Trout Creek Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Trout Creek Cemetery, out in Newton County. Pull over if you can, because this one reaches back a long way. The land was originally part of the James West Survey.

That's where the story begins. Sometime in the early 1860s, people started burying their dead here, and a cemetery took root. The land later passed to a woman named Frances Ann Dyer, and when she died in 1890, it went to her daughter Udora Dyer Ratcliff, born in 1862, and Udora's husband K.

R. Ratcliff, born in 1857. Udora herself died in 1898.

K. R. lived until 1946. Both of them are buried right here on land that once belonged to Udora's mother, though Frances Ann's own grave has no marker to show for it.

That's the kind of quiet irony a cemetery will hand you if you pay attention. Now, local oral tradition holds that the earliest burials here were those of area Indians or slaves from the Salem community. The ground may carry stories older than any stone can confirm.

But the oldest documented graves belong to John G. Barnett, born in 1799 and buried in 1861, and his wife Christina, born in 1817 and laid to rest in 1863. Six men who served in the Civil War are buried in this ground.

Their names deserve sayin out loud: Andrew Jackson Herrin, Stephen B. Herrin, William Henry Jarvis Holmes, Thomas Harrison Holmes, Jeremiah Patrick O'Brien, and J. R.

Sise. And the service didn't stop with one war. Veterans of World War I, World War II, and Korea rest here too.

The Trout Creek Cemetery Association has been caring for this historic graveyard since the turn of the century. They made it official in 1973, when the association was chartered. Generations of neighbors tending neighbors, keeping the names from disappearing into the East Texas pines.

The marker calls this place an important part of Newton County history, a reminder of the area's pioneer heritage. Standing at the edge of it, with all those names and years stretching back to the 1860s, that's not hard to believe at all.

What the marker says

Originally a part of the James West Survey, this cemetery dates to the early 1860s. The land was later owned by Mrs. Frances Ann Dyer (d.1890), and upon her death was inherited by her daughter Udora Dyer Ratcliff (1862-1898) and son-in-law K. R. Ratcliff (1857-1946). Although local oral tradition holds that the earliest burials here were those of area Indians or slaves from the Salem community, the oldest documented graves are those of John G. Barnett (1799-1861) and his wife Christina (1817-1863). Also interred in this cemetery are Frances Ann Dyer, although her grave is not marked, and K. R. and Udora Dyer Ratcliff. Six Civil War veterans (Andrew Jackson Herrin, Stephen B. Herrin, William Henry Jarvis Holmes, Thomas Harrison Holmes, Jeremiah Patrick O' Brien, and J. R. Sise) are buried here, as are veterans of World War I, World War II, and Korea. The Trout Creek Cemetery Association, whose members have cared for the historic graveyard since the turn of the century, was officially chartered in 1973. An important part of Newton County history, the Trout Creek Cemetery stands as a reminder of the area's pioneer heritage.