Thurmond-Fairview Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the marker at Thurmond-Fairview Cemetery tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. This one's got deep roots, friends, we're talkin' about a place that started with a name, lost it, found another, and never once stopped bein' somebody's home ground. Pull up a little closer to the fire.

The early families who immigrated here called this community the Illinois Settlement. In time, it came to be known as Fairview. And it was into this Fairview that J.

F. Thurmond and his wife Amanda Elizabeth Merrifield arrived in 1880, coming up from Dallas County, Texas. Thurmond was born in 1853 and would live all the way to 1945, ninety-two years on this earth, long enough to see just about everything he'd built take root and hold.

But first came the hard part. In 1883, an infant daughter died. And a grieving father did what grieving fathers sometimes do, he asked his brother Fred and the neighbors to find a place where she could rest.

They chose this spot, right next to the land Thurmond had already given for a church and a schoolhouse. He'd been generous before, and he'd be generous again. By the time you added it all up, Thurmond had donated six acres to this community.

Six acres of himself, just given over to the people around him. Now for a good while, there was no formal church building out here. The Fairview Baptist Church didn't organize until 1895.

Before that, visiting ministers held prayer meetings in homes, and then in the schoolhouse, which was sittin' right there on the land Thurmond had given. Faith makin' do with what it had, which, out on the Texas frontier, was the only way it ever managed. In 1913, the Fairview Cemetery Association organized, giving the burial ground a proper stewardship.

Then in 1915, this plot got its formal name: the Thurmond-Fairview Cemetery. Time kept movin'. By 1950, the school had consolidated, and the building was deeded over to the cemetery association.

The Fairview Baptist Church then leased that same structure and remodeled it, turned it into a youth department and community center. The ground that started as a gift became a school, then a church meeting place, then a community hub. The land just kept on bein' useful.

Now here's what I find remarkable about this place. It is still in use. Over four hundred graves.

And the people who made sure it would last, they thought ahead. Perpetual care is funded by an endowment left by Fred Thurmond, yes, the same brother J. F. asked to help find this very ground back in 1883.

There are also proceeds from the sale of two point seven acres given by J. M. McKinnon, revenue from a gas well, the sale of lots, and individual gifts.

They built a future for this cemetery the same way they built the cemetery itself, piece by piece, person by person, generation by generation. A daughter's grave became a burial ground. A brother's kindness became an endowment.

And a community that once called itself the Illinois Settlement left something behind that is still, to this day, cared for. That's Fairview. That's how a place earns a name worth keepin'.

What the marker says

This community was called "Illinois Settlement" by the early families who immigrated here. Later, it became known as "Fairview". J. F. Thurmond (1853-1945) and his wife Amanda Elizabeth Merrifield arrived in 1880 from Dallas County, Texas. In 1883, when an infant daughter died, Thurmond asked his brother Fred and neighbors to select a tract for a burial ground. They chose this spot next to the land Thurmond had given for a church and schoolhouse. Including this graveyard, Thurmond had donated six acres to the community. Until the Fairview Baptist Church organized in 1895, prayer meetings were held in homes and then in the schoolhouse by visiting ministers. In 1913 Fairview Cemetery Association organized. After the school consolidated in 1950, the structure was deeded to the cemetery association. The Fairview Baptist Church leased the building and remodeled it for the youth department and community center. In 1915 this plot became the "Thurmond-Fairview Cemetery". Still in use, the site has over 400 graves. Perpetual care is funded by: an endowment left by Fred Thurmond, the proceeds from the sale of 2.7 acres given by J. M. McKinnon, revenue from a gas well, the sale of lots, and individual gifts. (1979)