Hawthorne Cemetery

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm drawing straight from the official marker, so let's let the record speak. This is Hawthorne Cemetery, Smith County, and it's got a story that starts before the graves and carries right on through to today. William and Emily Hawthorne were Mississippi natives, and in 1867 they packed up their family and moved out to this part of Texas.

By the time the 1870 census came around, they were recorded as having ten children. Ten. That's a household that fills a room and then some.

Now here's the curious thing: this cemetery takes its name from the Hawthornes, and yet if you walk among those gravestones, you won't find the Hawthorne name on a single one. Some markers out there carry only initials, which is its own kind of mystery, the kind that keeps a place quiet and heavy in a way that plain silence can't explain. The first documented burial is that of J.W.

Adams, born 1879, died 1882. Son of T.T. and M.J. Adams.

Three years on this earth, and his is the earliest name we can pin to this ground. Over time, others from the area were brought here to rest, families with names like Cone, Gandy, Glaze, Lewis, Jones, McCoy, Oldham, Templeton, Thedford, Turman, and Williams. In 1914, a man named William Turman bought the property surrounding that burial ground, and the Turman family took it upon themselves to care for the place.

Every year they'd hold an annual cleaning and dinner out there, gathering together to tend the graves and share a meal. That tradition carried on until 1957, when it gave way to something a little livelier: annual reunions. The Turmans kept showing up, just with a different occasion on the calendar.

Then in 1982, the family deeded the site to the Noonday Cemetery Association, which continues to maintain the grounds and oversee operations to this day. The cemetery goes by another name too, Turman Cemetery, honoring the family that watched over it for so long. Two names for one piece of ground, and neither one belongs to the family whose name started the whole thing.

That's the kind of quiet irony a Texas cemetery will hand you, if you're willing to read the stones.

What the marker says

Mississippi natives William and Emily Hawthorne moved to this area with their family in 1867. In the 1870 census, they were recorded as having ten children. This cemetery takes its name from the Hawthornes, although their name does not appear on any of the gravestones. Several, however, are only marked with initials. The first documented burial at the site is that of J.W. Adams (1879-1882), son of T.T. and M.J. Adams. Others from the area were interred here, with family names including Cone, Gandy, Glaze, Lewis, Jones, McCoy, Oldham, Templeton, Thedford, Turman and Williams. William Turman bought the property surrounding the burial ground in 1914, and the Turman family cared for the cemetery for many years, holding an annual cleaning and dinner; that was discontinued in 1957 as the Turman family began holding annual reunions. The family deeded the site in 1982 to the Noonday Cemetery Association, which continues to maintain the grounds and oversee the cemetery's operations. Known also as Turman Cemetery, the burial ground is a link to the area's pioneers and their families. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004