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Titus County, Texas

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Last Updated:
02 November 2022


Old Keith Cemetery
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This cemetery, located in North Eastern rural Titus County has long been abandoned and neglected. It is about 2 miles North of Cookville and in the vicinity of Horse Creek located in dense undergrowth. A public road once ran in close proximity to the cemetery but the road has also been abandoned for many years. From the Titus County court house take Jefferson Avenue north 0.9 miles to the intersection of Jefferson and US 67 highway (West 16th Street). Turn right (East) on US 67 for 7.4 miles and turn left onto County Road NE 6/3150. Proceed 0.6 mile and turn left at the intersection of County Road NE 33/3155. No permanent identifiable feature assists in the ultimate location of the cemetery but 1.5 miles down County Road 33/3155 there is currently a clear cut fence line running to the West. The cemetery is about 1.5 miles to the south and west of that fence line. Currently a marked trail leads to the cemetery.

There are some monuments for the Dale, Vandergriff and Young families. Only two of the monuments remain intact. One of the broken monuments has deteriorated to the point of illegibility. One native stone with “Bernice” scratched on its surface marked the location of one grave, 12 other stones, two bricks and one unreadable funeral home marker were on other sites. The cemetery was probably established by William Keith before the Civil War. Lynch Harper estimated about 1852. About 1895, an Englishman by the name of Charley Armstrong came into the Cookville community and worked as a farm laborer for Dick Wilhite and Alex Keith. When working for Keith, he became ill and realizing that he was going to die, he asked that he be buried in the Keith Cemetery, and that his grave be dug North and South instead of the traditional East and West, in order that his grave might be found should any of his people ever visit the cemetery. He was buried in the manner requested, but so far as known, none of his family ever visited the grave and it has been lost. (From: History of Titus County by Traylor Russell)

Traylor Russell in his book “History of Titus County” states William Keith, Warren Cash Keith, William & Nancy Tigert are buried there but no monument is found for them. Monuments for Warren Cash and William Keith can be found in the Keith Cemetery. They state “Buried 2 miles North in the Old Keith Cemetery”.

At the time of this writing, there are plans to clean, straighten and attempt locating more monuments. This survey and subsequent commitment to restore the cemetery was the combined efforts of Andrew Arnold and his wife, Michelle, David Horton, Ronald Knight, Gerald Knight, and John Tigert.

 

NAME

 

BIRTHDATE

 

DEATHDATE

 

INSCRIPTION

 

Dale, John H.

Dale, Susanah

 

April 4, 1797

August 14, 1803

 

June 25, 1875

January 31, 1893

 

As you are now, you shall be, so prepare and follow me

As you are now, you shall be, so prepare and follow me

 

Dale, Ellia

 

January 14, 1907

 

December 11, 1909

 

Daughter of J. A. & M. A. Dale

 

Dale, Jessie

 

April 3, 1902

 

April 3, 1902

 

Son of J. A. & M. A. Dale From Mother’s arms to the arms of Jesus

 

Dale, William S.

 

July 21, 1900

 

March 13, 1918

 

Son of J. A. & M. A. Dale   The Lord is my shepherd.   He was faithful to every duty

 

Dale, Miriam C.

Dale, Susan M.

 

November 5, 1842

October 18, 1840

 

March 26, 1917

January 31, 1901

 

Daughter of John & Susanah Dale   In my Father’s house are   Daughter of John & Susanah Dale           many mansions

 

 

Vandergriff, Clemmie

 

March 18, 1890

 

January 12, 1901

 

Daughter of G. L. & S. M. M.Vandergriff   Sleep on dear child and take thy rest in Jesus’ arms forever blest

 

Vandergriff, William Henry

 

October

 

March 20, 1904

 

Son of G. L. & S. M. M. Vandergriff    (This monument is very badly deteriorated and impossible to read)

 

Young, Henry G.

 

 

 

 

 

(nothing else.  This grave faces North and South)


   Survey completed: December 1, 2001

The compiler of the above information hereby grants permission to use, reproduce, and/or extract data for any purpose except such data must not be offered for sale in any form. This right cannot be restricted by any other organization or individual. Any non-commercial entity has unlimited use of the data.

David M. Horton
Rt. 6 Box 1800
Mt. Pleasant, TX 75455
(903) 572-0156
hdavid@suddenlink.net

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