Chisum Family Cemetery - Paris, TX
N 33° 39.213 W 095° 34.038
15S E 261925 N 3726699
Cattle baron John Chisum is buried with his parents and three friends of the family in the old Chisum Family Cemetery, a park-cemetery that is all that remains of their homestead, where Washington St meets the railroad tracks in southwest Paris, TX.
Waymark Code: WM12TA9
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/12/2020
Views: 2
The Chisums owned property in this area, and when John Chisum died in Arkansas, his body was returned to rest with his parents. There are also three members of the Gibbons family buried on these grounds in unmarked graves: Epps Gibbons (1784-1858), his wife, Nancy Calvert Gibbons (1790-1863), and their daughter, Mary Calvert Gibbons (1837-1904), were friends of those Chisum family.
This was a quiet area at one time, and while it is on the edge of Paris, traffic on Washington Street can get busy, and of course, there's a business across the street to block the scenery. There are no signs or fences here -- be careful of passing trains right behind the cemetery -- and a couple of benches give this a park-like feel. The road through the cemetery is an unimproved loop. Given John Chisum's fame, there is a 1967 Texas Historical Marker in front of the Chisum headstone, and it reads:
Cattle baron who moved herds from East to West Texas and into New Mexico and founded one of the greatest cattle spreads in the West.
Coming from Tennessee to Paris, 1837, Chisum joined S.K. Fowler in a cattle venture in Denton County, 1854. During the Civil War, he supplied beef to Confederate troops west of the Mississippi and his cowboys guarded the frontier against Indians.
After moving in 1864 to the Concho River, then to "Bosque Grande" on the Pecos, he finally located his spread at South Spring near Roswell, New Mexico, 1873. His enormous herds -- 60,000 to 100,000 head -- pounded trails across Texas into New Mexico. His name and fame led to confusion with Jesse Chisholm, blazer of part of the historic Texas-to-Kansas cattle trail.
Chisum's onetime partner, famous cattleman Charles Goodnight, said that Chisum, who could correctly tally three grades of moving cattle at once, was the best counter he knew. Chisum's distinctive "Long Rail" brand and "Jinglebob" ear-notch defied alteration. A disastrous packing house deal and involvement in the 1876 "Lincoln County War," in which Billy the Kid and various cattle factions figured, ultimately led to Chisum's financial ruin.
Last Name: Chisum/Gibbons
First Name: Not listed
Born: Not listed
Died: Not listed
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