To Everything A Season: EDGAR Family Cemetery, DeWitt Co., TX

Karan GOLDSMITH CALLAWAY

laying a rose at

the gravestone of Hadley EDGAR,

who only lived

for five months.

11 Apr 15

Jerry SPARKMAN and Bob WEBB 

in front of Jerry's great

grandmother's gravestone. It was

the first time he had been to the

cemetery to see her grave, and

his first time in Texas since 1967.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

EFC Before Photo

From outside the cemetery,

looking northeast, toward the gate

Photo by Jane ADAM WEBB

Saturday, March 09, 2013

EFC After Photo

From inside the cemetery looking

southwest, toward the gate

Photo by Jane ADAM WEBB

Monday, April 08, 2013

Afternoon sun at back, looking

northeast with Bluebonnets in

foreground and cemetery

up hill in distance.

Photo by Robert Merritte WEBB

Saturday, March 23, 2013

This Morning 8:15 a.m. Headed

South from Yoakum, about to turn

right (west) toward the area of

JSE's first class headright land

grant and the old EDGAR family

cemetery. Bluebonnets under the

sign. Great day in DeWitt County,

TX!

Photo by Robert Merritte WEBB

Sunday, March 24, 2013

From west fence,

looking northeast.

When we are done, the cemetery

will be the cleanest it has been in

at least 75 years, I suspect.

Photo by Robert Merritte WEBB

Sunday, March 24, 2013

James EDGAR

Selan WITHERINGTON EDGAR

Photo by Mark David GOLDSMITH

1991 - 1992

Welcome

        Welcome Grave Stones Location Meetings&Visits Management Politeness

On this page:

Welcome, Surnames, History,  Mention of Edgar Family Cemetery,

Notes of Convention

Latest update: Thursday, 12 March, 2015

Join us as we honor our family, friends, and neighbors

and care for their earthly resting places in the

EDGAR Family Cemetery, located near Edgar, DeWitt County, TEXAS,

between Cuero and Yoakum.

"The whole area around there is beautiful with many, large live oak trees and rolling hills. 

The location of the original Edgar homestead, very near the old cemetery, is located on one of the

highest spots (maybe THE highest spot) on the original land grant,

and the views from there are beautiful in all directions."

(Robert Merritte WEBB, June, 2006, updated February 2013 )

“Many of our older cemeteries have long been abandoned to the briar and the serpent,

their stones broken and buried.  Not a few have so completely vanished

from the face of the earth that they might never have existed.”

From the introduction to Cemetery Records of Washington County, TEXAS, 1826-1960

Judy and Nath WINFIELD, Jr.

Until 2013, the above could have easily been written about the EDGAR Family Cemetery. Over

the decades, several family members visited the cemetery and attempted to reclaim it from the

"briar and serpent." However, not until April 2013, when family members joined efforts did the

EDGAR Family Cemetery receive the complete tending it needed and deserved. In addition, these

dedicated family members established the EDGAR Family Cemetery Association to continue the

care and maintenance of the cemetery and to honor our ancestors.

Surnames

List of Surnames of those buried (or closely related to those buried) in the EDGAR Family

Cemetery: ABEL, BATCHELOR, BATES, BELL, BENNETT, BOULDIN, BROWN, CARR, DIKES,

DONNELL, DUKE, DYKES, EDGAR, FARQUHAR, HADLEY, HUGO (OR VON HUGO), JACOBS,

LADD, LEE, LUCE, MAHLER, MCADOO, MCCORMICK, MCMEEN, MEANS, MIKES , MIKESH,

MURPHEY, NEWSOME, NYEGAARD, ODOM, PINCHAM, POWERS, PRIDGEN, RACKLEY,

READER, ROBINSON, SKEEN, SPARKMAN, STROWN, TAYLOR, VON HUGO, WELCH,

WITHERINGTON, YOUNG

History (Map)

The EDGAR Family Cemetery is located near the community of Edgar, DeWitt County, TEXAS,

northeast of  Cuero, between Cuero and Yoakum, off the Cuero highway. It is on private property

very near the original EDGAR homestead built in 1853-4, by James S. EDGAR (1790 - 1869) and

Selah WITHERINGTON EDGAR (1794-1873) and their family, who emigrated from Maury

County, TENNESSEE in late 1853. They settled on the DeWitt County land granted to their eldest

son Joseph Smith EDGAR for his participation in the TEXAS War of Independence.

The EDGAR Family cemetery is near the middle of the largest land grant, which is on Cuero

Creek. The location now know as the EDGAR Family Cemetery is referred to in later pages of the

Joshua N. EDGAR's Bible as the “Edgar Yard.” (The EDGAR Family Cemetery has been confused

with several other cemeteries around Edgar, DeWitt Co, TEXAS.)

James' and Selah's grave sites are in the corner of the cemetery nearest to where the family

house was located. James’ and Selah’s son, Arthur S. EDGAR (1828-1863) is believed to have

been the first buried in the EDGAR Family Cemetery. Arthur’s unmarked grave site is suspected

to be near those of his parents.

Today, the land on which the EDGAR Family Cemetery is located no longer belongs to a direct

EDGAR descendant, however, it does belong to a MAHLER descendant who is a collateral in-law

of the EDGAR branch of the family tree. Please note, the EDGAR Family Cemetery is on PRIVATE

LAND; do not trespass. Please contact the EDGAR Family Cemetery Association if you are

interested in visiting.

Visit the James EDGAR and Selah WITHERINGTON EDGAR website, for details on the

following:

• EDGAR Homestead in Tennessee

• Joseph Smith EDGAR and his three land grants from the Republic of TEXAS

• James and Selah family immigration to TEXAS

• EDGAR homestead in TEXAS

• Edgar, DeWitt County, TEXAS

• Joshua N. EDGAR's Bible

Mention of EDGAR Family Cemetery

• 05 April 2013, Article in Victoria Advocate - Man breathes new life into cemetery

• ..he [Henry EDGAR] may be laid to rest in the family grave yard which adjoins the old Edgar

home.  (source: Obituary of Henry EDGAR, Yoakum Weekly Herald [Newspaper], 23 Jul 1908)

Sons of DeWitt Colony Biographies

"family members of James and Selah Edgar buried in the Edgar Family Cemetery"

• The Joshua N. Edgar Family Bible lists burials in the "Edgar Yard" of eight of their grandchildren

children who died in infancy.

Notes of Convention

• [Brackets] indicate editorial content or comment inserted into a quoted source that are not part

of the original quote.

• Surnames are CAPITALIZED.

• Nicknames are in "quotation marks."

• Although this website uses the date form "day2 month3 year4" (example 01 Jan 2007,) for

intercultural, international, and temporal clarity, most of the grave stones, obituaries, and other

official and unofficial records document dates in the form "month date, year."

[end page]

 

DECORATION DAY

SATURDAY, 11 APRIL 2015