Quail Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker's the one tellin' this story, and I'm just the voice carryin' it down the road. Now, out in Collingsworth County, where the wind comes early and stays late, there's a place called Quail Cemetery. And like most things that matter out here, it started with a family willin' to give.

J.E. and Mary Jane Blevins arrived in this area in 1902, children in tow, ready to make something out of hard ground and harder weather. They didn't just settle. They organized.

A community school. A post office. A church.

And for every single one of those endeavors, J.E. and Mary Jane Blevins donated the land. That's the kind of people we're talking about. But the cemetery, that one came from grief.

In 1904, the Blevins' infant son died. And in the way that only the deepest sorrow can move people to generosity, his parents donated land for a community burial ground. Their son was the first to be buried there.

No fence surrounded that ground. Just open earth and sky, and townspeople choosing grave sites for their own families as time and loss required. Many of the graves are marked.

Some have plain stones. And some, well, some have no marker at all. What the cemetery does hold, in numbers that tell their own story, are the burials of infants and young children.

The marker calls that a testament to the hardships of life and the rudimentary medical care of early Collingsworth County. It is that. It is exactly that.

Among the pioneers buried here: J.E. Blevins himself, born 1860, died 1956. Mary Jane Blevins, born 1868, died 1926.

Lydia Rose Atkinson, died 1908. J.A. White, died 1915.

W.M. Barton, died 1932. Lee Jeffres, also 1932.

And W.I. Atkinson, died 1940. They came out here with nothing but intention and they built schools, churches, post offices, and yes, a place to lay each other down with some dignity.

The Blevins gave the ground. The community filled it. And that first small grave, the one that started all of it, belongs to a child whose name the marker does not give us.

Some things the land holds quietly, and we let it.

What the marker says

Among the earliest settlers of this area were J.E. & Mary Jane Blevins and their children. Arriving in 1902, they were soon involved in the organization of a community school, post office, and church. J.E. & Mary Jane Blevins donated land for each of those endeavors, as well as for a community cemetery. The Quail Cemetery was created in 1904, shortly after the death of the Blevins' infant son. The grieving parents donated land for a cemetery, and their son was the first to be buried here. There was no fence around the burial ground. Townspeople chose grave sites in which to bury members of their families. Though most graves are marked, some have plain stones, and the cemetery does contain some unmarked graves. Many of the burials are those of infants and young children, a testament to the hardships of life and rudimentary medical care in early Collingsworth County. Area pioneers buried in the Quail Cemetery include: J.E. Blevins (1860-1956), Mary Jane Blevins (1868-1926), Lydia Rose Atkinson (d. 1908), W.M. Barton (d. 1932), Lee Jeffres (d. 1932), W.I. Atkinson (d. 1940), J.A. White (d. 1915). Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986