Smith Cemetery
Tyler, Smith County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1846, Mary M. "Polly" Long received 640 acres in this area from the State of Texas. She deeded half to her son, Richard B. Long, in 1852. He sold this tract in 1881, reserving one acre to preserve the existing cemetery, which was used as early as 1857 by local settlers, many of whom were Long's relateives or neighbors. The earliest marked grave dates to 1862. The cemetery takes its name from the numerous members of the Smith family buried here. Other graves include those of "Polly" Long, early County Commissioner William Green, and Civil War veterans F.Y. Smith and James Dark.Historic Texas Cemetery
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground grew from land granted to Mary M. "Polly" Long by the State of Texas in 1846, part of which her son preserved as a cemetery when he sold the tract in 1881. In use as early as 1857, it holds the graves of local settlers, many of them Long relatives and neighbors, including early county commissioner William Green and Civil War veterans. Its name honors the many members of the Smith family laid to rest among the pioneers here.
Why it matters
A designated Historic Texas Cemetery, it is a quiet archive of the settler families and Civil War-era lives that shaped early Smith County.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Mary "Polly" Long
- · Richard B. Long
- · William Green
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Leagueville Cemetery
Murchison, TX
The Leagueville community grew from the Aaron York survey, and tradition holds its cemetery began beside an early schoolhouse on land donated by B.T. and Annie Roberts. That pioneer schoolhouse also hosted worship, and in 1880 the congregation that became Leagueville Baptist Church organized there. The oldest marked grave, that of Alabama native Jacob Colvin, dates to 1863, and pioneer families like the Reagans, Adairs, and Colvins rest among many unmarked early burials.
Tidmore Cemetery
Martins Mill, TX
Pioneer L. H. Hobbs settled this part of Van Zandt County around 1850 and let a grieving family bury their two-year-old daughter on his land, quietly founding a cemetery. The graveyard took the Tidmore name after John Tidmore—who died in 1866 of afflictions carried home from the Civil War—and his family came to own the ground and were laid to rest there in turn. Around the Tidmore and Hobbs graves gathered generations of a farming community, including a dozen Confederate veterans and later soldiers of both World Wars.
Thomas Cemetery
Athens, TX
This small family cemetery began with the 1877 burial of Mary Thomas Hall, who died young, likely in childbirth, on the family farm. Its patriarch, Jacob Thomas, was a planter born in North Carolina in 1800 who moved through Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas before reaching Henderson County, Texas, by 1860. His son Sylvester volunteered for the Confederacy but died of influenza in training, leaving Jacob to raise his grandchildren. Generations of the family lie buried here on the hilltop above the creek.
Walker's Chapel Cemetery
Reklaw, TX
This cemetery grew from Walker's Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, South, founded by John Walker, who reached this Cherokee County vicinity by 1839. Harvey N. Cooper deeded the church its site in 1879, and the congregation became the heart of a rural community that took the chapel's name. The oldest legible grave dates to 1879, and among the burials are veterans of conflicts reaching back to the Civil War. A memorial service still gathers here each July.