Willow Point Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it: the story of Willow Point Cemetery, out in Wise County. Now, most cemeteries start with a name on a deed, maybe a plat map, something official. Willow Point started the way so many things out here did: with a death.

October 23, 1882, a woman named Anna M. English died, and she was laid to rest on land that belonged to a man named Samuel G. Evitts.

No cemetery yet. Just a burial on a piece of Texas ground. Then, the very next year (July 13, 1883), Samuel G.

Evitts himself died, and they buried him right there in the same area. Two graves. A beginning, whether anyone planned it that way or not.

The land changed hands several times after that, the way land does. Eventually ownership passed to D. H. and M.

M. Bishop, and in 1905 they deeded the property over to Woodman of the World Camp number 1763. Now, that deed had something important written into it: the older, fenced part of the cemetery would remain a free public burying ground.

Somebody made sure to say that out loud, in ink, on paper. The dead wouldn't be moved for commerce. And the dead here are many.

It is believed the cemetery contains a good number of unmarked burials; people whose names the ground has kept to itself. There's a particular grave in the northwest corner that carries that weight heavier than most. A Confederate soldier, discharged from Fort Richardson over in Jack County, buried here, and his name has long since been forgotten.

He made it home from the war. He made it to this piece of Wise County ground. And then time took his name right along with him.

He's not alone in that company, though. The cemetery holds other Civil War veterans, and veterans of World War I, World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Generation after generation, the men who went off to the far corners of conflict; some of them came back to this ground.

And then there's Samuel G. Evitts, the man whose land started all of this. The very first neighbor Anna English had in death.

Turns out Evitts had seen more of American history than most. He was a veteran of the Texas War for Independence and of the Civil War. The original owner of this ground had fought in two wars separated by decades, and in the end, the land he owned became the resting place for soldiers from conflicts he never lived to see.

The Willow Point Cemetery Association was organized in 1947, and they've been tending this place ever since: keeping up the maintenance, and hosting an annual homecoming and cleaning day. People still come back. They still show up for the ones whose names are known, and for the ones whose names are not.

A free public burying ground, the deed called it. Out here in Wise County, they've taken that seriously for a long, long time.

What the marker says

The Willow Point Cemetery had its origins in 1882 when Anna M. English died on October 23 and was buried on land owned by Samuel G. Evitts. The next year, on July 13, Evitts died and was buried in the same area. The land changed hands several times before ownership passed to D. H. and M. M. Bishop, who deeded the property to Woodman of the World Camp #1763 in 1905. The deed stated that the older, fenced part of the cemetery would remain a free public burying ground. It is believed that the cemetery contains many unmarked burials. The northwest corner of the plot contains the grave of a Confederate soldier who was discharged from Fort Richardson in Jack County, and whose name has long since been forgotten. Also, interred here are other Civil War veterans as well as veterans of World War I, World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Samuel G. Evitts, original owner of the site, was a veteran of the Texas War for Independence as well as the Civil War. The Willow Point Cemetery Association, organized in 1947, is responsible for maintenance and hosts an annual homecoming and cleaning day.