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 in Denton County. Now, every good story needs a beginning, and this one starts with a charter. 1859, out on the north Texas prairie, when Denton Lodge No. 82 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was chartered by some of the area's most prominent settlers.

And when I say prominent, I mean it. One of those charter members was John S. Chisum; yes, of Chisum Trail fame.

These were men who were building something here, and they knew it. That same year, a fellow charter member named James M. Smoot, a Denton merchant born in 1822, looked out at the land and made a decision that would outlast him by well over a century.

He donated a parcel of ground for graveyard purposes. Smoot would not live to see how much that gift would come to mean; he died in 1862, just three years after signing over that land. The lodge got to work.

They subdivided the cemetery into four sections, each one holding three hundred and fifty burial plots. And in 1860, the ground received its first recorded burial: a child named Anne Isabella Carroll, infant daughter of Joseph and Celia Carroll. A quiet beginning to a place that would hold multitudes.

For decades, this was Denton's main graveyard. But a town growing fast will fill a cemetery faster than anyone plans for, and by the early 1880s, space had become scarce. In 1883, the lodge went to their neighbors, John and Ann McMurray, and acquired seven and a half acres from them to enlarge the grounds.

That bought some breathing room. Then in 1916, another six and a half acres came from the McMurrays again. Apparently the McMurrays were good neighbors twice over.

Still, Denton kept growing. By the early 1920s, burial space was running short again, and in 1924, four more acres were added. The lodge had now spent more than sixty years tending this ground, expanding it, maintaining it; and in 1933, they made one final decision about the place.

They deeded the full twenty-two-acre site to the city of Denton. Some legacies you build with your hands. Some you build with land.

Today, approximately five thousand eight hundred people rest in that cemetery: pioneer Denton County settlers, local and state elected officials, and veterans whose service stretched all the way from the Texas Revolution to World War II. James M. Smoot donated a patch of ground in 1859.

He probably didn't know he was giving Denton its memory. But that's exactly what he did.

What the marker says

Denton Lodge No. 82 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) was chartered in 1859 by a number of the area's most prominent settlers, including John S. Chisum of the Chisum Trail fame. That year I.O.O.F. charter member and Denton merchant James M. Smoot (1822-1862) donated land here for graveyard purposes. The lodge subdivided the cemetery into four sections, each of which contained 350 burial plots. The first recorded burial was that of Anne Isabella Carroll, infant daughter of Joseph and Celia Carroll, in 1860. The site served as Denton's main graveyard and by the early 1880s space had become scarce. In 1883 the lodge enlarged the cemetery by 7.5 acres acquired from adjacent landowners John and Ann McMurray; 6.5 acres acquired from the McMurrays in 1916 further enlarged the cemetery. By the early 1920s burial space was again limited, and in 1924 the cemetery was enlarged by four acres. After maintaining the cemetery for more than 60 years the lodge deeded the 22-acre site to the city of Denton in 1933. Among the approximately 5,800 people buried here are pioneer Denton County settlers, local and state elected officials, and veterans of wars ranging from the Texas Revolution to World War II. (1996)