The Dugan land grant was located near Fort Warren, Fannin County, Texas, now Grayson County, Texas.
The cemetery, which is located in a pasture behind the original Daniel & Catherine Dugan's homestead, was begun as an Indian burying ground and then used by as a family plot.  But as time went by, hundreds of other people were buried there. Many were Indians, some neighbors, and some just people passing through the country.  Brick and cement was used to erect a cover for each grave, and each was embossed with initials of the deceased. More durable gravestones were placed there about 1925 by their son, George Dugan Frederick Whiting, and a grandson, Claude Vernon Whiting.

This cemetery sits on a fenced-in horse pasture, behind a house located at 3072 Dugan Chapel Road.  The cemetery is
also fenced-in to prevent the horses from entering.  Because this is Private Property, permission needs to be obtained prior to entering the area.  All tombstones have been photographed and are listed here on this site.

The Denison Herald
Denison, Texas
Sunday Morning, Oct. 25, 1970


Dugan Cemetery Recalls Early Indian Fighting
by John Clift

Coastal Bermuda and sand burrs have pretty well taken over the old Dugan Cemetery, 6 miles southeast of Denison. Time and weather has eroded all of the original markers until only one is even partially legible. "In Sacred Memory of William Whiting, Killed by the Indians in a field in his county, July 20 1844, age 29."

The Dugans and Whitings were early settlers in Grayson County. Daniel V. Dugan who is buried in one of the crumbling mausoleums - like brick crypts, was another victim of early Indian attacks.

In Mattie Davis Lucas' "History of Grayson County" published in 1926, she notes that "in the summer of 1841, Daniel
V. Dugan, son of Daniel Dugan, was to be married and decided to build his own house, two miles west from that of
his father. He engaged William Kitchen to help him cut the logs. Two days after they left, the elder Dugan learned of
a party of Indians headed toward the settlements and set out to warn the boys.

"They didn't find them, so a searching party was formed and the body of Kitchen was found first. He had been shot front ambush and scalped. But there was evidences that Daniel Dugan had put up a hard struggle before he was
finally shot twice and scalped."

Details of the death of William Whiting have not been learned, with only the legend on the marker revealing that he had been killed by Indians.

Later when a band of Indians attacked the Dugan household several Indians were killed including Cochatta Bill, who had worked for one of the white men in the area. He was wearing a shirt made for him by Dr. Rowlett's wife when he was killed.
As a reminder of the two scalps the Indians had taken of Dugan and Kitchen, the Indian's head was severed from the body and the skull kept at the Dugan home for many years. Persons today recall having the old skull pulled out from under a bed and shown off from time to time.

The Dugan family cemetery is located in the middle of a pasture. Weeds and grass have grown up around most of the concrete and brick crypts. Names have long since faded. The larger crypts are in the south edge of the plot, while eroded wooden markers set out graves of those buried at the north edge.

A few years ago a new large granite marker was planted in the center of the crypts. It carries the names of Frederick
P. Whiting, 1816 - 1946; Emily Dugan Whiting, 1822 - 1846l; Mary Dugan Montague, 1819 - 1846; and James Montague, 1843 - 1844; and Cathirene Montague, 1845 - 1851 on one side. The other lists Daniel Dugan, 1784 - 1861; Catharine Vaden Dugan, 1789 - 1866; Daniel V. Dugan, 1824 - 1843.

This marker stand out like a sentinel in the center of the area that is about 50 feet square. It has no fence around it
and cattle, while in the field, graze peacefully on the sand lands that 120 to 130 years ago were the scenes of constant Indian battles.