Old Center Cemetery
Carthage, Panola County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1856, land for the Old Center Cemetery was first donated by James Rowe, a community pioneer and a veteran of the Texas War for Independence. Rowe's grave, dated 1868, is one of the oldest in the cemetery. The earliest marked grave, that of Arminta C. Cash, dates from 1865. One of the few physical reminders of the Old Center community, the graveyard contains several unmarked graves and about 400 marked burial sites. Over the years, the descendants of the original land donor have given acreage to enlarge the boundaries of the cemetery. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Old Center Cemetery began in 1856 on land donated by community pioneer James Rowe, a veteran of the Texas War for Independence whose own 1868 grave is among its oldest. The earliest marked burial, that of Arminta C. Cash, dates to 1865, and the grounds hold some 400 marked graves alongside many unmarked ones. Descendants of the original donor have expanded its boundaries over the generations.
Why it matters
One of the last physical traces of the vanished Old Center community, the cemetery preserves the memory of the Texas revolutionary generation and the settlers who followed them.
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Related people
- · James Rowe
- · Arminta C. Cash
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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James Rowe came to the Mexican frontier of Texas from North Carolina and took up arms in the 1836 revolution that won Texas its independence. A prosperous tanner, he helped organize newly created Panola County in 1846, served a term in the young state's legislature, and donated the ground where this cemetery now stands. His story is a compact portrait of the settler-soldiers who turned a contested borderland into an American state.
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