and more than 275 veterans of the Civil War and both World Wars, some memorialized because their bodies never came home. Members of the area's pre-Civil War enslaved community and later freed Black citizens are buried here as well.
Why it matters
A single burial ground can hold an entire town's memory across a century of war and peace, and here it records both the pioneer families and the enslaved and freed people whose labor and lives were bound up with theirs.
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Related people
- · James G. Gilmer
- · Benjamin Stuart Walcott
- · Elizabeth Parrish Gilmer
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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