Gum Springs Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Gum Springs Cemetery has to say, and it's a story that starts with land, the way most Texas stories do. In 1842, a man held landholdings in Harrison County, and when those passed on, two women, Arjane Hill Yarborough and Cyrena Hill Cox Burnett, received them. Sisters, carrying their father's land forward into a new chapter.

According to area lore, one parcel including this very site began serving as a family burial ground in the 1850s. Lore, mind you. But lore has a way of pointing at truth even when it can't prove it.

Arjane sold a portion of her land to a relative, Elizabeth Alexander. And Elizabeth, in 1870, gave an acre adjoining that burial ground to the trustees of a community school. Land moving hand to hand, each transfer quietly shaping what this place would become.

The first known burials here were two children. Annie L. Wilson, three years old, who died in 1873.

And Finis Kimberling, five years old, who died in 1875. You sit with those names a moment. Three years old.

Five years old. The ground here has held grief as long as it has held anything. Then in 1888, Cyrena Hill Burnett and her husband Daniel H.

Burnett gave property for a public burial ground. They called it Burnett Cemetery. And then the summer of 1895 arrived, and something stirred across the road.

A revival. Worshipers gathered, and the energy didn't dissipate when the revival ended. They began meeting regularly in the schoolhouse.

Then they moved into their own facility, right there adjoining the cemetery. Church, school, and cemetery, all drawing together in the same corner of Harrison County. And somewhere nearby, there was a spring, surrounded by sweet gum trees.

That spring gave the whole place its name. Gum Springs. The church, the school, the cemetery, and the farming community that grew up around all of it, all called Gum Springs.

Among the notable pioneers buried here are Cyrena Hill Box Burnett and Martha Elizabeth Chilcoat Kimberling, both citizens of the Republic of Texas. Think about that. The Republic.

These were women who lived inside a chapter of Texas history that didn't last long but left a deep mark on everyone who passed through it. Other pioneers interred here include members of the Callahan, Dollahite, Grimes, Kuykendall, Latham, McKay, Miles, Pliler, Rogers, Russell, Taylor, Wilson, and Woodall families. Names that echo through this part of East Texas like wind through the pines.

One of those names deserves particular attention. W. A.

Miles, one of the first three school trustees of this community. He served in the Mexican War. He lost an arm in the Civil War.

And he is buried here, among the 800 graves on this site. At the turn of the 21st century, the marker recorded 58 war veterans interred at Gum Springs. Seven Civil War soldiers.

One Spanish-American War veteran. Thirty veterans of World War II, five of whom were killed in action. Eight hundred graves on one piece of ground that started as a family burial plot, according to lore, sometime in the 1850s.

From a parcel of land received by two sisters, to a spring and its sweet gum trees lending their name to a whole community, to 800 souls resting in Harrison County soil. That spring is still out there somewhere. The trees may have changed.

But the ground remembers everything.

What the marker says

Arjane Hill Yarborough and Cyrena Hill Cox Burnett received their father's 1842 landholdings. According to area lore, a parcel including this site was used as a family burial ground beginning in the 1850s. Arjane sold a portion of her land to a relative, Elizabeth Alexander, who in turn gave an acre adjoining the burial ground to trustees of a community school in 1870. The first known burials in this cemetery were those of three-year-old Annie L. Wilson, who died in 1873, and five-year-old Finis Kimberling, who died in 1875. Cyrena Hill Burnett and her husband Daniel H. Burnett gave property for a public burial ground, to be called Burnett Cemetery, in 1888. In the summer of 1895 a revival was held across the road from the cemetery. Worshipers began holding regular meetings in the schoolhouse, then moved into their own facility adjoining the cemetery. The church, school and cemetery became known as "Gum Springs" for a nearby spring surrounded by sweet gum trees, and the area became a center of the Gum Springs farming community. Among the notable pioneers buried here are Cyrena Hill Box Burnett and Martha Elizabeth Chilcoat Kimberling, both citizens of the Republic of Texas. Other pioneers interred here include members of the Callahan, Dollahite, Grimes, Kuykendall, Latham, McKay, Miles, Pliler, Rogers, Russell, Taylor, Wilson and Woodall families. W. A. Miles, one of the first three school trustees, served in the Mexican War and lost an arm in the Civil War. At the turn of the 21st century, Miles was one of 58 war veterans interred among the 800 graves on this site, including seven Civil War soldiers; one Spanish-American War veteran; and thirty veterans of World War II, five of whom were killed in action. (2000)