I.O.O.F. Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the I.O.O.F. Cemetery out in Hunt County. Now, some places earn their history all at once, in a single dramatic moment.

And then there are places like this one, where history just keeps arriving, quietly, one stone at a time. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a fraternal service organization with chapters in communities around the world. Out here in Texas, Caddo Mills Lodge Number 416 was organized to serve the members in Caddo Mills, a railroad stop on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad.

When 1902 came around, three trustees of that lodge, J. S. Stidham, C.

J. Howard, and R. B.

McAdams, purchased four and a half acres of land for use as a cemetery. Four point five five acres, to be precise. They had good reason to move quickly, because burials already existed on that property when they bought it.

The oldest known burial is that of Nancy Gary, who died in 1893, nearly a decade before the lodge ever signed a deed. She was already waiting when the Odd Fellows arrived to keep the grounds. Over the years, additional purchases enlarged the graveyard, and today it contains more than two thousand burials.

Two thousand souls, each one a chapter in the story of this corner of Texas. In 1925, the lodge turned over the care of the cemetery to the Caddo Mills Cemetery Association, though they kept the I.O.O.F. name. That same year, Caddo Mills Lodge Number 416 merged with a neighboring lodge, but the name, and the legacy, held on.

The first memorial and homecoming service took place in 1937, a gathering of memory and gratitude. Then in 1979, the Dugan-Clark Cemetery, located across Highway 6, became part of the I.O.O.F. Cemetery, the ground expanding once more to hold more of the community's story.

And what a story those tombstones tell. Veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, all of them resting here, shoulder to shoulder across generations of conflict and sacrifice. The cemetery serves the communities of Caddo Mills and Josephine and the surrounding area, and it has done so faithfully, quietly, one burial at a time.

Some chronicles are written in books. This one is written in stone, right here off Highway 6, still accepting new pages.

What the marker says

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) is a fraternal service organization with chapters in communities around the world. Caddo Mills Lodge No. 416, I.O.O.F., was organized for members in nearby Caddo Mills, a railroad stop on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad. Burials already existed on this property in 1902, when J. S. Stidham, C. J. Howard and R. B. McAdams, trustees of Caddo Mills Lodge no. 416, purchased 4.55 acres of land for use as a cemetery. The oldest known burial is that of Nancy Gary, who died in 1893. Additional purchases over the years enlarged the graveyard, which now contains more than 2,000 burials. In 1925, the lodge turned over the care of the cemetery to the Caddo Mills Cemetery Association, although the I.O.O.F. name was retained. Their first memorial and homecoming service took place in 1937. In 1979, the Dugan-Clark Cemetery, located across Highway 6, became part of the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. Serving the communities of Caddo Mills and Josephine and the surrounding area, this burial ground is a chronicle of the history of the people who settled and worked here. Tombstones denote the service of military veterans from the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The I.O.O.F. Cemetery also continues as a reminder of the contributions of Caddo Mills Lodge No. 416, which merged with a neighboring lodge in 1925. (2001)