Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
Caching does take us afield
To cemeteries we'd never guess were around
A stone-by-stone history they yield.
And sometimes a spot takes on a mystery
Refusing via Google to play
This is one of those cemeteries
Most I can say is I saw where it lay.
Near Golinda, off County Road 423, you'll find the hamlet of Majors Chapel. About all there is to it is an aged Methodist Church. But if you go back down CR 423 and turn right on Craft Road, you'll spill out onto a looping road in a fairly large cemetery. A cemetery that doesn't show up via Google, in the Texas Atlas, or even the USGS Topo Maps. What's up with that? Secretive people? Inaccurate census? The data base administrators call it by another name? Probably doesn't help that Majors Chapel UMC is in Falls County, while the cemetery is in McLennan.
According to BikerMike on the cache page of GC1RAD7 Dust to Dust - Majors Chapel
"I heard about this cemetery from some friends, decided to go see what I could see. What I found was a Black cemetery in what I thought was decent shape. When I went to hide the cache I found even more headstones, some consisting of nothing more than rocks stuck in the ground. When you park and walk into the wooded area, look around and you will see these, they were on my right as I went in - partially hidden by low hanging branches. Looked to be at least 5-6 in a row.
In reading some history on this cemetery, I came across the story of Sank Majors, a young Black man lynched on August 7, 1905 in Waco, who is buried here. I looked around for a little bit and could not locate his grave, perhaps he is one of the unmarked rocks I passed on the way into this area. Googling his name will pull up more about the lynching if you are so inclined. I'll do a little more research with the local library and see if I can find an exact burial location for him.
"Just east of here, about a 1/4 mile is a white church, this is Majors Chapel Church, for which the cemetery is named."
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We found the church, we found this cemetery. I found a reference to Sank Majors and his horrendous death.
(
visit link)
"The First Waco Horror: The Lynching of Jesse Washington and the Rise of the NAACP" By Patricia Bernstein (Chapter 1)
If you want all the details, go read it. The pertinent part is "Sank Majors was buried in the Majors Chapel Cemetery outside of Golinda"
Not leaving well enough alone, I found a contact to email regarding McLennan County Cemeteries. Mr. Tye wrote me back promptly:
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BarbJ,
There are two cemeteries there. Majors Chapel Cemetery ( African American ) and Golinda Cemetery ( White ).
Golinda is in the woods. It's an old cemetery. This cemetery is no longer being used. David C Miller is buried in Golinda.
We do have some info on both cemeteries. We have took photos of both cemeteries.
[TxGenWeb's] McLennan County Cemetery Interest Group (McCig) is working on a new McLennan County Cemetery Book #9. Due out some time. Both cemeteries will be in the book.
You might want to post your photos on Find - A - Grave. www.findagrave.com ...would be helpful. It's a great website and FREE!
sheer curiosity is a GOOD THING!
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So, what we have here is a twofer.
There is a finely mowed parklike section to either side of a loop road. This is Majors Chapel Cemetery.
I'd guess there are a hundred or so graves here -- but without finding my usual information/survey sources on the matter, I can't say more than that.
Indeed, the only census information is a line in a database from the a research project of the Waco-McLennan County Library, the McLennan County Cemetery Interest Group and the Projects Committee of the Central Texas Genealogical Society
(
visit link)
Majors Chapel (black)
says Majors Chapel Cemetery was originally called Wilkirson (as in the funeral home). There was a Hatch Cemetery on a hill not too far away (this cemetery also has a different name now).
Golinda 31°23.58569 97°03.96779
Going S from Waco on Hwy 77 toward Golinda
Just over county line (from McLennan to Falls) take gravel road on L for 1.3 miles to gravel lane on L
This lane leads to Majors Black Cemetery.
CTGS 1988 Quarterly Summer 1980
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I have posted all the pictures I have in the Gallery -- those under the trees in the leaf litter I have discovered (since originally posting this) to be in the adjacent Golinda Cemetery (Waymark Code: WM8MB0). And, hey, if the waymarkers who come after have more and better info, 'tis courtesy to share!
So I guess I will part with another musing --
Wand'ring well off the beaten road, now
So what do we expect to see?
Where cachin' people tune right in
And find another OLD cemetery.
Before memory loses touch
Are there records, do you know?
Fading writing, getting worse….
Where’d all the good people go?
In the end, what do mortal remains have to show?
Where’d all the good people go?
Do their mem'ries live on -- where, do you know?
They did that and this; who'd they love, who'd they kiss
Lay by ones and twos; babies' graves give me the blues
Bad news, good news -- lost, forgotten, out of view?
Give me some truth now, when all's said and gone
What's that you say?
Whisper a prayer now, I’m in the mood to obey
Cache lead me astray
And by the way now…
Where’d all the good people go?
In the end, what do mortal remains have to show?
Where’d all the good people go?
Where lingers the harvest of what we sow
Wandering around feeling far away
It's a wayward stray, I can feel mystery -- can you feel it?
Read what I can, imagine distant conversation
Imagine him, her, them -- all facets of we
You might notice some hesitation
Fragments catch my eye, it's important to me
To tread lightly, respect's reservation
Well, it's time to go, and I probably know, yeah…
Where’d all the good people go?
In the end, what do mortal remains have to show?
Where’d all the good people go?
Where lingers the harvest of what we sow
(Where’d all the good people go?)
They got this and that with a rattle-a-tat
Just passing through, that's a mortal life's due
Life songs, short, long, give me some depth
Dates, names, fading fame
Who keeps your stories today, anyway
Feeling sober not gay
Wish could hear past the veil, keep from lost each tale...
News, passing views, I just feel what we lose
Where'd all the good people go....
Going, going, gone.