Pollok Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Pollok Cemetery has to say, so listen close. Out in Angelina County, there's a patch of ground that's been holding the stories of a community since the late 1800s. That's Pollok Cemetery, and before you can understand what it means, you've got to understand what Pollok was built on.

It started near a railroad, the way so many East Texas towns did. And somebody, a man named Richard Blair, looked at all that timber standing around and decided to put up the settlement's first sawmill. Just like that, Pollok had a heartbeat.

A lumber heartbeat. The saws were singing, the logs were moving, and the community was taking root right alongside the industry. By 1899, the Bodan Lumber Company had established itself in the area.

The output of lumber kept climbing, and the local economy felt every board foot of it. Now, one of the sawmill owners in that world was a man named Louis Lipsitz. And Louis Lipsitz did something that communities remember.

He donated the land for the original cemetery plot. Over the years, through generous land gifts from others, that plot grew. But it started with him.

And 1899 was a significant year for another reason too. That was the year of the first burial. A Dr.

Warren buried a child, a little girl named Fannie DeBenon, behind the community meeting house. There's a weight to that. A town still finding its legs, and already it was learning how to grieve.

The cemetery kept receiving the community's dead as the decades turned. Veterans found their rest there, with graves marking military service going back as far as World War I. And there's a Woodmen of the World headstone standing among the others, which tells you something all by itself.

It's not just a marker for one person. It's a symbol of what built this place. A community founded upon sawmills.

The Pollok Cemetery Association was founded in 1950, and they've been keeping watch ever since, maintaining the ground where Pollok's original settlers came to rest. Some places, a cemetery is just where a town puts its dead. In Pollok, it's where the whole story is written.

The sawmill that started it, the man who gave the land, the little girl buried first, and the veterans who came after. It's all there, quiet in the pines of Angelina County, waiting for anyone willing to read it.

What the marker says

Since the late 1800s, this cemetery has served the residents of the town of Pollok. Before the end of the 19th century, the Pollok community was established near a railroad. Here, Richard Blair built the settlement's first sawmill, setting Pollok's vital lumber industry in motion. By 1899, Bodan Lumber Company established itself in the area. The output of lumber increased, stimulating the area's economy. Louis Lipsitz, a local sawmill owner, donated land for the original cemetery plot and over the years, its size has increased due to generous land gifts. Pollok Cemetery became the final resting place for many of the area's original settlers. The first burial was in 1899 when a Dr. Warren buried a child, Fannie DeBenon, behind the community meeting house. Veteran graves are also present, denoting military service as early as World War I. A Woodmen of the World headstone also stands, serving not only as a memorial of the deceased, but also as a symbol of the community founded upon sawmills. The Pollok Cemetery Association, founded in 1950, maintains the cemetery. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2005