Stewart Cemetery
Sulphur Springs, Hopkins County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Located on land originally belonging to early Hopkins County settler Zacharias Birdwell (1801-1880), the nearby cemetery was first known as Birdwell's Graveyard. The earliest marked grave, that of infant James Becton Herman, is dated 1879, but the site was used as early as 1870. In 1882 Birdwell's widow, Polly, deeded land, including the cemetery, to her nephew W. A. Stewart. The burial ground, which soon became known as Stewart Cemetery, contains 23 marked graves, including that of Zacharias Birdwell. It was last used in 1915 for the burial of Mary E. Casey.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On land first claimed by Hopkins County settler Zacharias Birdwell, this quiet burial ground began as Birdwell's Graveyard, taking its earliest known grave around 1870. When Birdwell's widow Polly deeded the property to her nephew W. A. Stewart in 1882, the cemetery took his name. Its two dozen marked graves—from an infant buried in 1879 to a final interment in 1915—hold the founding families of a corner of northeast Texas.
Why it matters
Small family cemeteries like this one are the most durable record of frontier settlement, preserving the names and dates of ordinary pioneers who otherwise left no monument.
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Related people
- · Zacharias Birdwell
- · W. A. Stewart
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Oakland Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Sulphur Springs, TX
After their Alabama church was burned during Reconstruction, Willis and Nannie Stewart sought a place to worship freely and moved to Hopkins County in 1882 with their seven children and two formerly enslaved people, Abraham and Chloe. Their evening singing and Bible study drew neighbors, and a circuit rider's 1883 baptism in the Stewart home grew into a congregation that met first in Oakland School and then, on land donated in 1896, in a meetinghouse the community built by hand. Rebuilt after a 1944 fire, Oakland Cumberland Presbyterian Church still serves the area.
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