Troup City Cemetery

Duane's take

Now, this one comes straight from the official marker, and I'm just the one bringin' it to life for you. Pull up a chair, because this story starts before there was even a place to bury anybody. The town of Troup, Smith County, sits along a line of the International and Great Northern Railroad.

But back in 1873, when that line was laid and the town was being platted out, nobody thought to set aside land for a cemetery. Not a single acre. Now, the town had originally gone by the name Zavala, and the people settling there were doing what settlers do, building homes, raising families, and yes, eventually needing a place to put their dead.

So when that oversight became apparent, something had to be done. City leaders, prominent local residents, and a man named Judge William Wright Morris, the area representative to the Texas Legislature, they went to work. They leaned on the railroad.

And in 1875, the International and Great Northern Railroad provided one point six seven acres at this very site. That was the birth of what they called the Zavala City Cemetery. Now, the earliest known grave here belongs to a man named William A.

Arms, a native of South Carolina. He didn't come to rest here quietly or simply. He had first been buried in New Orleans.

It was his widow, Martha Ann Arms, born a Walker, and his son Marion Francis Arms, who brought him back, reinterring him here in the 1870s. Think about what that took. Also buried in this ground are three early mayors of the city: Dr.

Erasmus Manley Hanna, William Clark Spruce, and Judge Stephen Decatur Morris. And here's the thing that ties it all together without any embellishment needed. Those three men were leaders in securing the first rail line to the area, and they were also instrumental in having this very site set aside as a public cemetery.

The ground they helped bring the railroad through is the same ground where they now rest. The marker says other graves here include prominent local residents and community leaders who contributed to the development of the area. A whole town's worth of stories, pressed into one point six seven acres.

Some debts, it turns out, you settle in the same soil you helped build on.

What the marker says

This community burial ground originally served the early settlers of Zavala, later known as Troup, a town established along a line of the International & Great Northern Railroad in 1873. Since no land was set aside for a public cemetery when the town was platted, efforts were made to secure a tract from the railroad. As a result of the influence of city leaders, prominent local residents, and Judge William Wright Morris, the area representative to the Texas Legislature, the railroad provided 1.67 acres of land at this site in 1875 for a burial ground, known then as Zavala City Cemetery. The earliest known grave is that of South Carolina native William A. Arms. Originally buried in New Orleans, he was reinterred here in the 1870s by his widow Martha Ann (Walker) Arms and his son Marion Francis Arms. Also buried here are three early mayors of the city, Dr. Erasmus Manley Hanna, William Clark Spruce, and Judge Stephen Decatur Morris. Leaders in securing the first rail line to the area, they were instrumental in having this site set aside for use as a public cemetery. Other graves here include those of prominent local residents and community leaders who contributed to the development of the area.