James Frederick Gomer Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, out there in Sabine County. James Frederick Gomer was born in 1797, and by 1836 he had a family, a direction, and a decision to make. He and his wife, Ana M.

Bateman Gomer, born in 1804, packed up their two children, Augustus and Mary Ann, and left Giles County, Tennessee behind. Sabine County, Texas is where they landed, and Sabine County is where they stayed. The family didn't stop growing once they arrived, either.

They added three more, Amanda, Leonidas, and Anna, building out that family name one child at a time. Then in 1838, Gomer received acreage, and he put it to work. A large farm, the marker says, and you can picture it taking shape out of east Texas timber and red dirt, row by row, season by season.

The decades turned. James Frederick Gomer, who came into this world in 1797, left it in 1870. Ana M.

Bateman Gomer, born in 1804, followed in 1873. Both were laid to rest on the family farm. And they were not alone in that ground.

A child named Catherine, who died young, was buried there too. The marker also carries a quieter note, one worth sitting with. The area lay along a popular route, and it is said that outside the family cemetery, there are other burials, Indians and slaves, whose stories the land holds in a way no marker fully captures.

That ground has seen more lives than any inscription can account for. Today, the James Frederick Gomer Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas tends the cemetery. The family that came from Tennessee in 1836 still has someone looking after them, more than a century and a half on down the road.

What the marker says

JAMES FREDERICK GOMER (1797-1870), ANA M. BATEMAN GOMER (1804-1873) AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN, AUGUSTUS AND MARY ANN, CAME TO SABINE COUNTY FROM GILES COUNTY, TENNESSEE IN 1836. LATER, THEY ADDED TO THE FAMILY WITH AMANDA, LEONIDAS AND ANNA. IN 1838, GOMER RECEIVED ACREAGE AND BEGAN TO OPERATE A LARGE FARM. BY 1873, BOTH JAMES AND ANA HAD PASSED AND WERE BURIED ON THE FAMILY FARM ALONG WITH ANOTHER CHILD, CATHERINE, WHO DIED YOUNG. IT IS ALSO SAID THAT SINCE THE AREA WAS ALONG A POPULAR ROUTE, THERE ARE OTHER BURIALS OF INDIANS AND SLAVES OUTSIDE OF THE FAMILY CEMETERY. TODAY, THE CEMETERY IS CARED FOR BY THE JAMES FREDERICK GOMER CHAPTER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS.