Goodgame Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker for Goodgame Cemetery in Henderson County tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Now, every cemetery has a first soul. Someone has to be the first to rest there, and at Goodgame Cemetery, that someone was a little girl named Mary Ann.

Her father, John Anderson Goodgame, was away at war when she died in 1863. He couldn't be there. And so Mary Ann became the first recorded burial in a cemetery that would carry her family's name for generations to come.

But let's back up a piece, because this story starts before the war, before the grief, before any of that. In 1857, a man named Floyd Crockett Goodgame, born in 1807, made his way from Alabama to Henderson County, Texas. He came with acreage purchased and a family in tow: his wife, Hulda Crowson Fulton, and his two sons, James Allen, born in 1829, and John Anderson, born in 1832.

They were pioneers in the truest sense, planting roots in new Texas soil. When the Civil War came calling, both sons answered. James Allen and John Anderson Goodgame became officers in the Confederate army.

John Anderson had been a schoolteacher before the war, the kind of man who builds things up rather than tears them down. But the war took him away from home, and while he was gone, his daughter Mary Ann died. In 1869, the family absorbed another heavy blow, two of them, really.

Floyd Crockett Goodgame and James Allen Goodgame both passed away that same year. A father and a son, gone together in time if not in circumstance. John Anderson, though.

John Anderson kept going. He came home from combat and went right back to teaching. He married Martha Malinda Chandler, born in 1836, and together they raised ten children.

He threw himself into civic life and is credited in the marker as being vital to the establishment of the community of Turkey Creek. A schoolteacher, a soldier, a father, a builder of community. That's a full life by any measure.

Then, in 1901, John Goodgame did something quietly significant. He deeded two acres of this land, officially, for the price of one dollar, to three cemetery trustees: Benjamin McGee, E.B. Stokes, and Levi Trammell.

A dollar. For a place where families would lay down their most beloved. Over the years, that ground filled with more than just the Goodgame family.

Veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War are among those interred there. The cemetery features curbing, interior fencing, grave slabs, and Woodmen of the World gravestones. The Goodgame Cemetery Association tends to the burial ground today, keeping it cared for and carrying it forward.

All of it traces back to a pioneering family from Alabama, to acreage purchased in 1857, and to a little girl named Mary Ann, who was the first to be laid to rest there in 1863 while her father was away at war. That's the weight this ground holds. And the Goodgame Cemetery carries it still.

What the marker says

This cemetery, named for the pioneering Goodgame family, has served the area since the Civil War era. Purchasing acreage in 1857, Floyd Crockett Goodgame (b. 1807) migrated from Alabama to Henderson County with family including his wife, Hulda Crowson (Fulton) and his two sons, James Allen (b. 1829) and John Anderson (b. 1832). The two sons served in the Civil War, becoming officers in the Confederate army. James Allen and Floyd Crockett Goodgame both passed away in 1869. John Anderson Goodgame, a schoolteacher before entering military service, continued to teach after returning from combat. He married Martha Malinda Chandler (b. 1836), with whom he raised ten children. He was also a determined civic leader, vital to the establishment of the community of Turkey Creek. One of John Goodgame's daughters, Mary Ann, died while he was at war. Hers is the first recorded burial (1863) in this cemetery. In 1901, Goodgame officially deeded two acres of land here for one dollar to three cemetery trustees: Benjamin McGee, E.B. Stokes and Levi Trammell. Among those interred in Goodgame Cemetery are veterans of military conflicts, including the Civil War, World War I, World War II and the Korean War. The cemetery features curbing, interior fencing, grave slabs and Woodmen of the World gravestones. The Goodgame Cemetery Association cares for the burial ground. Today, this cemetery continues to serve the community and carries on as a reminder of the hardworking pioneers of Henderson County. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2006