Woods Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Woods Cemetery in Newton County. Pull over if you can, because this one earns a moment of stillness. It's the story of a family, a patch of East Texas earth, and more than three hundred and sixty-eight souls who found their way home to it.

Brothers Sebern, Allen, and John Woods, along with their parents, John and Mary Woods, were living in Yalobusha County, Mississippi, in 1840. That fall, the whole outfit packed up and traveled to the Republic of Texas, settling in what was then Jasper County. Now, when a family moves that far, they're not just changing addresses.

They're betting on something. Sebern was born in 1809. Allen in 1814.

Their father John in 1785, their mother Mary in 1790. Three generations rolling into a land that was still calling itself a republic. By about 1842, Sebern and Allen had received land grants from the Republic of Texas.

They got to work. Building. Planting.

Neighboring. And in 1844, they did something that tells you exactly what kind of people they were. They organized a Baptist Church, and they held it right there in the home of Sebern and his wife Nancy, born Nancy Marshall, in 1819.

You open your home for worship, you're not just passing through. Two years later, in 1846, the area became part of the newly formed Newton County, and the Woods family's roots were already sunk deep. Now, not every Woods stayed put.

Brother John moved to Louisiana. Allen and his wife Mathilda Ann followed not long after. Then Mathilda Ann died in 1856.

And Allen, well, Allen came back. He returned to Texas in 1857 with his second wife, Eliza. Some people are just meant to stay in one county, even if it takes them a while to figure that out.

At some point, according to family history, Sebern set aside a tract of land for a cemetery. He didn't make a proclamation about it. He just quietly carved out a place where the people of this community could rest.

Later, his grandson, T. R. Woods, born in 1879 and died in 1945, gave another tract of land, bringing the whole cemetery to one and a quarter acres.

Small ground to hold so much. Oral history holds that the earliest grave belongs to John Woods, Sr., born 1785, died 1863. The patriarch himself.

The earliest legible historic gravestones mark three of the children of Allen and Eliza Woods. And here is where the tall tale gets quiet, because some things don't need embellishment. More than twenty marked graves in this cemetery date from 1900 or earlier.

And then there's this number: almost fifty marked graves of children, children, dating from before 1930. The marker calls that a testament to the difficult conditions of pioneer life, and that is exactly the right word. Testament.

Because those little headstones are a kind of scripture, a record of how hard it was to hold on out here, and how people kept trying anyway. More than 368 people are buried in Woods Cemetery. Ministers.

Public officials. Farmers. Educators.

Medical doctors. Musicians. Lawyers.

Laborers. The whole range of a community, every kind of person a county needs to function, and they're all there together. Among them, 42 veterans who were buried here before the dawn of the 21st century.

One of them fought in the U.S. wars with American Indians. Eight served in the Civil War. Others saw conflict in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam.

Different wars, different centuries, same quiet Newton County ground waiting for them at the end. Sebern Woods set aside a little tract of land, and what grew from it was something that outlasted him by generations. A cemetery that held a community's whole story, the births and the losses, the long lives and the short ones, the soldiers and the schoolteachers, all of it.

One and a quarter acres. More than 368 people. That's not just a cemetery.

That's a county's memory, written in stone.

What the marker says

Brothers Sebern (1809-1865), Allen (1814-1887) and John Woods and their families were living in Yalobusha County, Mississippi, in 1840. They traveled to the Republic of Texas with their parents, John (1785-1863) and Mary (b. 1790) Woods, in the fall, settling in what was then Jasper County. Sebern and Allen received land grants from the Republic of Texas in about 1842. They worked to build a community and in 1844 organized a Baptist Church in the home of Sebern and Nancy (Marshall) (1819-1893) Woods. The area became part of the newly formed Newton County in 1846. John Woods moved to Louisiana; Allen and his wife Mathilda Ann soon followed. She died in 1856, and Allen returned to Texas with his second wife, Eliza, in 1857. According to family history, Sebern set aside a tract of land for a cemetery. His grandson, T. R. Woods (1879-1945), later gave another tract, bringing the cemetery to 1½ acres. According to oral history, the earliest grave is that of John Woods, Sr. (1785-1863). The earliest legible historic gravestones are those of three of Allen and Eliza Woods' children. More than 20 marked graves date from 1900 or earlier. The almost 50 marked graves of children dating from before 1930 are a testament to the difficult conditions of pioneer life. Woods cemetery is the final resting place of more than 368 people. Many of these men and women were pioneer residents of Newton County, including ministers, public officials, farmers, educators, medical doctors, musicians, lawyers and laborers. The 42 veterans buried here before the dawn of the 21st century included one who fought in the U.S. wars with American Indians, eight veterans of the Civil War, and several who saw conflict in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. (2000)