Plummer Cemetery
Groesbeck, Limestone County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Luther Thomas Martin (L.T.M.) Plummer and his wife Rachel (Parker) arrived in what is now Limestone County in 1834. They received a Mexican land grant for 3,321 acres in this area the next year. In 1836, Rachel, her son James, and her cousin Cynthia Ann Parker were kidnapped by Comanches. After Rachel was returned in 1838, she and L. T. M. had another son, Wilson, in January 1839, but Rachel died in February and the infant in March. Upon Wilson's death, L. T. M. set aside one acre of land for a family cemetery. Since then, over 100 Plummer descendants have been buried here. 1991
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
L. T. M. Plummer and his wife Rachel, born a Parker, reached this part of Limestone County in 1834 and received a Mexican land grant of over 3,000 acres. In the 1836 raid on Fort Parker, Rachel, her son James, and her cousin Cynthia Ann Parker were taken captive by Comanches; Rachel was ransomed in 1838 but died within a year, as did her infant son Wilson. Grieving, L. T. M. set aside an acre as a family burial ground, where more than a hundred Plummer descendants now rest.
Why it matters
The cemetery preserves the memory of the Fort Parker captivities, among the most storied episodes of frontier conflict between Texas settlers and the Comanche — the same raid that carried away Cynthia Ann Parker.
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Related people
- · Rachel Parker Plummer
- · Cynthia Ann Parker
- · L. T. M. Plummer
Related events
- · 1836 Fort Parker raid
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Springfield
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Founded in 1838 around a spring donated by Moses Herrin, Old Springfield grew into the seat of newly formed Limestone County by 1846, complete with a two-story brick courthouse, a Methodist district that seeded the Northwest Texas Conference, and a short-lived college. The town's fortunes turned when the Houston & Texas Central Railroad passed it by in 1870, and two devastating fires in 1873 — one consuming the courthouse — hastened its end as buildings were carted off and the county seat moved to Groesbeck. Today only the old cemetery and Springfield Lake, inside Fort Parker State Park, carry the name of what was once the county's leading town.
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