Baysinger Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. In 1839, a man named Martin Baysinger made his move. He had come from Tennessee, brought his family all the way to Texas, and not long after arriving, he received a land grant of 640 acres near what would become this very spot in Rusk County.

Now, 640 acres sounds like a good start. But Martin Baysinger was not a man who thought small. He built a plantation on that land, and when I say built, I mean he built.

A grist mill. A brick making pit. A syrup mill.

A cotton gin. A general store. A post office.

And the big house at the center of it all. By the time he was done expanding, those 640 acres had grown to nearly 7,000 acres. Nearly 7,000.

That is not a farm. That is a world unto itself. Martin Baysinger was born in 1808 and he lived all the way to 1904, long enough to see that world change around him in ways no man could have predicted standing on raw Texas soil in 1839.

But there is a quieter story here, tucked inside the larger one. At some point, Baysinger set aside a small piece of that vast land as a burial ground. He did it upon the death of his first wife, Adeline Tipps Baysinger, who was born in 1816 and died in 1870.

She was the reason this ground became sacred. A wood grave house once marked her plot. It is gone now.

And the markers for the Black individuals said to be buried nearby, those are gone too. That absence sits heavy if you let it. What remains are the other graves, quiet and enduring, and the marker tells us plainly that they serve as a record of the pioneer days of Rusk County.

Nearly 7,000 acres, and in the end, this small patch of ground is what holds the memory.

What the marker says

In 1839, not long after bringing his family to Texas from Tennessee, Martin Baysinger (1808-1904) received a 640-acre land grant near here. He established a plantation that included a grist mill, brick making pit, syrup mill, cotton gin, "big house," general store and post office. His land holdings increased to nearly 7000 acres, out of which he set aside this small burial ground upon the death of his first wife, Adeline Tipps Baysinger (1816-1870). A wood grave house that once marked her plot is now gone, as are markers for blacks said to be buried nearby. The remaining graves serve as a record of the pioneer days of Rusk County. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2001