Renfro Cemetery #1

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Renfro Cemetery Number One has to say. Now settle in, because this is a story that starts on a Missouri road and ends with roots so deep they're still holdin' today. John Folkner Renfro, Senior, born in 1797, and his wife Rebecca Harrison Hicks, born in 1808, loaded up a wagon in 1839 and pointed it toward Texas.

That is not a short journey, and a wagon is not a comfortable one. But they made it. By 1840, they had settled into a stretch of East Texas land that would come to be known as Renfro Prairie.

And once they were there, they were there to stay. They raised ten children in that place. Ten.

They stood as leaders in the local Methodist church. And when new settlers came stumbling into East Texas, trying to figure out the land and the life, the Renfros were the kind of folks who helped. The family prospered, and they made sure prosperity had neighbors.

John Folkner Renfro, Senior, passed in 1859. Rebecca Harrison Hicks followed in 1869. But the ground they settled kept gathering their people.

Not far away, on Bear Creek, lived Moses Warren Spivey, born 1829, gone 1904, and at least seven members of his family came to share this burial ground with the Renfros. The Berry, Davis, Kirby, and Payne families are here too, all of them woven into the same plot of East Texas earth. Today, the Spivey-Renfro Cemetery Association honors and cares for this pioneer cemetery.

A wagon rolled out of Missouri in 1839, and the ground it stopped on is still being tended. That's not just a cemetery. That's a promise kept.

What the marker says

John Folkner Renfro, Sr. (1797-1859) and wife, Rebecca Harrison Hicks (1808-1869), moved to Texas in 1839 by wagon from Missouri. In 1840, they settled in this area, known as Renfro Prairie, where they raised ten children and were leaders in the local Methodist church. The family prospered and were helpful to new settlers adjusting to the East Texas life. At least seven members of the family of Moses Warren Spivey (1829-1904), who lived nearby on Bear Creek, share this Renfro burial ground with Berry, Davis, Kirby, Payne and Renfro families. This pioneer cemetery is honored and cared for by the Spivey-Renfro Cemetery Association.