Grayson County TXGenWeb

History of Allison Cemetery
by Neva Rich Pinkston

Allison Cemetery is a small, country cemetery located ten miles north of Whitesboro in Grayson County, Texas. It is on a low hillside about a mile west of Hwy 377 at the intersection of Allison Road and Rich Road. It dates back to the mid-1800s when about three acres of land were given for the cemetery by the Allison family, thus the name. A search of county records showed no deed was recorded, but the cemetery is mentioned on other successive deeds for adjoining land as "except for three acres for a cemetery in the southwest corner." Recently, a clear title to Allison Cemetery has been obtained for the trustees.
The two oldest grave markers in Allison Cemetery are those of a 53 year old man who died in 1865, and whose inscription reads simply, "Husband of Susannah," and of an eight year old girl, who died in 1866. Her tombstone reads, "Budded on earth to plant in heaven." Though these are the oldest dated monuments, some old graves are marked only by rocks, and some graves are unmarked because of rocks being moved by mowing over the years. Some rock markers were hewn into rectangles and stood as a monument with no names but a few initials, and some smaller rocks were replaced with cement blocks buried in the ground several years ago to keep them stationary. Descendants of a Bromlow father, daughter, and son, who were buried about 1858, following an influenza epidemic, but with no marker, contacted the cemetery board in 1988, and put a marker near a large cedar tree where the graves were believed to be, according to older family members.
Most of the people buried in Allison Cemetery are descendants of Hiram Dennis, Sr., but some "outsiders" are buried there also, probably because of location, free burial plots, etc. Family names with as many as _____ names in one family are Dennis, Rich, Williams, McDonnald, Elliott and Myers. Five generations of several families are buried there. Some appear to have been buried in a common grave with one marker reading, "Wife and children of J. H. Clegg, Died March 20, 1884."
Allison Cemetery is maintained by voluntary contributions managed by a group of relatives with each appointing a replacement when no longer able to serve. The present board is composed of Wayne Williams, Bill Odom, M.D. Pinkston and John Dennis. There is no water available, so native grasses and cedar trees, as well as a few transplanted trees in the fenced .....jonquils, bluebonnets and iris adorn some graves, but artificial flowers, which are usually abundant in other cemeteries, are few. An unfenced outside parking area with roads in from two sides and two large oak trees for shade complete Allison Cemetery.
A card file of information from each monument in the cemetery was compiled in the 1970s by a family member, Neva Pinkston, and is maintained and updated as burials occur. The verses from the markers make interesting reading. Some examples are: ....; "Sleep on sweet babe and take thy rest. God called thee home; he knoweth best"; "A wise and noble woman sleepeth here"; "All things that we love and cherish, like ourselves, must fade and perish."
Grayson County officials, who are related, are buried in Allison Cemetery include three commissioners: Hiram Dennis, Sr., William Joseph Rich, and Robert Leroy Rich, as well as Robert L. May, the only Grayson County sheriff who was killed in the line of duty in 1889. Newspaper accounts of the funeral of this sheriff record that it was attended by so many people that the cemetery would barely contain the crowd, which included the Texas Attorney General.
At least one Confederate Civil War veteran was buried here in 1899. A veteran's marker was obtained by a great-granddaughter of Tyler, Texas, in 1994, and placed at the foot of the grave, since it was already marked by a tall monument at the head. Veterans of other wars include WWI, WWII, and the Korean Conflict, with one WWII veteran the recipient of a purple heart. All veterans' graves are marked by small, white wooden crosses provided by the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Memorial Day in 1994.
All records indicate that only white, Anglo Americans are buried in Allison Cemetery, but one unmarked grave is alone on the far south side, and legend has it that a Negro girl was buried there in the days of segregation. This grave is no longer visible and there are probably other graves unmarked and indistinct, especially on the south side, after years of mowing. The youngest person buried here records death the same day as birth, and the eldest, with the fitting name of Alpha Omega Dennis, was 93. Most were people who lived in the area most of their lives, but a few have been returned for burial from as far away as California.
Another legend about Allison Cemetery is that before 1900 a man from the Allison family killed a man and was sent to prison. When he was released, he came through the country on horseback, dug up something in Allison Cemetery, went on his way, and was never seen again. Could this story have been connected to the New Mexico outlaw, Clay Allison?
Three fifth generation cousins, Murl Williams Barr, Sybil McDonnald Goetz and Joe Lynn Rich, were buried in Allison Cemetery over a period of years after contributing their bodies for medical research and their cremated remains being returned. Joe Rich was a Dallas County Commissioner and Democratic Chairman of Dallas County. When his remains were returned for burial, his brother-in-law, who lived near the cemetery, took the small box in the early cool of a summer morning and buried it beside other family members where a military marker had already been placed. A Sherman reporter wrote a tribute of this solemn event following a visit to Allison Cemetery with the only remaining family member, and the printed account describes the peace and tranquility of Allison Cemetery as expressed on several monuments, "Rest In Peace".

The above history of Allison Cemetery was compiled by Neva Rich Pinkston to accompany the application for the historical marker as submitted to the Texas Historical Commission. Mrs. Pinkston's two sets of paternal great-grandparents, her Rich grandparents, her mother and father, sister and brother, a son, and a host of uncles, aunts, and cousins are all buried in Allison Cemetery.
Courtesy
Loy Lake Frontier Village