Tyson Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Tyson Cemetery in Denton County. Now, every cemetery has a story, and the story of Tyson Cemetery starts (as so many Texas stories do) with somebody making a long journey from somewhere else. The earliest known burial here belongs to J.

P. Newton, a settler who came down from Tennessee. He was born in 1821 and laid to rest in 1856, and whatever brought him to this corner of Denton County, he was the first to stay.

The second oldest stone belongs to a young one: Charles Hammons, born 1854, gone by 1864. Just ten years on this earth. Charles was the grandson of another Tennessean, a man named Charles Lee Sullivan, born 1810, died 1868.

The marker calls Sullivan a leader in this community, and when you look at what follows, that word leader starts to carry some weight. The land itself changed hands in 1869, when a Mr. and Mrs. G.

W. Hammons bought it for use as a burial ground. Now here's where the family tree gets interesting: G.

W. Hammons was Sullivan's son-in-law, and Mrs. Hammons was Sullivan's own daughter.

So the Hammons family was tending ground that held their own kin, including that young boy Charles. But the cemetery's name, Tyson, that comes from yet another branch of this sprawling family network. A man named James R.

Tyson, born 1829, died 1899, eventually donated this burial ground to the public. Tyson was the father of Angeline Tyson Sullivan, who was Sullivan's daughter-in-law. One family folded into another, names braiding together across generations the way families do out here.

By 1976, there were forty-four Sullivan graves in this cemetery. Forty-four. A whole lineage, rooted in Tennessee, planted deep in Denton County soil.

And the place isn't just a relic sitting quietly in a field. As of 1976, an active cemetery association was still maintaining it; still keeping watch, still keeping faith with the names in the ground. Some places hold families together in life.

This one has been doing it a good while longer than that.

What the marker says

J. P. Newton (1821-56), a settler from Tennessee, is the earliest known burial in this cemetery. Charles Hammons (1854-64) has the second oldest stone. He was a grandson of another Tennessean, Charles Lee Sullivan (1810-68), a leader in this community. This burial ground, bought 1869 by Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Hammons, Sullivan's son-in-law and daughter, later was donated to the public by James R. Tyson (1829-99), father of Sullivan's daughter-in-law, Angeline Tyson Sullivan. There are 44 Sullivan graves in 1976. An active cemetery association maintains this burial ground (1976)