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West Hill Cemetery Sherman, Texas Herald
Democrat
Sunday, August 18, 1985 Patrick Shuey - Staff Writer Sherman's recent development, which has made major changes on the fact of the city, has left untouched a large area in its southwest corner. And it's likely to remain that way. The area near Sam Rayburn Freeway at the intersection of Lamar and Woods streets, is West Hill Cemetery, where much of the history of Sherman and Grayson County is buried. The cemetery, which occupies 125 acres, has more than 28,000 graves - almost matching Sherman's population. It has a twisted and vaguely mysterious history, and is itself an educational tool for studying Sherman. "It's a very unique cemetery," said Ben Uselton, superintendent at West Hill, "because it's so big, and because it's a big-stone cemetery." Modern cemeteries may be large, he said, but very few allow the size of stones found at West Hill, which adds history and individuality to the gravesites. Uselton said the concern is pragmatic - landscaping is expensive, and costs are lessened when the stones are smaller and easier to maneuver machinery around. "New cemeteries want them (the stones) flush with the ground, so they can run over them with a lawnmower," he said. Most big-stone cemeteries are small, and church-operated, unlike West Hill, which is operated by the City of Sherman. The only other cemetery operated by the city is a small site, of approximately one dozen graves - most prior to 1860, located behind a park on the 6020 block of S. Austin Street. Uselton said this site, with its stones crumbling with age and vandalism, is as old or older than West Hill. A horticulturist, Uselton has served as sexton - the historical name for graveyard supervisors - for one year, and mainly oversees maintenance. Uselton said an archaic, almost-never-used city ordinance gives him the ability to arrest people in the graveyard for misconduct. The park-like atmosphere of West Hill, which occasionally attracts tourists as well as mourners, is largely due to Uselton's experience and efforts, said city officials. Although the yard is shaded and attractive, for reasons of taste, West Hill rules forbid picnicking. The S. Austin yard, however, has picnic tables for the particularly macabre. The development of the cemetery itself, from its beginning near 1860 to the current time, is not crystal clear, due largely to lost or destroyed records. Uselton said the yard has documentation for 26,000 of its inhabitants, but he said several thousand more graves are on the site - undocumented or in unmarked locations - due to destroyed records and deterioration of markers. Markers during the 1800s were often made of wood. The southernmost region of the graveyard, called the Blacklands because of the dark soil, is literally an area of uncertainty because many of the markers were wooden. Uselton said current burials in the area are occasionally a matter of digging to find out if a grave already inhabits a site. Some records were purposefully unkept because it was not considered necessary during the 1800s and for many succeeding years to document burials of blacks. Several sites in the yard were set aside for different religions, ages or races. One section is predominantly Jewish, another area was designated as a baby cemetery and other regions were designated for blacks, hispanics and other minorities. Many of the areas are from legend, and aren't officially recognized, since the records for some don't exist. Some of the oldest areas in West Hill have unoccupied gravesites on them, and are now sold like others. Two of the oldest areas of the yard, near Lamar St., have 56 unused graves on them, for no apparent reason, Uselton said. The price charged by the city for these sites has increased 2600 percent from $16.67 in 1934 to $435 now. The northeast corner of West Hill, called Memorial Park, was originally a separated graveyard, and was overseen by the Sherman Mausoleum Association, which built the mausoleum in that area for 100,000 1921 dollars. The stonework in the mausoleum was handcrafted, and the windows of the building were made by Tiffany's and bear the signature. Several of the stones in the yard mark the gravesites of Sherman's founders and pioneers - including the small, deteriorating stone over Thomas Jefferson Shannon's grave. Shannon, called "the founder of Sherman," on the State Historical Survey Association's marker beside the grave, settled in Grayson County when it was still a part of Fannin County, and donated the land which is present-day Sherman. Shannon's daughter, Julia, reputedly named the city's streets. Other graves commemorated in the cemetery by the SHSA include one for Olive Ann Oatman Fairchild, who was enslaved by Indians, marked for life, freed, and later settled in Sherman with her husband, one of the city's first bankers. The tornado of 1896, which killed 66 and is the subject of books by Sherman historians, ran through West Hill. Reputedly a mass grave was dug for the victims but no records of that exist. Many of the larger stones, several of which are monuments and mini-mausoleums, were constructed during the 1930s - apparently an era of easier ostentatiousness. West Hill's future hasn't been specifically determined, mainly because the number of available gravesites hasn't been counted. Uselton said West Hill has between 600 and 1,000 gravesites left to use, which may take from six to ten years to fill. Since 1981, the yard has averaged 193 burials per year. While a glance at Sherman geography clearly indicates how restrictive West Hill is to Sherman's development, Uselton said it would be very unlikely that the city would try to move the cemetery, if not because of the history then because of the considerable expense of removing approximately 28,000 graves. "I don't think it will ever be moved," Uselton said. West Hill Cemetery Sherman History Elaine Nall Bay ©2014 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |