Olds Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Olds Cemetery in Jasper County. Now settle in, because this story begins long before the name on the gate was ever spoken out loud. It begins in Mississippi, in 1830, when a man named David Dunn married a woman named Sally Rayburn.

Together they built something. Ten children, a life on the move, and a destination they were still workin toward. By 1860 they had settled in Tyler County.

By 1870 they had found their permanent place, on Spring Hill Road in Jasper County, on a homestead that would hold their family for generations to come. They just didn't know yet how literally that was true. The ground itself would hold them.

The first marked burial in the cemetery dates to 1874. One of David and Sally's children, Morgan Dunn, passed away at an early age of twenty. That is a hard thing to put in the ground.

And the Dunn family knew it was only the beginning. David followed in 1889. Sally in 1897.

Their son John Dunn and his wife Martha lost five infant children, all buried there before 1902, the actual dates unknown. Five little graves, marked by a single marker. One stone carrying the weight of five names.

Then came the daughters. Melinda in 1908. Nancy in 1914.

Martha in 1918. Rhoda in 1919. Four sisters, one by one, returned to the family ground on Spring Hill Road.

Now here is where the name enters the story. Melinda and her husband James Perry Olds had one child together, a child named David Amy Olds. David Amy Olds was buried here in 1936.

And in the years that followed that death, the children of David and Lucy Jane Olds, Lucy Jane whose family name was Morse, took over the homestead and the cemetery both. That is when people started calling it Olds Cemetery. The name came to rest on a place the Dunns had built.

As of 2017, there are over sixty interments in that ground. The oldest graves, the Dunn family graves, sit in the first row, marked with wooden crosses, name plates added to them over time. All except those five infant children of John and Martha, whose single marker stands apart.

David Amy Olds holds the distinction of being the first buried there with a headstone. And every grave in that cemetery faces east. The whole congregation of the dead, oriented together toward the same direction.

The cemetery is still maintained and operated by descendants of the Dunn-Olds family. A family that started in Mississippi in 1830, and is still, in its way, keeping the ground.

What the marker says

Established as a family cemetery, Olds Cemetery is located on part of the original homestead property of David and Sally Dunn. David Dunn and Sally Rayburn were married in 1830 in Mississippi and had ten children before settling in Tyler county by 1860. Eventually, the family settled permanently in jasper county on Spring Hill Road by 1870. The first marked burial in the cemetery dates to 1874, when one of their children, Morgan Dunn, passed away at an early age of 20. The next to be buried there were David Dunn in 1889 and Sally in 1897. Their son John Dunn and his wife, Martha, buried five of their infant children prior to 1902, actual dates unknown. Their graves are marked by a single marker. David and Sally Dunn’s daughters, Melinda, Nancy, Martha, and Rhoda, were also buried here in 1908, 1914, 1918 and 1919, respectively. Melinda and her husband James Perry Olds’ only child, David Amy Olds, was buried here in 1936. In the years following the death of David Amy Olds, the children of David and Lucy Jane (Morse) Olds took over the homestead and the cemetery, with the cemetery being commonly referred to as Olds Cemetery. As of 2017, there are over 60 interments at Olds Cemetery. Its graves are oriented to face east. The oldest graves, those of the Dunn family, can be found in the first row, except for the infant children of John and Martha Dunn, and are marked with wooden crosses and name plates have been added. David Amy Olds’ grave is the first to be marked with a headstone. The cemetery continues to be maintained and operated by descendants of the Dunn-Olds family. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2015