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SABINE COUNTY, TEXAS - FAMILY HISTORY AND GENEALOGY

Macedonia Cemetery, Sabine County, Texas

 
Macedonia Cemetery - SURNAMES   U thru W and Unknowns
 

      Macedonia Cemetery (Includes 2 Reinterred graves from Robinson Cemetery; 61 Reinterred graves from New Zion Cemetery), Sabine County, Texas - From the Sabine County Court House in Hemphill, Texas take FM 83 (Worth Street) East 1 block to FM 83/State Hwy 87.  Go North or Left on FM 83/Hwy 87 for about 1 mile to where FM 83 turns Right (At the Dairy Queen) and follow FM 83 for ??? miles until you reach Macedonia Church on the Right.  Turn Right at the Church and the cemetery is behind the church.  Graves from New Zion Cemetery and Robinson Bend Cemetery were moved to this cemetery before Toledo Bend Reservoir was built.  This cemetery has a Historical Marker.  Additional information added in parenthesis.

     The following "History of Macedonia Baptist Church Cemetery" was provided with the Historical Marker & Index of the Cemetery in 1999.
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                     "History of Macedonia Baptist Church Cemetery"

     Nestled amidst some of the most fragrant gardenias in Texas, Approximately two miles Northeast of Hemphill on FM83, is the Macedonia Baptist Cemetery.  Without regard to religious denomination, faith, or affiliation, the cemetery has been the interment site for most of the black residents of Sabine County for over a century.
     The cemetery is named for the church that sets in front of it.  Church records show the Macedonia Baptist Church was established at its current site in 1885.1 Like Antioch Missionary Baptist Church organized at Gravelhill in 1876, the church is among the very few Sabine County churches established prior to 1900 which has been in continuous existence since that time.2
     The church's continued existence, however, has not been easy.  In January 1918, the church burned.  Services were help under a bush arbor until it could be rebuilt.  The church was rebuilt but burned again in September 1926.  As a testimony to the tenacity and commitment of the black residents of the community, the church was again rebuilt and stands today as a source of faith, hope, and pride to the community.
     According to some of the older residents of the community, Macedonia Cemetery and Macedonia Baptist Church had their origin even earlier than 1885.  This means Macedonia Church and Cemetery must have begun shortly after Hemphill came into existence in 1858.2  According to Whitman Johnson, a lifelong resident of Hemphill, his father, Henry Johnson, born in 1862 told him of what was referred to as "Old Macedonia Church and Cemetery".3   Old Macedonia is located about one mile north of Hemphill approximately 1/2 mile from the current Hemphill High School.  The facility served as the meeting place for both Methodist and Baptist congregations. Whitman Johnson said his father told him that when Macedonia Church moved to it current location, the Methodist congregation continued to use the church until it burned the late 1800's.  Records at the Sabine County Courthouse show the Old Macedonia Cemetery and Church was given to the Colored Methodist church by Joel Craig in 1893.4  During an interview with Blanche Toole, Sabine County Historian, she said that in the mid to late 1800's there was a steam mill and a settlement of black people located in this area.  She said this community of blacks disbanded when the mill closed in the early 1900's.5  Today, Old Macedonia Cemetery has approximately six marked and ninety unmarked graves.  The earliest marked grave is that of T. B. Buckley, born in 1862 and died in 1905.6  The most recent markings indicate that some family members continued to bury their love ones at Old Macedonia Cemetery until the early 1940's.
     No one seems to know the original seller of donor of the land for the current site of the Macedonia Cemetery.  Neither does anyone know exactly how long the cemetery has been in existence.  However, since church record clearly establishes the church's existence at this location since 1885, it is believed the cemetery has been here as long as the church has been here.  Over the years, additional acreage has been purchased to expand the cemetery to meet the growing needs of the community.7  It was increased to 5 1/2 acres in 1968 when Robinson Bend's entombed was moved to the cemetery to make room for Toledo Bend Lake, the fifth largest man made lake in the United States.
     The cemetery has over 500 graves.8  There are 357 marked and 193 unmarked graves.  Many of the early graves are unmarked.  No doubt, as slavery had ended only 20 years earlier, most blacks were too economically depressed to purchase markers.  The earliest marked graves are of two early settlers to the black community.  The graves are those of Olin Robertson, born February 15, 1828 and died January 19, 1906, and Daniels Thomas, born October 10, 1908, and died May 25, 1913.9  Approximately ten percent of the graves in the cemetery are those of Veterans of Foreign Wars.10  Ten graves of those of men who fought in WWI; thirty-seven are from WWII; four are from the Korean Conflict and two are from the Vietnam Conflict.  One of those men, L. C. Blake, died in battle during the Vietnam Conflict.  In keeping with black men's patriotism to this country, each war is well represented.
     The cemetery is also the final resting place for several black pioneer centenarians and over ninety nonagenarians, several of which were born during slavery.  Centenarians include Lee Ella Smith, Born April 15, 1870 and died February 11, 1971; Oxlean Daniel, born August 15, 1870 and died April 11, 1971; Mary White, born June 1, 1875 and died November 29, 1975, and Lizzie Daniels, boo October 1876 and died January 5, 1979.  All these centenarians were an integral part of the early settlers of the black community in Hemphill.
     The cemetery is the entombment site for many other early settlers of the community.  Many of these people made notable contributions to the community. For example, tax records show Henry Johnson, born in 1862, died and buried at Macedonia Cemetery in 1955, came to Hemphill in the late 1800's.  He purchased hundreds of acres of land and donated the land to build the first black school in Hemphill.  His son, Whitman Johnson, born in 1918 said he rememebers his father and Judge Smiley working on the first school for blacks in Hemphill, It opened in 1926 and was named Rosenwald School.  Judge Smiley, born in 1886 and died in 1981, is also buried in the Macedonia Church Cemetery.
     Mr. Reese Trotty and several other residents of the Thomas Johnson community have maintained the cemetery for many years.  Each year, individuals with relatives buried in the cemetery are requested to donated $10 for the up keep of the cemetery.   The placement of a Texas Historical Marked at this site honors the labor and commitment of all the men and women buried here that helped to shape the history of blacks in Sabine County, TX since the 1800's.
  BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.  Macedonia Baptist Church records.  Mrs. Cleo Trotty, Church Clerk.  FM 83, Hemphill, TX.
2.  McDaniel, Robert Cecil.  Sabine County, Texas:  The First One Hundred and Fifty Years (1836-1986).  Waco, Texas:  Texian Press, 1997, page 32.
3.  Johnson, Whitman, 81 year old lifelong resident of community.  Personal interview, October 1999.
4.  Sabine County Deed Records, Vol, J, page 26.  February 27, 1893, Hemphill, TX.
5.  Toole, Blanche.  Sabine County Historian, Personal interview, August 1998 and May 1999.
6.  Buckley, T. B.  Tombstone at Old Macedonia Cemetery.
7.  Sabine County Deed Records,  Vol. 264, page 336; Vol. 67, page 529 DR; Vol. 51, page 181 DR; and Vol. 201, page 719 DR.
8.  Macedonia Baptist Church Cemetery, listing of graves. (attached)
9.  Robertson Olin and Daniels Thomas, Picture of Tombstone at Macedonia Cemetery.
10. Marked graves, Macedonia Cemetery, Listing attached.
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*GPS Coordinates: 3121100N - 09349742W ;  First Marked Burial - {18 Jan 2002} ;  Last Marked Burial - {11 Dec 2002}
Indexed 25 Dec 1999 for Historical Marker ;  Updated from Obits 2 Jan 2003 by Kay Parker McCary

Notations/Symbols/Footnotes
 *  Unmarked grave
 #  Reinterred grave from New Zion Cemetery
 +  Reinterred grave from Robinson Cemetery
{ } Information from Obituary - Sabine County Reporter - Hemphill, TX
 ^  Information from Social Security Death Index or Death Record

 
 
  #

NAME

BIRTH DATE

DEATH DATE

INFORMATION-COMMENTS

 

451.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #76)

452.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #79)

453.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #83)

454.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #88)

455.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #109)

456.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #110)

457.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #111)

458.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #126)

459.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #127)

460.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #128)

461.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #129)

462.

# Unknown

---

---

(Reinterment #130)

463.

White, Bates

---

21 Aug 1943

(WW II)

464.

White, Bennie

20 July 1908

13 Aug 1994

 

465.

White, Carey

8 Feb 1898

1 Aug 1973

 

466.

White, Charlie "Billy Boy"

1 Apr 1949

10 June 1964

 

467.

White, Dasie

1906

1978

 

468.

White, Harvey

1890

1970

 

469.

White, J. L.

---

---

 

470.

White, Lee

---

---

 

471.

White, Mable Sugar

1 Nov 1902

16 Jan 1994

 

472.

White, Mary

1 June 1875

29 Nov 1975

 

473.

White, Lester

20 Dec 1923

16 Feb 1992

(WW II)

474.

White, Tyuana LaFrance

5 Jan 1968

4 Feb 1977

 

475.

White, Rev. W. M.

14 Mar 1885

19 Feb 1951

 

476.

White, Willie E.

1954

1976

 

477.

Wilkerson, Archie

5 Oct 1894

12 Jan 1977

(w Nettie Beagle)

478.

{Wilkerson, James

10 Nov 1932

27 Apr 2003

Son of Archie Wilkerson & Nettie Beagle - Obit 7 May 2003 SCR}

479.

Williams, A. B.

24 Sept 1905

19 May 1974

 

480.

Williams, Arrielma

---

---

 

481.

{Williams, Sarah Lou

(^23 May 1932)

21 Nov 2002

Obit 27 Nov 2002 SCR}

482.

Wilson, Burl

---

---

 

483.

Wilson, Lizzie

10 May 1870

6 July 1978

 

484.

Winn, Clarence

12 Oct 1905

23 Sept 1971

(WW II)

485.

Winn, George

---

---

 

486.

Winn, Mart

Aug 1888

Apr 1957

 

487.

Winn, Mary Sue Parks

25 Apr 1912

26 Dec 1994

 

488.

Winn, Nora

1904

---

 

489.

Wiseman, John H.

---

---