Wood Cemetery - Athens, TX - Worldwide Cemeteries on Waymarking.com

The cemetery's Findagrave page (see Cemetery Website) has an excellent description of how to get to the cemetery, which isn't very difficult (slight edits):

From the Athens courthouse square, take TX 31 east to the traffic light at Wofford Street. Turn left on North Wofford and go about a half mile across the railroad tracks to the official Texas Historical Marker for the Wood Cemetery on the right side of the road. Wofford becomes Cream Level Road north of the RR tracks. Follow the dirt road behind the marker for about 200 ft to the cemetery. It is on private property but permission to enter is not necessary and there are no fences to cross.

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There are signs up front about "No Dumping", which seems to have attracted those who are too lazy to get rid of their own trash, and you'll see their discarded refuse as you pull up to the cemetery. It will also be a good idea to watch for conditions on that dirt track, which might be a great place to get stuck after heavy rain. Otherwise, there are places to park next to the fence that encloses the cemetery, and it's easy to turn around to leave.

There is only one surviving headstone with any kind of inscription on it, for Tommie Elizabeth Wood Pelham and four of her infant children. A granite marker just inside the entrance yields the cemetery's name and lists the following burials, along with their birth and death dates:

Dr. Thomas Boucher Wood
Susan Amanda Pinson Wood
  Infant Wood daughter
  Albert Franklin Wood
  Mary Joseph Wood
  John Felix Wood
  Infant Wood daughter
  Infant Wood daughter
  Amanda Jo Wood
Tommie Elizabeth Wood Pelham
 Four Pelham infants

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A 2000 Texas Historical Marker by the road is the only sign to suggest the cemetery's presence, and mentions the possible burial of family slaves as well. The marker reads:

According to family history, Thomas Boucher Wood (1820-1879) was born in Columbus, Mississippi. He attended the University of Louisville in Kentucky in 1843 and again in 1849, at which time he received his doctoral degree in medicine with a thesis on pneumonia.

Soon thereafter, Dr. Wood came to this area to farm and practice medicine. He and Susan Amanda Pinson (1833-1873) were married in July 1850. Susan's family were among the earlier pioneers of nearby Mound Prairie in Anderson County.

The Wood Family Cemetery is a testament to the harsh conditions of pioneer life. It was established in 1851 when Thomas and Susan's first child, a daughter, was stillborn. Family records indicate that she was buried on the homestead. Thomas and Susan Wood had ten children. Their daughter Mary Josephine (1858-1863) was the next family member to be interred here. The following year the Woods' son, John Felix (1862-1864), died and Susan Amanda Wood miscarried a daughter on the same day. Another unnamed infant girl was stillborn in 1866. Two-year-old Amanda Joe Wood died in 1870. Susan Amanda Wood was buried here in 1873. T.B. Wood and their son, Albert (1853-1879), both succumbed to pneumonia on Albert's twenty-sixth birthday. Another daughter, Tommie Elizabeth Wood Pelham (1856-1884), was buried here next to her four infants. Some of the Wood family slaves are believed to have been buried just outside the family plot.

In the late 1990s, Wood descendants returned to the site and restored the cemetery. It serves as a memorial to the Wood family pioneers of Henderson County.

City, Town, or Parish / State / Country: Athens, TX Approximate number of graves: 14+ Cemetery Status: Inactive Maintained Cemetery Website: [Web Link]

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