Shiloh Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Shiloh Cemetery has to say, and it's a story worth hearing. Sit with it a minute. This corner of Fannin County didn't fill up all at once.

It came in waves, one family at a time, each one staking a claim on land that hadn't yet learned anybody's name. Melchezedec Self arrived in 1845. You don't forget a name like Melchezedec Self.

William Newton Wright came around 1852. And then, in the early 1860s, brothers John and Henry Whittenberg made their way here too. These men, their families, and others around them built farming communities across this part of Fannin County, the kind of communities that only take root when people decide, quietly and without ceremony, that they're staying.

Now, when pioneer settlers put down roots that deep, they didn't just build homes and barns and schoolhouses. They set aside ground for their dead. Early members of the Wright and Self families were laid to rest in the Wright Family Cemetery, a family plot in the old tradition.

But the community was growing, and a community needs more than a family plot. Tradition holds that a man named John M. Gross deeded land for a shared community cemetery sometime before 1871.

Before 1871. That's the detail worth pausing on, because by the time that deed was recorded, others had already been buried there. The ground had already been consecrated by grief before the paperwork caught up.

The first known burial is that of John Gwaltney, whose gravesite dates to the early 1860s. He was there first, resting in soil that didn't yet have an official name. In 1878, W.P. and Louisa Bennett deeded land at this same site to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

The community was formalizing itself, drawing lines around what mattered. And then in 1880, Shiloh School opened on adjacent property, right next door to where the dead were buried, which is either poetic or practical, and in a farming community it might just be both. That school stayed open and kept teaching children all the way until 1940.

Today, Shiloh Cemetery is the final resting place for generations of area residents. It has been maintained by an association since 1952. And here's the part that stays with you: it's not just a place where people are buried.

It's a place where the living still come back. Family reunions. Annual homecomings.

People returning to a piece of ground that connects them to something longer than their own lives. John Gwaltney was laid down there in the early 1860s, before the deed, before the school, before the association. He's still there.

And so, in a way, is everything that came after him.

What the marker says

Early settlers to this area included: Melchezedec Self, who arrived in 1845; William Newton Wright, who came around 1852; and brothers John and Henry Whittenberg, who came in the early 1860s. These men, their families and others established several farming communities throughout this part of Fannin County. These pioneer settlers typically had family burial plots, and early members of the Wright and Self families are buried in the Wright Family Cemetery. Tradition holds that John M. Gross deeded land for this community cemetery sometime before 1871. By that time, others had been buried here. The first known burial is that of John Gwaltney, whose gravesite dates to the early 1860s. In 1878, W.P. and Louisa Bennett deeded land at this site to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1880, Shiloh School was established on adjacent property, and it remained in operation until 1940. Today, Shiloh cemetery is the final resting place for generations of area residents. It is also the site of family reunions and annual homecomings. Maintained by an association since 1952, it is an important link to the community's history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003