Thompson Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Thompson Cemetery, and I'm just the voice passing it along. Now, 1847 is when it all started. Wiley Thompson, born in 1799, and his wife Cynthia Ann Suttle Thompson, born in 1811, loaded up their eight children and a number of slaves and made the long trip out of Alabama.

They were headed to Cherokee County, Texas, and when they found what they were looking for, it was a 636-acre tract of land running along Larrison Creek. They built a log home on a hill, right there overlooking the creek bottomland. Take a moment and picture that.

A hilltop, a creek below, and a family of ten setting down roots in new soil. Out of that settlement, a community grew up nearby. It came to be known as Forest, and the Thompson family had a hand in shaping it.

A store, a saloon, mills, and a cotton gin, all owned by the family. Four more children were born to the Thompsons after they arrived, so this land became home in every sense of the word. But around 1850, two of their children died.

The family reportedly buried them in the corner of the yard, right where that log house once stood. Those two small graves, tucked into the earth near the home, were the beginning of what would become Thompson Cemetery. Today those first burials are among the more than thirty graves there that are unmarked.

You can walk right past them and never know. The earliest dated grave belongs to Mrs. L.N.

Williams, who died in 1863. And from there, the cemetery kept its quiet record. Veterans came to rest there, men who had served in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

Generation after generation, the community of Forest brought its people to this ground. Wiley Thompson himself lived until 1866. Cynthia Ann lived on until 1884.

The log home they built on that hill is gone now. The other early structures are gone too. But the cemetery remains, still tended by descendants of the Thompsons and families of the Forest community, still chronicling the pioneers and the generations who came after them in this corner of Cherokee County.

The house didn't last. The store and the saloon and the mills didn't last. But the ground where two children were buried in a yard corner back around 1850, that lasted.

Sometimes the smallest beginning is the one that endures.

What the marker says

Thompson Cemetery Wiley (1799-1866) and Cynthia Ann Suttle (1811-1884) Thompson brought their eight children and a number of slaves to this area from Alabama in 1847. They purchased a 636-acre tract of land along Larrison Creek where they built a log home on a hill overlooking the creek bottomland. The community that developed nearby became known as Forest and included a store, saloon, mills and cotton gin owned by the family. Four more offspring were born here to the Thompsons, but around 1850, two of their children died and the family reportedly buried them in the corner of the yard where the house once stood. These first burials that began this cemetery are now among the more than thirty that are unmarked; the earliest dated grave is that of Mrs. L.N. Williams, who died in 1863. Those laid to rest here include veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Descendants of the Thompsons and families of the forest community continue to contribute to the care and upkeep of this burial ground. The original Thompson home and other early structures are gone, but this cemetery remains as a chronicle of the pioneers and generations who settled and developed this area of Cherokee County. Historic Texas Cemetery-2002