Pioneer Cemetery
Lamesa, Dawson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
First burial ground in Dawson County, given by Frank Conner. First grave, Nov. 10, 1904, for Mrs. G. W. Pate, who had suggested cemetery. Plot closed 1907, except for 1949 burial of W. R. Kelly beside his wife. The 22 others here: Montie Andrews, Carrie Baker, Mrs. J. M. Baker, infants Bowser, Dickenson, McNew, Senter, Mrs. Zeke Harris, G. W. Kelly, Eunice C. Lindsey, John R. Lindsey, W. W. McElwain, S. H. Maxwell, Mrs. Elmira Pate, Ollie Pate, Frances C. Printz, John Puryear, Floyd Rains, John Earl Seeds, Roger Simpson, Mart Trammel, Elizabeth Wright. (1964)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This was the first burial ground in Dawson County, donated by Frank Conner, with its first grave dug in November 1904 for Mrs. G. W. Pate, who had suggested the cemetery's creation. Formally closed in 1907, it holds two dozen of the region's earliest settlers, several of them infants. A lone later burial joined a spouse in 1949.
Why it matters
The cemetery preserves the names of the first families to settle the West Texas plains at the dawn of the 20th century.
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Related people
- · Frank Conner
- · Mrs. G. W. Pate
- · W. R. Kelly
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Around 1887, Chicago lumberman W.C. Bishop and George N. Fletcher founded the OTO (later Bar TO) ranch in Dawson County, and in 1889 a post office opened at its headquarters — named Chicago partly in wry jest at the empty surrounding plains. A village grew up around it, serving nearby spreads like C.C. Slaughter's Long S, until Lamesa won the county-seat contest in 1905. Within days Chicago's homes, businesses, school, and churches had picked up and moved south, and the community vanished.
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