HomeMy WebLinkAboutWixon Cemetery Marker Application APPLICATION FORM .
OFFICIAL TEXAS HISTORICAL MARKER
This marker is for (title or subject): Wixon Cemetery
Marker location (street address and city, or specific directions from nearest town on state highway map):
From Brazos Co. Courthouse, proceed 1 mile north on Hwy 6 Business
Route (Texas Avenue) to intersection of Hwy 21, right 5,9 miles to
E 17 6, left .3 of mile, cemetery on right.
o :
Brazos
Distance and direction of marker topic from marker site (if applicable):
• Not applica6le
APPROVAL OF COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION
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The application and narrative history must be approved by the county historical commission before forwarding to
the Texas Historical Commission.
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Chair's Signature: Date:
The CHC chair automatically will receive all copies of correspondence regarding this marker project.
PERMISSION OF OWNER FOR MARKER PLACEMENT
Permission for placemet\t of a marker must be obtained by the property owner. Please provide the name of a
contact person if the owner is an institution, organization, or public entity. This section need not be completed if
the marker is to be placed on right - of - way maintained by the State Department of Highways and Public Transpor-
tation.
IL Name:
Contact person(if applicable):
Mailing address:
Phone:
Owncr'sSignature:
Do you wish to receive copies of all correspondence concerning this marker application? ❑ Yes ❑ No
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To whom should the request for payment be addressed? -- -
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Name: Dou• t •. • - '. -. .'... - -
(Provide contact person if payee is an institution, organization, or public entity.)
Mailing address: 10976 E. State Hwy 21
Bryan, Texas 77808 Phone: 409 - 589 - 3590
Does this person wish to receive copies of all other correspondence concerning this application? 1 Yes ❑ No
Is there anyone else to whom all correspondence concerning this marker application should be addressed?
(One additional name and address only, please.)
Name: Ruth J. Hary
Mailingaddress: 2303 Kent Street
Bryan, Texas 77802 Phone: 409 - 775 - 2142 .•
SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS •
In order to facilitate delivery of the marker, neither post office box numbers nor rural route numbers can be •..,,c
accepted. If the marker is to be placed on the highway right -of -way, it will be shipped directly to the district ; i l l •••
highway engineer.
(over) i
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ate_
WIXON SCHOOL, CHURCH AND CEMETERY
In the days of Mexican control, during the Republic era and the early
days of statehood, the Texas frontier called people wanting to blaze new
trails and make a better life for themselves and their families. The
war between the North and South slowed down the migration, and then
immediately after the Civil War ended, families were again finding their
way westward. The end of the Civil War left circumstances grim for most
people of the old South. A new beginning involved more than taking up
from where things stood at the war's beginning. Reparations were harsh,
farms had gone largely untended for four or five years, and much
property had been intentionally destroyed or confiscated in the conduct
of the war. Many men of work force age did not survive the war and
slaves were emancipated. A total new beginning perhaps in some better
place looked to many like the best course of action. The people who
settled in the Wixon community were part of this group. In large
numbers, they came from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas,
Louisiana, and Tennessee.
These settlers established Wixon as a farming community and gave it
a different spelling than the original name of Wickson Creek. Wickson
Creek had been named for three Wickson brothers, Byrum, Dyron, and Eli,
during the 1840's when Brazos County was founded by the Texas Congress.
Wickson Creek is about 35 miles long and traverses a course through the
Wixon Community.
Without a doubt, as soon as they found suitable land and established
a home, they looked for a school for their children, a church in which
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to worship, and of course a burial place for their dead. They had to
provide these places for themselves because this was undeveloped
territory.
WIXON SCHOOL
The school in the Wixon Community appears to have been established
first according to the deeds, followed by the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church, and then the Wixon Cemetery. Harrison Crenshaw was involved in
all the land transactions.
On July 12, 1873, Harrison Crenshaw deeded six acres of land to J.
H. Mitchell, R. T. Short, J. D. Whitten, Z. P. Pearson, and H.
Crenshaw, trustees of Wickson School House.' Harrison Crenshaw
stipulates in this deed that he is selling the trustees the land for
$5.00 cash and further consideration of his desire to encourage a
permanent school and promote the facilities of education in the said
vicinity. This sums up his thoughts in regard to a school. The
remark "to encourage a permanent school and promote the facilities of
education in the said vicinity" may indicate that they were operating
some sort of school earlier than the one we know about.
On 18 December 1885, Harrison Crenshaw, for the sum of $5.00, deeded
1 acre of land to the Brazos County Judge and his successors for Public
School purposes. This property was adjacent to the Wixon Presbyterian
Church and appears to straighten up the property line where the existing
school building had been built. The school was in existence from 1873
until about 1935. It was a one -room school with one teacher and met
the educational requirements for the children from grades one through
seven. Some years all grades were not needed, depending on the makeup
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of the students. Until some time in the 1920's children had to carry
their own drinking water to school since there was no water on site.
In the early days, school started in the fall after the crops were
gathered and ended in the spring in time for spring planting. The
opportunity to continue their education after the seventh grade is not
known but as early as 1919, students attended high school in Bryan.
Students had to provide their own transportation to Bryan or live with
relatives in Bryan in order to continue their education. It is obvious
that these early pioneers believed in education because there is much
evidence to indicate that many of them were able to continue their
education on to the college level and above. If they couldn't attain
college for themselves, they saw that their children had the
opportunity.
Not much is known about Harrison Crenshaw himself other than what has
been stated above except he was born 12 February 1830 and died 24
February 1905. He had several children, and we know of one son Edwin
Wayne Crenshaw, who was a local banker. Edwin had three sons. The
youngest son, George Samuel Parker Crenshaw, was a teacher, an
elementary grade school principal, a high school principal, and later
Director of Personnel for the Bryan School System. George Samuel had
a son Harrison Manley Crenshaw, II who is a principal of a Bryan middle
school at the present time.
Harrison Crenshaw and several of his family are buried in the Wesson
Cemetery which is a little over a mile north of the Wixon Cemetery on
the same road, FM 2776. Harrison Crenshaw helped provide the land for
a Methodist Church at Wesson Community and also for the Cemetery at
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Wesson. Mr. Crenshaw was a Methodist.
WIXON CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Harrison Crenshaw, by deed dated 28 December 1878,' for the sum of
$1.00, sold 3 acres of land to J. C. Freeman, J. H. White, and J. W.
Robinson, trustees of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. This 3 acres
adjoined the school property at Wixon.
The church at this site was a Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In
1890, the "Report on Statistics of Churches in the United States " shows
that Brazos County Texas had one Cumberland Presbyterian Church with
seating capacity of 300, value of $15,000 and 53 members. A "Report
of Religious Bodies in the United States in 1906 " shows that Brazos
County had one "Cumberland Presbyterian Church" with 40 members and one
"Presbyterian Church in the U. S" with 173 members. The latter church
would have been the Presbyterian Church in Bryan, Texas.
From the statistics quoted above, we know that the Wixon Cumberland
Presbyterian Church was a very active church in this community for many
years. Early church records cannot be located to give us a listing of
the pastors, but Rev. Jonathan H. Mitchell was one of their resident
ministers living in the community. He was listed in their vicinity on
the 1870 and 1880 U. S. Census of Brazos County. He certainly married
their young people and buried their dead. He and his wife were among
the contingent that came from Coosa County Alabama in the early days.
Rev. Mitchell was born 28 June 1811 and died 8 Nov 1891. His first wife
was Martha Ann Robbins and after her death he married Margaret Freeman.
He and his second wife are both buried in Wixon Cemetery.
The following sketch of Rev. J. H. Mitchell appeared in the Fort Worth
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Daily Gazette, Apr. 6, 1886, p. 2, Byline Bryan, Texas:
"The San Jacinto Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
is now in session at Wixon Church, seven miles north of Bryan.
Their retiring moderator, Rev. J. H. Mitchell, now nearly seventy -
five years old, was for a period of thirty -three years pastor of
Ebenezer church in Coosa county, Ala. For seventeen years he has
been pastor of Wixon church in this county. During the past
winter while on a visit to Alabama, during the months of December
and January, in revival meetings he preached ninety -three sermons.
He is as active and vigorous as most men of fifty -five or
sixty."
This seems to suggest that the church was in existence before the land
was deeded to the church.
A newspaper copy of the obituary for John H. White, Sr., one of the
IL founders of the church, indicates that the church building was still in
existence 26 August 1935. The obituary states that funeral services
were held this morning at 10:00 o'clock at Wixon, his old home church,
with an immense crowd of friends and old time neighbors there to pay the
last tribute of respect to a beloved and useful citizen. Mr. White
lived to be 86 years old. The obituary goes on to state that funeral
services were conducted at the church and also at the grave in the quiet
churchyard cemetery. We know that the church was not active at this
time but certainly there was still some sort of a building there in
August 1935. The church was demolished at some later date, and there
is no visible sign of it left today.
WIXON CEMETERY
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The Wixon Cemetery is located in Brazos County, TX on the right or NE
side of FM 2776 about .3 of a mile from the intersection of Highway 21
East and FM 2776. From the Brazos County Courthouse, proceed 1 mile
north on Highway 6 Business Route (Texas Avenue) to the intersection of
Highway 21, right 5.9 miles to FM 2776.
By deed dated 28 May 1968, the Brazos County Judge and the Brazos
County Independent School District Board deeded the school property to
the Wixon Cemetery Association.' A specific deed for the Wixon Cemetery
has not been found. Access to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
minutes might reveal that the church authorized the use of some of their
land for the Wixon Cemetery. Efforts to locate the church records have
not been successful.
On July 8, 1978, the Wixon Cemetery Association was formally organized
and By -Laws and Constitution adopted. On 12 March 1984, the Wixon
Cemetery Association was granted Tax Exempt Status by the IRS.
In the cemetery listing for Wixon Cemetery, there are 172 confirmed
burials. The earliest burial according to her tombstone was Mrs. Nancy
Summers, born 29 Nov 1830, died 29 Jun 1871. Nothing further was found
in our research to identify her. We have discovered a large number of
unlisted graves also.
Among the burials, we have found documentation for fifteen Confederate
Veterans:
W. C. Alverson 1822 -1904, tombstone says Conf Soldier,
Newspaper obit says a valiant conf soldier, Miss
native.
Robert P. Batten 1846 -1888, Tex CSA, 19 Texas Cavalry (Burford's
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Reg't.)
t fr Henry B. Bowden 1813 -1874, Tex CSA, Co. I, 3 Texas Cavalry,
(South Kansas Tex Reg't. Mtd. Vols.)
J. T. Closs 1831 -1900, Tex CSA, Gould's Bat.
David D. Dawson, Sr. 1832 -1907, Ala CSA, mem Camp J. B. Robertson,
UCV.
Wm. M. Foster, Jr. 1834 -1881, Miss CSA, 2nd Lt Co H 31 Regt Miss
Inf.
John Calvin Freeman 1841 -1890, Ala CSA, Co C, 13th Ala Inf
James K. P. Hicks 1846 -1882, Tex CSA, Co I, 33rd TX Calv,
Duff's Partisan Rangers, 4th Bat Calv.
Jesse A. Hicks 1838 -1882, Tex CSA, Co B Crump's Reg Tx Calv,
Captured at La Fourche, La.
Wm. R. Hicks 1840 -1876, Ark CSA, Co A 15 (Johnson's) Ark If,
IL . Captured Port Hudson La 9 Jul 1863.
Zachariah P. Pearson 1826 -1874, Ala CSA, Co C, Hardie Batt'n, Cav
Reserves
Elias C. Pearson 1830 -1881, Ala CSA, Holloway's Co, Ala Cavalry
Robert W. Porter 1822 -1883, Ala CSA, Capt Wm. Steed's Co,
Talladepa Co Reserves
Samuel L. Scott 1830 -1894, Tex CSA, Co for Beat #3, Grimes Co,
17th Brigade, TST
J. Walter White 1828 -1876, Tex CSA, Militia for Beat #4, Grimes
Co., 17th Brig., T M.
Many of these early families suffered from causalities of the war.
The J. Calvin Freeman family recalls that there were five Freeman
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brothers who served and only Calvin came back. He had a shattered arm.
The family of William R. Hicks and Jesse A. Hicks report that they were
imprisoned by the Union troops. None of the three Hicks brothers lived
to be very old but it is not known if they suffered from war injuries.
Another pioneer buried in this cemetery Capt. D. D. Dawson, CSA
Veteran, served as a Sheriff in Brazos County from 28 June 1880 to 15
Nov 1880 and from 7 December 1882 through 13 November 1890. He also
served as a Brazos County Commissioner in 1881.'
The Wixon Cemetery is very well maintained. It has a hurricane fence
surrounding the property which was installed many years ago. Mrs. Inda
Freeman Beard (wife of Ernest J. Beard) was one of the organizers for
the fund raising to obtain the money for the fence. H. G. Stallings was'
instrumental in getting the property under oil lease and the Wixon
Cemetery Association established a Trust Fund in 1985 at one of the
local banks for deposit of the oil revenues. The Trust Fund has been
very beneficial to the Association for maintenance of the Cemetery and
to make necessary improvements such as an ornamental sign and new gate
opening for the Cemetery. These funds have also been used to make
improvements to the internal roads.
In some of the research on our own ancestors who remained in the
southern home states, we have heard the remark more than once they
always heard that the people who went to Texas were rich. We found it
very amusing because there weren't any people anywhere who worked any
harder to eke out an existence for their families than our ancestors who
came to Texas. It is ironic that the oil revenues from the Wixon
Cemetery might be construed to make these people rich long after their
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death. It has provided the funds with which to make their Cemetery
classified as being "very well maintained ".
The Wixon School Building and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Building are no longer in existence although they occupied the same site
as the Cemetery. It seems only fitting that we honor these early
ancestors with a Memorial Marker for the Wixon Cemetery. Without a
doubt, they made many contributions to the development of this Area.
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1. Deed Records Brazos County, Texas, Volume 0, page 136.
2. Deed Records, Brazos County, Texas, Volume 2, pp. 41 -42.
3. Deed Records of Brazos County, Texas, Volume 5, page 413.
4. "Report on Statistics of Churches in the Unites States at the
Eleventh Census, 1890," p. 662, Department of the Interior
Census Office, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.
1894.
5. "Religious Bodies: 1906," p. 361, Department of Commerce and
and Labor, Bureau of the Census, Government Printing Office,
Washington, D. C. 1910.
6. Deed Records of Brazos County, Texas, Vol. 27, p. 116.
7. Brundridge, Glenna Fourman: "Brazos County History, Rich Past
- Bright Future, p. 268, Family History Foundation, Bryan,
Texas, 1986.
Contributors for this Information:
Calvin Beard
Nettie Crenshaw
Ruth Hary
Janis Hunt
Myrtle Martin
Lola Rosier Peters
Henry G. Stallings
Research Paper prepared by Ruth J. Hary
2303 Kent Street
Bryan, TX 77802
Telephone 409- 775 -2142
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