Charting Fannin County Cemeteries

Bonham Daily Favorite, February 5, 1995

​Of the many cemeteries in Fannin County some have been permanently lost, others are in a terrible state of neglect, some few, in recent years have been reclaimed by interested persons, and many are beautifully maintained in loving tribute to those pioneers who are buried there. Over the years some interested persons have surveyed many of these cemeteries and recorded the information to be found on the ‘grave markers.

One of the best sources of information can often be found in old family Bibles. While the actual cemetery may be lost after many years, the Bible records can remain as a reminder of these people forgotten by most.

In our attempt to chart as many of the cemeteries of Fannin County as we can, the Fannin County Museum of History is interested in not only learning the locations of still existing cemeteries, but for those which are lost we would like the information on the persons buried at the sites, and at least an approximation as to the location of the cemetery. If you have such records please call or write us at the Museum with the information.

In addition to these individual efforts in recording one or two cemeteries, there have been three concerted efforts to locate, survey, and record the burials of Fannin County. The first of these efforts was done by the late Floy Hodge in the 1950's. Mrs. Hodge did manage to record about 137 burial sites including many small plots of one or two graves in addition to the obvious city burial sites as well as the better tended rural locations.

Mrs. Hodge's book, which was printed about 1960, unfortunately fails to provide as complete information as a researcher might wish. Mrs. Hodge failed to provide a clear key as to her recording methods. For instance she rarely records the burial of children under the age of about 16 years. In some instances, in a family plot, she was only selective in recording grave sites rather than listing each person in a particular locale. Probably in the interest of publication space she listed only the years of birth and death but failed to provide months and days.

Of a more confusing nature are the cryptic notes she sometimes included about persons and relationships. She provided no guide as to the meaning of many of these notes. At the time these were probably very clear to the compiler but after thirty or more years their meaning in unclear.

Newhouse Publications, in Honey Grove, started a methodical listing of county cemeteries by dividing the county into sections and thoroughly listing all the burials in each cemetery along with all the vital statistics. Three volumes have been published covering the northeast quadrant of the county east of Highway 78 and north of old Highway 82 .

Sammy Duncan of Greenville has completed a similar project for the southeast quadrant and published the results. An additional volume has recorded cemeteries to the west of Highway 78 and a new volume of records of burial sites in the northwest quadrant is being issued. There still remains much of the southwest section to be surveyed although a few cemeteries in the far southwest have been recorded and published in recent years.

​The following cemeteries, compiled mostly from Mrs. Hodge's book, are cemeteries which may possibly have been destroyed or at best the exact location in unclear. If any reader can help with these please contact the museum.

Bailey Family Cemetery, south of Trenton. Warren Plot: location unknown; at least three Warren graves plus a Boulds and a Yowell. White Family Cemetery, four miles north of Bonham; William and Melissa White and their children. Blair Cemetery, near the Grayson County line; may be northwest of Savoy. Old Tulip Cemetery; this contains the graves of Mark Roberts and his family who were among the first arrivals in Fannin County with the Rowlett party in 1836. Bruce Cemetery, 17 miles north of Bonham. Wren Cemetery, south of Savoy. Vaughn Cemetery southeast of Bonham near Hunt Co. line. Cobb and Vannoy Cemetery east of Bonham. Bridges Cemetery, probably north of Honey Grove. Dugan Chapel near site of old Warren; this may actually be in Grayson Co. Dover Cemetery, 4 miles southwest of Bonham. King Cemetery south of Ravenna. Beal Cemetery, north of Monkstown overlooking Red River; this may be completely destroyed. McFarland Cemetery, 14 miles southeast of Bonham. Onstott and Stewart Cemetery, 7 miles northeast of Bonham. Terry Cemetery, near Rehobeth Chapel and Ladonia. Mount Zion, west of Bonham. Pettigrew Cemetery, 13 miles northwest of Honey Grove. Richardson Cemetery, location unknown. Marvin Church, 10 miles southwest of Bonham. Bush Family Cemetery near Virginia Point Church.

From other sources we have these cemeteries with unclear locations. Humble Cemetery, 7 miles north of Windom. Cravens Cemetery, 5 miles west of Honey Grove. Browles Cemetery, near southwest side of Dial. Wright Cemetery near Selfs. Graveyard Hill Cemetery, possibly also called Jackson Family Cemetery and located on land owned by a Jackson family.

Lyday Cemetery, located in southeast Fannin County near Ladonia. Cross Family Cemetery, north of Lannius. Whittenberg Cemetery, southeast of Dial. James McFarland Cemetery, southeast of Ladonia. NOTE: There were evidently two McFarland cemeteries possibly in the same vicinity. One might have been the James McFarland Cemetery and the other William McFarland. Marvin Church Cemetery, 10 miles southwest of Bonham. Long and Williams Cemetery, south of Ector. Bigbee Cemetery, 10 miles north of Bonham.

NOTE:  Much more detailed information on Fannin County cemeteries is now available online at the Fannin County GenWeb website.