Jobe Cemetery

Duane's take

The way I tell it, this one comes straight from the official marker for Jobe Cemetery in Wood County. Now settle in, because this story starts with land, and in Texas, land is everything. African American families put down roots in the Jobe Community on the Lemuel G.

Powers survey, and two brothers, Phelix and Sampson Jobe, got to work. From 1881 to 1892, they bought up several tracts of land, piece by piece, building something that was meant to last. And among those tracts, they set aside ground for the Jobe Cemetery.

That right there tells you something about who these men were. You don't set aside burial ground unless you're thinking about generations, not just seasons. The community they were part of didn't lean on just one thing to get by, either.

Cattle, cotton, crops, timber cutting, sugar cane pressed down into ribbon cane syrup. That is a people working every angle the land had to offer. The Jobe Brothers even ran a lumber company, and that Jobe Brothers Lumber Co. supplied building materials for area projects, including the clubhouse for the Little Sandy Hunting and Fishing Club.

These weren't just farmers. They were builders in every sense. Now, the land farmed along Little Sandy Creek, that land was impounded as Lake Hawkins in 1962.

The water came up, and some of what those families knew went under it. But the cemetery remained. The oldest burial in the Jobe Cemetery belongs to a child of the Shamburger family.

Most of the graves are Jobe family members and their relatives. Markers in the ground where the names match the land. The marker calls this cemetery a testimony to a rural community and a way of life, and I can't put it any better than that.

Some stories don't need a dramatic finish. Sometimes the testimony is enough.

What the marker says

African American families settled the Jobe Community on the Lemuel G. Powers survey. Brothers Phelix and Sampson Jobe bought several tracts of land from 1881 to 1892, setting aside land for the Jobe Cemetery. The local economy included cattle, cotton, crops, timber cutting, and sugar cane for ribbon cane syrup. Jobe Brothers Lumber Co. Provided building materials for area projects such as the clubhouse for Little Sandy Hunting and Fishing Club. Land farmed on Little Sandy Creek was impounded as Lake Hawkins in 1962. The oldest burial in Jobe Cemetery is a child of the Shamburger family, but most graves are Jobe family members and relatives. The cemetery is a testimony to a rural community and a way of life.