FIRST Graves in Carson Cemetery - Ector, TX
N 33° 36.629 W 096° 16.942
14S E 752144 N 3722279
A 1998 Texas Historical Marker notes that the first graves in the cemetery are possibly those belonging to Mrs. Minerva Hunter, one of her daughters, and a servant, all killed by natives in 1842.
Waymark Code: WMXPZZ
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/10/2018
Views: 0
The historical marker at the front of the cemetery notes the murders, although if the graves of the daughter and the servant are marked, they are not marked with legible stones. Only Mrs. Hunter's grave is identifiable as such. The marker reads:
According to local oral tradition, this cemetery was named for John Carson, who once owned the adjacent land. Some sources say one grave was in existence before 1842; others maintain the first graves date to an 1842 Indian raid at the nearby home of Dr. and Mrs. W.M. Hunter. The three victims of the raid were Mrs. Minerva Hunter, her young daughter Elizabeth, and an African American maid whose name is unknown. By 1878, the cemetery trustees acquired title to the land and they later added more acreage. Among those buried here are land donors Mr. & Mrs. W.E. Alderson, Mr. & Mrs. W.R. Luton, and T.M. Newell. Minerva Hunter's grave was marked in 1942, a century after her death.
---
Mrs. Hunter's original headstone, placed long after 1842, has been broken and repaired, and it reads:
In Memory
of
Mrs. Hunter
Wife of Dr. Hunter
Who was killed
and scalped by
the Indians at
the Jenkins Farm
on Caney Creek
in 1842.
-----
Erected by
Citizens of Ector
and Vicinity
---
A more modern, gray granite headstone is also in place, essentially overlapping what's on the original headstone, but presumably a memorial that will survive the Texas weather better than the headstone. It reads:
Minerva Hunter
1842
Wife of Dr. William Hunter who was
killed and scalped by Indians on the
Jenkins Farm at Caney Creek.
---
Fannin County has a very good website, and they have online a copy of W.A. Carter's History of Fannin County, published in 1885. The book includes an account of the murder of Mrs. Hunter, along with a daughter and a servant.
The Hunters settled along Caney Creek, about six miles from Bonham, in 1842. Dr. Hunter had agreed to settle there and be a neighbor to George Dameron and his family, and the idea was that they would build up a settlement and offer mutual protection against potentially hostile natives. Unfortunately, Dr. Hunter and two of his sons left the homestead on business, and that was effectively their undoing: There is no reference to the "Jenkins" mentioned on the grave marker, and Dameron was in his home, unaware of anything going on, while Mrs. Hunter, her two daughters, and the servant were left unprotected.
The first victim one morning was a daughter, Elizabeth, who was caught unaware by the natives -- probably Comanche -- as she went to fetch water. After killing and mutilating her, they turned on Mrs. Hunter and the servant, butchering them, and seizing the remaining daughter, who was later ransomed back to the family.