Sholar Cemetery
Tenaha, Shelby County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Several families from Henry County, Alabama, settled in this area in 1846, including the John and Nancy (Kirkland) Scott family. Their son William sold his brother-in-law David Sholar 111 acres here in 1850. This site became a burial ground in the summer of 1854 with the deaths of six cousins, ages one to ten, likely from the same illness. Truitt's Chapel later organized across the road, and the Sholar post office operated from 1906-15. The nearby community of Eagle Mills was also associated with this cemetery. Veterans of military conflicts dating back to the U.S-Mexico War are buried here, along with ancestors of several area families. Masonic Lodge and Woodmen of the World gravestones are also prominent.Historic Texas Cemetery-2007
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Families from Henry County, Alabama, settled this Shelby County land in 1846, and the ground became a cemetery in 1854 when six young cousins died within a single summer, likely of the same illness. A chapel, a post office, and the community of Eagle Mills grew up around it. Veterans of conflicts reaching back to the U.S.-Mexico War lie here, their graves marked by prominent Masonic and Woodmen of the World stones.
Why it matters
The cemetery preserves the story of an antebellum migration from the Deep South into East Texas and the tight-knit farming community it produced.
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Related people
- · David Sholar
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Ramah Cemetery
Tenaha, TX
The Ramah community grew from the 1870s homestead of William Tell and Mollie Pou, who helped found Ramah Baptist Church in 1874 and gave its name — a biblical 'high place' — to the settlement's log church, school, store, and cotton gin. The cemetery formally deeded in 1909 holds more than a thousand graves, including over a hundred veterans spanning the U.S.-Mexican War through the Korean Conflict. Among them lies George E.B. Peddy, elected to the legislature while still a University of Texas student and a two-time U.S. Senate candidate decorated in both World Wars.
Shelby County
Center, TX
This corner of East Texas lay within the lawless 'neutral ground' between 1803 and 1819 before Anglo-American settlement began in the 1820s, first organized as the district and then municipality of Tenehaw. Renamed in 1836 to honor Revolutionary War officer Isaac Shelby, the county sent delegates to Texas's early conventions and soldiers to San Jacinto, and its seat moved from Shelbyville to Center in 1866. From 1841 to 1844 it was torn by the Regulator-Moderator Feud, a bloody vigilante conflict finally ended when Republic of Texas troops under Gen. James Smith restored order.
The First Battle
Center, TX
This marks the vicinity of the first clash in the Regulator-Moderator War, a bitter feud that convulsed Shelby County from 1841 to 1844 in the days of the Republic of Texas. What began as a quarrel between rival factions escalated into an unorganized war of ambush and reprisal, ending only when General James Smith led Texas forces in to restore order in August 1844—reportedly without firing a gun.
Buena Vista Cemetery
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This burial ground has served the Buena Vista community since it organized in 1848, on land donated by South Carolina native Joseph Penn Burns. Its earliest marked grave dates to 1851, and those interred include early merchants and veterans of conflicts reaching back to the War of 1812. When the railroad bypassed Buena Vista in the 1880s and the town faded, the cemetery endured as the community's lasting landmark.