Chireno Lower Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Chireno Lower Cemetery. Now settle in, because this ground has been holding stories since before the Republic of Texas was a twinkle in anybody's eye. It starts, as so many East Texas stories do, with a land grant.

Back in 1792, the Spanish crown granted this land to one Jose Antonio Chireno, situated near El Camino Real de Los Tejas, that old road that had been moving people, goods, and ambitions across this part of the world for generations. Chireno's name stuck to the place. And when the 1830s rolled around and the colonists came flooding in, his heirs sold off tracts to folks like Samuel Flournoy and Daniel H.

Vail. The community took root. Now here is where Daniel H.

Vail steps into the longer story. In 1844, Vail donated around thirty acres to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Chireno. The idea was generous and practical all at once: the land would serve the community as a cemetery, a church, and a school, a place that came to be known as the Chireno School Campus.

Out of those thirty acres, a little over nine were set aside for cemetery purposes. And that land, those nine-plus acres, was divided into two segregated cemeteries, one for Anglo burials and one for African American burials. The marker does not soften that, and neither will I.

That division was drawn in the ground, and the ground remembers. Then there is the matter of fire. Two structures burned at this location, once in 1890 and again in 1925.

Two times the flames came. After those losses, the church building was rebuilt, but to the northwest, leaving the cemetery to carry the memory of what stood before. Walk through it today and you will find the landscape that markers tend to call traditional: gravestones of granite, limestone, and marble, trees and grass and irises growing among them.

The earliest marked grave belongs to the baby of M.W. and A.T. Burke, and that stone dates to 1861, though the marker notes there may be earlier burials with nothing left to mark them. Among the noted burials resting here: Reverend Richard A.

Menefee, born in 1809 and gone in 1893, and Missouri M. Fowler Woolam, born in 1807 and passed in 1891. Missouri was the widow of Reverend Littleton Fowler, and the marker names her the first Protestant woman missionary of Texas.

That is a distinction worth saying slowly. The first Protestant woman missionary of Texas is buried here, in this ground near El Camino Real, surrounded by irises. The cemetery also holds veterans of World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, alongside members of the Woodmen of the World and Mason organizations, and the long roll of pioneer families who shaped this corner of Nacogdoches County.

The place had people caring for it too. An oversight committee formed in 1978 to tend to the cemetery, and in 2010, the Chireno Lower Cemetery, Inc. was established to keep that work going. From a Spanish land grant in 1792 to an incorporated organization in 2010, this ground has been passed from hand to hand, tended and remembered.

Some places earn their keeping. This is one of them.

What the marker says

Situated near El Camino Real de Los Tejas, on land granted in 1792 to Jose Antonio Chireno, the Chireno Community developed in the 1830s when Chireno’s heirs sold tracts to incoming colonists, including Samuel Flournoy and Daniel H. Vail. In 1844, Vail donated around thirty acres to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Chireno for the community to use as a cemetery, church, and school, known as the Chireno School Campus. Out of the original thirty acres donated, a little over nine acres were designated for cemetery purposes. This land was divided into two segregated cemeteries, for anglo and african-american burials. After two structures burned at this location in 1890 and again in 1925, the church building was rebuilt to the northwest. The landscape of the cemetery is traditional with a variety of gravestones, including markers of granite, limestone, and marble surrounded by trees, grass, and irises. The earliest marked grave, that of the baby of M.W. And A.T. Burke, dates to 1861, although there may be earlier unmarked burials. Other noted burials include the reverend Richard A. Menefee (1809-1893) and Missouri M. Fowler Woolam (1807-1891), widow of Reverend Littleton Fowler and the first protestant woman missionary of Texas. Among many pioneer families buried here, the cemetery also serves as the final resting place for veterans of World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, as well as members of Woodmen of the World and Mason organizations. An oversight committee formed in 1978 to care for the cemetery, and in 2010, the Chireno Lower Cemetery, Inc. was formed to maintain this historic burial ground. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2009