Bolton Cemetery -- Bolton Community, Camp County TX
N 32° 57.141 W 094° 56.086
15S E 319151 N 3647665
The Bolton Cemetery, all that remains of a former Freedmen's town established by Louisa Bolton on her former plantation to benefit her former slaves and their families after the Civil War
Waymark Code: WM105WQ
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 03/04/2019
Views: 0
According to the 1860 US Census Slave schedule, in 1860 Ebenezer Bolton and his wife Louisa owned 35 slaves on their Camp County TX plantation. After her husband died in 1877, Louisa Bolton provided land to their former slaves out of their plantation holdings, and set aside this cemetery for the burial of Bolton family members and descendants, as well as their former slaves and their descendants. The land donated to her former slaves by Louisa Bolton became known as the Bolton Community, a Freedmen's town. Today (2019) all that is left of the Bolton Community is this cemetery, and the historical marker that tells the tale.
The marker reads as follows:
"BOLTON CEMETERY
Ebenezer (Ebb) and Martha Bolton settled in this area in the 1850s. They established an extensive plantation and owned a number of slaves before the Civil War. Following Ebb Bolton's death in 1877, his widow made arrangements to provide land to their former slaves. This cemetery, which began in 1861 upon the death of Martha Bolton's mother, Rebecca Durley, became a part of the Bolton community, a Freedmen's town which built up in the area. Both Ebb and Martha Bolton are interred here, as are many of the former slaves and their descendants."
The day the Benchmark Blasterz visited, it looked to us like there are about 150 people buried here, many in unmarked graves or graves marked with local ore rock.
The Bolton Cemetery is located 3 miles southeast of Pittsburg on the FM 993.
City, Town, or Parish / State / Country: 3 miles south of Pittsburg TX on FM 993
Approximate number of graves: 150+
Cemetery Status: Active
Cemetery Website: [Web Link]
|
Visit Instructions:
Post an original, un-copywrited picture of the Cemetery into this Waymark gallery, along with any observations about the cemetery.