Geneva Myrtle Springs Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Geneva Myrtle Springs Cemetery up in Sabine County. Now settle in, because this piece of ground has been holdin' stories a long time. Longer, in fact, than most of the names carved into it.

The cemetery sits north of the small, rural community of Geneva, and it serves as the primary resting place for the pioneers, the settlers, and all their descendants who came to call this corner of East Texas home. That's a lot of souls. And a lot of history pressed into one quiet patch of land.

The story of this ground goes back to 1794, when the land was originally granted to a man named Juan Ignatino Pifermo. That's before Texas was Texas, before any of what came next. Then the 1820s rolled around, and pioneers started coming in from the east, and the town of Geneva began to grow.

But Geneva didn't always go by that name. First it was called Shawnee Village. Then it picked up the name Jimtown, after two early settlers of the area: Jim Halbert and Jim Willis.

Two Jims. One place. You can imagine how that got sorted out around the supper table.

The cemetery itself sits on land that was originally surveyed for David F. Renfro back in 1838, and then in 1879, a man named Levi T. Allen granted that ground specifically for use as a church and cemetery.

The Geneva Baptist Church stood right there on what is now the cemetery site, before it later moved south of the area. And somewhere nearby, close to a place called Myrtle Springs, a school was once organized by William Thomas Arnold. Church, school, cemetery, all clustered together the way communities do when they're tryin to hold themselves in place against a wide and indifferent wilderness.

Now here's where it gets solemn, and you ought to let it. The first marked grave in this cemetery belongs to William J. Jones, dated 1888.

But the Bible records, those careful handwritten accounts that families kept when no one else was keeping track, those records tell us there were earlier graves. Unmarked ones. Including the grave of Wiley William Crew, who was born in 1845 and died in 1877, years before that first stone was ever set.

The ground was already holding people the world had not yet gotten around to marking. Among the pioneer families buried here, there are veterans of the Civil War: Wiley Crew, Seth Marion Layfield, born in 1833 and died in 1906, and James T. Meador, born in 1845 and died in 1933.

And the generations kept coming, kept serving, kept returning to this ground. Veterans of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Iraq War all rest here. The landscape of the cemetery is traditional, brick and marble, sandstone and granite, wood and metal, each marker a different choice made by someone who loved the person beneath it.

Members of fraternal organizations are here too, including Woodmen of the World, their symbols cut into stone alongside the crosses and the dates. Today, the Geneva Myrtle Springs Cemetery Association maintains and cares for this place, and goes right on serving the community of Geneva. From a Spanish land grant in 1794 to the present day, this ground has been receivin people, holding them, and keeping their names alive.

That's what a good cemetery does. It refuses to let the forgetting win.

What the marker says

Situated north of the small, rural community of Geneva, the Geneva Myrtle Springs Cemetery serves as the primary resting place for pioneers, settlers of the area, and their descendants. Originally granted to Juan Ignatino Pifermo in 1794, the town of Geneva grew in the 1820s when pioneers began to settle there from the east. Geneva was first known as Shawnee Village and later as Jimtown, after two early settlers of the area, Jim Halbert and Jim Willis. Originally surveyed for David F. Renfro in 1838, the Geneva Myrtle Springs Cemetery is comprised of land granted by Levi T. Allen in 1879 for use as a church and cemetery. The Geneva Baptist Church was first located on the present day cemetery site, but later moved south of this area. In addition, a school was once located near the cemetery near Myrtle Springs, organized by William Thomas Arnold. The general landscape of the cemetery is traditional with brick, marble, sandstone, granite, wood, and metal grave markers. The first marked grave is that of William J. Jones from 1888, but Bible records indicate that there were earlier unmarked graves, including that of Wiley William Crew (1845 - 1877). Among the many pioneer families interred at this cemetery, there are veterans of the Civil War, including Wiley Crew, Seth Marion Layfield (1833 - 1906), and James T. Meador (1845 - 1933), as well as veterans of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Iraq War. Burials for members of fraternal organizations such as Woodmen of the World are also present. Today, the Geneva Myrtle Springs Cemetery Association maintains and cares for the cemetery, while also serving the community of Geneva.