Page's Tree - Clarksville Cemetery - Clarksville, TX
N 33° 36.533 W 095° 03.282
15S E 309371 N 3720683
Page's Tree stands in the northwest corner of historic Clarksville Cemetery, having been used to dispose of several murderers back in 1837. The cemetery is bounded by Washington, Taylor, Grove, and College Streets.
Waymark Code: WMPC28
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/06/2015
Views: 6
A plaque stands near the tree, facing W Washington Street. It says:
Page's Tree
In 1837 a murderer named Page and two others were hanged on a limb of this large post oak tree. At the time, the tree was 96 years old. From that day on, it has been known as "Page's Tree."
1999 C.H.S. Junior Heritage Club
According to the Texas Forest Service at Texas A&M University (see link), the tree handled four murderers and not three in 1837, and continued to provide justice over time:
"This towering post oak was in its prime when it was selected, more than a century ago, to serve the cause of frontier justice for the early settlers of Red River County. Its first recorded service came in 1837, when a man named Page and his son were hanged from one of its sturdy limbs.
When Captain Charles Burham and Levi Davis, settlers from the Avery area, failed to return from a search for some runaway slaves, their friends set out to find them. On questioning a man riding Burham's mule, they learned that he had bought it from Page.
When the group took Page, his son, a son-in-law, and a Mexican hand into custody, the Mexican confessed that Burham and Davis had been murdered. During their trial by the vigilance committee in Clarksville, Page's son told the "whole" story and all four men were hanged.
Page's Tree was used many times as an instrument of final judgment for some and as a threat to others.
When the sheriff of Miller County, Arkansas, was sent to Clarksville in 1837 to collect taxes in an area still in dispute between the Territory of Arkansas and the Republic of Texas, he had an unfriendly reception. The town's committee promptly took him to Page's Tree and explained its use and what would happen if he delayed his departure. The sheriff left promptly.
When judicial law finally replaced committee law, Page's tree was relegated to near anonymity, and thus it would have remained had it not been for Clarksville's noted historian, W. E. Bowers, who brought to light this tree's historic contributions to justice on the Texas frontier."
Website: [Web Link]
Historic Event:
Used as a hanging tree in the early pioneer days
Year: 1837
Species: Post Oak
Approximate Age: 274
Location: Clarksville, TX
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