Proffitt Cemetery
Newcastle, Young County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Members of the Robert Smith Proffitt family came to this area about 1862 and established homes. A son, John Proffitt (1846-1925), amassed large land-holdings and built a gin and other businesses. The developing community was named Proffitt. At its height it boasted homes, a post office, school, retail businesses, a Methodist church, and Baptist church. On July 17, 1867, three young men were killed in an Indian raid near this site. They were buried in a common grave on John Proffitt's land about one mile south of town. Theirs was the first burial in the community graveyard which became know as the Proffitt Cemetery. The cemetery contains both marked and unmarked graves of area pioneers. The numerous interments of infants and children illustrate the often harsh conditions of frontier life. The largest number of burials occurred in the years between 1910 and 1920, and include many victims of the World War I-era influenza epidemic. Also buried here are veterans of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Maintained by a cemetery association, this historic graveyard stands as memorial to Young County pioneers.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Proffitt family settled this Young County area around 1862, and son John Proffitt built up land, a gin, and businesses that gave the community its name. The cemetery began in 1867 with the common grave of three young men killed in an Indian raid, and its many infant and child graves testify to the hardships of frontier life. Burials peaked between 1910 and 1920 amid the World War I-era influenza epidemic, and veterans of the Civil War and both World Wars rest here.
Why it matters
This pioneer burial ground compresses decades of frontier struggle—Indian conflict, epidemic disease, and wartime service—into the story of one small Texas community.
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Related people
- · John Proffitt
Themes & tags
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