SUMPTER CEMETERY (BLACK)

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To get to the Sumpter Cemetery from Groveton, TX take US 287 East 4.6 miles. Cemetery entrance is on the left. Follow the road to the cemetery. The main cemetery has Afro-American buried, as well as a section for blacks following this listing.

This list provided by Emma Young, who probably is the only one that knew where these people were buried. Sumpter Cemetery was fully integrated from the beginning, so also check that listing.

Sumpter was the first Seat of Justice for Trinity County (1850-1872). The cemetery lies at the northwest corner, outside, but adjoining the town site. According to information from Mrs. Armita Roach of Apple Springs, Texas, “Jonathan Roach was a holder of a Class 1 head right land grant. He gave the land for the Sumpter Cemetery and his family members were buried there as early as 25 July 1840 (Baby Daughter Sarah).” To get to the Sumpter Cemetery from Groveton, Texas take US 187 East 4.6 miles. Cemetery entrance is on the left. Follow the road to the cemetery.

A Texas Legislative Act dated 9 February 1850 created Trinity County from Houston County and directed that the county seat would be named Sumpter. Soloman Adams was reputedly the first permanent settler in the Sumpter area. His house, the largest in the county, became the temporary courthouse until a suitable one could be built. Sumpter was accepted by the Texas State Legislature as the first County Seat 8 February 1854, and Soloman Adams helped survey and stake out the town in 1855. Sumpter was incorporated in 1862, burned 2 November 1872, and lost its status as the County Seat 1873.

This ghost town with a pinkish granite marker (1936) on the town site deep into what has been ranch land and now in 1992 is a pine forest, declined into nothingness when the railroad by-passed it.

According to Mr. Cecil Willis of Woodlake, Texas, a portion of Sumpter Cemetery was allocated for the burial of Blacks when the Josserand (Black) Cemetery filled up. Later, when additional land was purchased for the Josserand Cemetery (Black) its use was resumed. The majority of the more than 125 unidentified graves in Sumpter Cemetery lie in the Black section.

One of the unidentified graves is that of Roach May, a very small, tiny-waisted great-grandmother of Velma Thornton Cocreham of Trinity, Texas. Velma is the daughter of Frank and Annie Gates Thornton, and is the granddaughter of Elizabeth May Gates. Roach May and her brothers came up the Trinity River by boat. She recounted that the boat was so crowded that the people had to sit very close together in the dining room. Mrs. May and her daughter Elizabeth May Gates were seamstresses and made ball gowns in Sumpter.

Sumpter Cemetery was transcribed by Letty Harrington on September 2, 2000, as part of the Tombstone Project and may be viewed though our main Cemetery page link associated with this cemetery.

List complied: August 27, 2002 by Trinity County Historical Commission. Lists updated: 14 Oct 2004/pc

*Plot*	*Row*		*Surname*	*Given Name*	*Birth Date*	*Death Date*	*Other*
17		22	BRADLEY	Hattie Mae	October 15, 1911	November 3, 1969
4	10		BROWN	Tempie Ward		05 Dec 1943
			BUGGS	Angie
			GARRETT	Eliza
			GARRETT	Harvey
2	16		GOLTEIE	Pearl
			HALL	Frank
			HALL	Mary Truscott
7	17		HAMILTON	Alverstine	23 JUL 1913	20 FEB 2001
3	22		HARDY	Floyd	07 OCT 1907	2002
3	23		HARDY	Lloyd	07 OCT 1907	18 AUG 1978
3		23	HARDY	Lloyd	October 7, 1907	18 AUG 1978
12		3	HAWTHORN	Eliza			Illegible
12		7	HAWTHORN	Little Sister	September 3, 1906	August 13, 1907	Only sleeping-children of Arrie & Nely H. Hawthorne Double stone with Big Sister
23	2		HAWTHORNE	Clara	1896	1985
12	3		HAWTHORNE	Eliza
			HAWTHORNE	Jason			Died in the 1930’s, was at least 100 years old
6	10		HAWTHORNE	Jessie Strong	15 NOV 1917	1990
12	7		HAWTHORNE	Little Sister	03 SEP 1906	13 AUG 1907
23		3	HAWTHORNE	Marie	November 10, 1915	March 25, 1983
23		4	HAWTHORNE	Nathaniel, Sr.	September 9, 1915	February 20, 1990	PFC US Army WWII Military Marker
23		1	HAWTHORNE	Nelson	May 5, 1920	October 27, 1986
			HAWTHORNE	R. C.
7		22	HODGE	Cary, (Rev.)	1875	1958
			HODGE	Henderson, Sr.			May be at Josserand
			JAMES	Oscar
14		6	PHIPPS	Hallee	January 31, 1916	March 26, 1988
6		16	PICKETT	Emma Young	October 5, 1911	April 4, 1944
5		24	THOMPSON	E. Gray	September 26, 1915	July 13, 1980
			TRUSCOTT	Carl
			TRUSCOTT	Cassel
11		18	TRUSCOTT	Catherine		1977
11		9	TRUSCOTT	Dora	February 9, 1875	September 20, 1882
			TRUSCOTT	Fannie
11		10	TRUSCOTT	Henry	November 9, 1913	September 6, ??
			TRUSCOTT	Jesse
			TRUSCOTT	McKinley			(May be Cassel)
11		17	TRUSCOTT	Otis	July 7, 1912	January 10, 1987
8		17	TRUSCOTT	Sarah	August 15, 1909	January 15, 1999
11		20	TRUSCOTT	Violet
15		6	WAGNER	Rosie	1891	1970
			WARD	John, Sr.
			WARD	Mitchell
			WARD	Sam
6		13	YOUNG	Alice McQueen	October 18, 1865	May 23, 1943	Wife of Charlie Young No Marker
6		12	YOUNG	Charlie	December 25, 1852	November 24, 1932	No Marker
7		18	YOUNG	Dezell, (Rev)	December 1, 1933	February 7, 1996	Military
6		14	YOUNG	Harrison		December 24, 1941	Brother of Jason Young No Marker
6		15	YOUNG	Laverne		April 4, 1944	Wife of Harrison Young No Marker

The information has been submitted and is offered free to all who visit. The ownership/copyright stays with the submitter Trinity County Historical Commission. Please read and respect the copyright on all submittals: Copyright.

Our thanks to The TXGenWeb Project and The USGenWeb Project for this web site!
Trinity County Historical Commission Cemetery Committee.

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