SARGENT CEMETERY

By Kathleen Tatum

The Sargent Cemetery, a private family cemetery, is about 2½ miles south of Sargent, Texas, just off Farm Road 457, in the Caney Creek Estate Subdivision. There is a chain link fence around the cemetery and thee are only six tombstones in the enclosure. The tract of land, 50’x50’ foot or 0.46 acres, is in the Maria D. Pierce one-fourth league survey, where George Thomas Sargent bought and built his home near by, in Matagorda County, Texas.

     
George Thomas Sargent was born December 26, 1791, in Cornwall County, England, to John and Mary Sargent. George moved to London where he married and where some of his children were born. Soon after the birth of their sixth child, March 24, 1834, the family left England for America. They arrived in Texas in June of 1834, and settled in Refugio-San Patricio area where they resided during the Texas Revolution. After the Revolution, he moved his family to Dimmitt’s Point in Calhoun County where his wife and oldest son died prior to his and his other children’s move to Matagorda County in 1838.  George and his wife were the parents of seven children, the last one being born in Texas.

     
George Thomas Sargent applied for 640 acres of land in Matagorda County, April 26, 1838. He also bought more land where he farmed sugar cane and cotton and raised cattle. When the Sargent ranch was sold, it consisted of 11,500 acres, which his heirs sold in 1915 to The Caney Cattle and Pasture Company.

     
When the town of Sargent was established, they named the town after the Sargent family, for they were prominent, well-respected citizens of the county. The first post office at Sargent was opened December 31, 1912 with Mary G. Montgomery as postmaster. Before this date, the people of this area either received their mail at Kenner or Caney post offices.

     
The first person to be buried in the Sargent Cemetery was Mr. George Thomas Sargent’s grandson, Jacob Smith, Jr., born September 16, 1843, died October 30, 1859, son of Jacob and Ann Elizabeth Sargent Smith.

     
The next was George Thomas Sargent and his daughter-in-law Sarah Ann, wife of John Thomas Sargent, who both drowned September 17, 1875, during a storm that hit the Gulf Coast, destroying their home and the same storm that destroyed Indianola.

     
The fourth person buried in the cemetery was his granddaughter, Cornelia Smith Freeman, March 27, 1883, daughter of Jacob and Ann Elizabeth Sargent Smith and wife of Henry Herman Freeman. The next person was Cornelia and Henry Herman Freeman’s son, Frank J. Freeman who died August 19, 1872.

     
The last to be buried thee was Henry Herman Freeman, November 28, 1908.

     
The seven children of the George Thomas and Mary Sargent were:

      (1) Ann Elizabeth Sargent, born July 8, 1823, in England, died August 4, 1897, ,married November 18, 1841 to Jacob Smith. They are buried in a family cemetery on Baer Ranch in Matagorda County.

      (2) Mary Ann Sargent, born May 28, 1826, in England, married April 10, 1842, to William W. Warring.

      (3) Lewis Sargent, born 1829 in England, buried Dimmitt’s Point, Calhoun County, Texas.

      (4) George Thomas Sargent, Jr., born 1830 in England.

      (5) Richard Sargent, born 1832 in England.

      (6) John Thomas Sargent, born March 24, 1834, in England, died January 17, 1911, buried at Cedarvale Cemetery, Bay City, Texas. He married (1) Sarah Ann Hill, August 26, 1857. She died September 17, 1875, during the storm. (2) His second marriage was to Jane A. Bates, August 31, 1881.

      (7) Sarah Sargent, born 1836 in Texas.

 
The dedication of the Official Texas Historical Marker for Sargent Cemetery was held April 9, 1988.