Dennis Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Before Texas was Texas — back when this land still answered to Mexico — somebody was already burying their dead out here in Sabine County. That's how old Dennis Cemetery is.

Established prior to 1836, before the Republic, before the Revolution, before most people had given this corner of East Texas a second thought. The ground holds more than a hundred graves, and every one of them has a story the marker only hints at. Let me tell you the ones it does give us.

The land itself was later donated by a pioneer settler named Isaiah Hamilton, and the cemetery served as a burial site for enslaved people of the Sulphur Spring community — that pioneer settlement that put down roots in this piney stretch of Sabine County. Now, among those buried here are Easter Scurlock — who would later become Mrs. Randall Sneedy — and a man named Henry Smith.

Both of them came to Texas in 1834, brought here by their owner, a man called Captain William Scurlock. Two years after they arrived, Captain Scurlock would become what the marker calls a celebrated veteran of the Texas Revolution. So these three people — the Captain, Easter, Henry — were all here at the very beginning of things.

Then 1865 came, and Emancipation with it, and both Easter and Henry stepped into freedom and didn't step quietly. The marker says they figured prominently in the development of the area's black community. That's not a small thing to say.

And Easter's sons — Dave and Dick — they carry a history in their very name. When they were sold to a man named Jim Dennis, they took on his name. Dave Dennis and Dick Dennis.

Those two also became active leaders in the community their mother had helped build. The descendants of the people buried in this ground still live in this area. Still here.

The Dennis Cemetery is no longer in use, but more than a hundred graves remain, quiet beneath the East Texas trees, serving — the marker says it plainly — as a symbol of pride for the local black community, a community founded on the efforts of pioneer slaves and freedmen who worked this land long before Texas was free, or even Texas at all.

What the marker says

This cemetery was established prior to 1836 when Texas was part of Mexico. Located on property later donated by pioneer settler Isaiah Hamilton, it was used as a burial site for slaves of the area around the pioneer Sulphur Spring community. The significance of the historic Dennis Cemetery is reflected in the lives of individuals buried here. Gravesites include those of Easter Scurlock, later Mrs. Randall Sneedy, and Henry Smith, who came to Texas in 1834 with their owner Captain William Scurlock, a celebrated veteran of the Texas Revolution two years later. Following Emancipation in 1865, both former slaves figured prominently in the development of the area's black community. Two of Easter's sons, Dave and Dick, who acquired the family name of Jim Dennis when they were sold to him, also became active leaders here. Descendants of slaves buried at this site still live in the area. No longer in use, the Dennis Cemetery contains more than 100 graves. The burial ground now serves as a reminder of Texas' early history and of the area's rich heritage. It is a symbol of pride for the local black community, which was founded on the efforts of pioneer slaves and freedmen interred here. (1982)