Thomas Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Thomas Cemetery in Henderson County. Now settle in, because this one's a quiet story, but it carries some weight. It starts, as so many Texas stories do, a long way from Texas.

Jacob Thomas was born in 1800, a planter out of North Carolina. He made his way to Georgia, and in 1823 he married a woman named Hannah Stubbs. Together they had two children, a daughter they called Eveline and a son they called Sylvester.

Then the family picked up and moved to Alabama. Life has a way of asking more of a person than seems fair, and Jacob Thomas learned that firsthand when Hannah died. He married again, a woman named Lucindy Knight, in 1839.

Then Lucindy passed on too. Two wives gone, and Jacob wasn't a young man anymore. He and his son Sylvester moved to Arkansas.

And still they weren't done moving. Between 1850 and 1855, Jacob and Sylvester made their way to Erath County, Texas. Somewhere in there Sylvester married a woman named Araminta Benge, and they had three daughters, Mary, Sarah, and Adeline.

Very soon after 1860, the whole Jacob Thomas family moved again, this time to Henderson County, onto land from the Alexander de la Garza survey. Now you might think the hard part was behind them. It wasn't.

Sylvester volunteered as a Confederate soldier. He never saw a battle. He died from the flu during training.

Just like that, three little girls lost their father, Araminta lost her husband, and Jacob lost his son. Jacob Thomas, a man who had already buried two wives, now buried a child. And what did he do?

He kept going. He farmed. He raised cattle.

He took care of his daughter-in-law and her three girls. That's the kind of man the marker is remembering. In 1875, Sylvester's eldest daughter, Mary, married a man named J.M.

Hall. Two years later, in 1877, Mary died, most likely during childbirth, and she was buried right there on the family farm. That patch of ground on a hill, across a creek, out in what is now a pasture, that's where Thomas Cemetery began.

In 1880, Jacob Thomas himself died and was laid to rest in that same family cemetery. He'd been born in 1800, traveled through North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and finally Texas, outlasted two wives and a son, raised his grandchildren on the Texas frontier. And the hill claimed him too, in the end.

Araminta Benge Thomas is buried there. Adeline Thomas and her husband, Abel Matthew Edwards, are buried there. Several young children are buried there.

It's a small cemetery, the marker says so plainly, and it calls it a reminder of pioneer families and the struggles they faced. There's no monument to glory up on that hill. Just a family, trying to hold on, and eventually letting go, one by one, until the land itself became the record.

What the marker says

Located in a pasture across a creek on top of a hill, this historic cemetery is on land from the Alexander de la Garza survey. Jacob Thomas (1800-1880) was a planter from North Carolina who moved to Georgia where he married Hannah Stubbs in 1823. They had two children, Elizabeth “Eveline” Thomas and Alfred “Sylvester” Thomas. Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Alabama. When Jacob’s wife, Hannah, died, he married Lucindy Knight in 1839. Jacob’s second wife, Lucindy passed on and he and his son, Sylvester, moved to Arkansas. Between 1850 and 1855, Jacob and Sylvester moved to Erath County, Texas. Sylvester married Araminta Benge and they had three daughters, Mary, Sarah and Adeline. Very soon after 1860, the Jacob Thomas family moved to Henderson County. Sylvester volunteered as a Confederate Soldier but died from the flu during training. Jacob continued to care for his daughter-in-law and her children. Not only was he farming but also raised cattle. In 1875, Sylvester’s eldest daughter, Mary, married J.M. Hall. In 1877, Mary died, most likely during childbirth, and was buried on the family farm, the site that would become Thomas Cemetery. In 1880, Jacob Thomas died and was buried in the family cemetery. Descendants of Jacob Thomas that lived on this land are buried here, including Araminta Benge Thomas, Adeline Thomas and her husband, Abel “Matthew” Edwards, and several young children. This small family cemetery is a reminder of pioneer families and the struggles they faced.