Cade Cemetery

Cade Cemetery near Streetman, Freestone Co., TX:
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by Eric Bonner Wood (permission recieved to reprint)

Status: Active
Location:  2 miles west of Streetman on the Navarro/Freestone county line.  Cade chapel building at entry is actually in Navarro County.  The graveyard itself is in Freestone County.
Directions: From Interstate 45 near Streetman.  Head west 1 mile down Farm Road 246.  There is a chapel at the cemetery entrance.  The cemetery lies to the south.

Historical Marker:
This burial ground originally served the pioneer Cade community, which was established near this site in the 1870’s. Named for Cade Hayes, an early area resident, the settlement included the surrounding farmland of southern Navarro County and northern Freestone County.  The cemetery was first used in 1876 when a Mrs. Nelson, the widowed sister of Cade settler Andrew Smith, was buried here. Ansel Coleman (D.1883) and his wife Alice (d.1910) who are interred here deeded the property to trustees of the local Missionary Baptist Church in 1883 for the establishment of the burial ground and for the construction of a church building and a Masonic Hall. The earliest marked grave is that of John Watson (b.1882), who died in 1884. Cade began to decline in population in the early 1900’s when construction of a Trinity and Brazos rail line bypassed the area. After the church closed in 1932 the burial ground was neglected until a group of local women formed a cemetery association in 1947. An early project of the organization was the addition of a frame chapel for the site. Reorganized in 1966, the association holds an annual luncheon and business meeting the first Sunday of each June.

Background:
This 2.5 acre cemetery was for the old Cade community prior to the railroad's arrival to nearby Streetman.  Land was given by Mr. Ansel Coleman on April 30, 1883.  Later another 2.5 acres was given for the church.  Later 3 acres given for a school.
Oldest Unmarked Grave: Mrs. Nelson in 1876 (the widowed sister of Andrew Smith) (before the land was formally given as a cemetery).
Oldest Marked Grave: The boy John Watson who died Aug 21, 1884

More information can be found at Find-a-grave at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=1993374

[This was sent in by Dickie Grubbs:
This bit of information does not have anything to do with the cemetery but I would like to inform you that the church also was used as a school. My great aunt, Sarah Alice (Williamson) Brown, was one of the school teachers. She married her first cousin, Louis D. Brown of Cade. They later lived in Streetman and both are buried in Wortham Cemetery, Wortham, TX. I have relatives, (Holt & Ferguson), buried at Cade Cemetery.]