OLDEST Marked Grave in Myrtle Springs Cemetery - Henderson County, TX
N 32° 08.260 W 095° 37.191
15S E 252873 N 3558701
A 2006 Texas Historical Marker at Myrtle Springs Cemetery, a bit northwest of Poynor in rural Henderson County, TX, notes that the oldest marked grave in the cemetery belongs to Amanda Pruitt, who died in 1879.
Waymark Code: WM107ZF
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 03/17/2019
Views: 1
Buried near her mother, this young lady's final resting place is marked by a short white marble headstone, with a book at the top, and this inscription:
Amanda A.
Dau. of
John & R.A.
Pruit
Born
Jan. 15, 1856
Died
Aug. 13, 1879
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The historical marker provides some background:
This burial ground served the Myrtle Springs community beginning in the mid to late 1800s. The Myrtle Springs settlement began shortly after 1850, when Luke and Sibby Elizabeth Gauntt settled in this area. The Gauntt family traveled to Texas with a party from their home in Alabama, deciding to settle here instead of continuing to their original destination of California. The community grew and Myrtle Springs had a public school by 1872. Before that time, students attended Lewis School over Boon Mountain in the New York community.
In 1887, one of the Gauntts' sons, Confederate veteran John Washington Gauntt (d. 1912), set aside this property for church and burial use when he sold property to B.N. Bryant. By this time, a number of Myrtle Springs residents had already been interred here. The oldest marked grave is of Amanda Pruitt (d. 1879). Surnames of other early Myrtle Springs families represented in the cemetery include Barr, Blackwell, Boles, Bristow, Dixon, Gauntt, Harden, Harrell, Master, Petrey, Walker and Wylie. Others buried here include community leaders and veterans of conflicts dating to the Civil War. The burial ground features unmarked graves, family plots, interior fencing and vertical stones. Residents used structures on this site for worship services, school, elections and other activities.
Today, descendants of the interred continue to care for the burial ground. As one of the few remaining vestiges of a pioneering settlement, this cemetery continues to serve as a record of the men and women of the Myrtle Springs community.
FIRST - Classification Variable: Person or Group
Date of FIRST: 08/16/1879
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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