History of Hooker Cemetery
Submitted by Jack Hooker
Hooker Cemetery, Rains County
James and Elizabeth Hooker migrated from Tennessee to Missouri to Texas. They arrived, with six children, in Red River County in April of 1840. For two years, they lived on the south edge of Blossom Prairie, near present day Bogota, Texas. By 1842, James had claimed a headright grant for 640 acres located in the extreme nw corner of Nacogdoches County.(1) In 1846 he helped organize Hunt County as one of the five original commissioners, was elected it’s first probate judge and represented the county in the Fourth and Sixth Legislature and the Secession Convention.(2)
The second post office in Hunt County, Hookers, was located in 1850 at James’ mill site. (app. ½ mile sw of Hooker Cemetery on Cowleech Fork of the Sabine River)(3) This site coincides that of a Tawakoni-Yscani Indian village visited by Fray Calaharra in 1760, who was on a mission from Nacogdoches to end Indian hostilities between Spain and northern tribes. Archaeological excavation in1957 found Indian artifacts and trade goods of Spanish, French and English manufacture. Today the site is under the waters of Lake Tawakoni.(4)
In the 1850’s a burial site was established in the southwest
corner of James Hooker’s original land grant. Nathan B. Rabb, a son-in-law
of James Hooker, owned the land by the early 1900’s and deeded 8.4 acres
to the cemetery. The name of the cemetery has always been Hooker Cemetery.
Being located in the Hooker Ridge Community however, local people have referred
to it as Hooker Ridge Cemetery.
The first person buried in Hooker Cemetery was Ann R. Hooker, who died October
3, 1851. She was the first wife of Walker Hooker, brother of James Hooker.(5)
In 1966 the Texas Historical Survey Committee placed a plaque on James Hooker’s
grave honoring him as a “Prominent Hunt County Pioneer”. Early
settlers brought slaves with them and oral history says several are buried
along the west edge of the original part. These probable graves are unmarked.
Hooker Cemetery came into Rains County in 1871 when Rains County was formed from Hunt, Woods and Van Zandt Counties. The coming of the railroads in the 1870’s brought more settlers, who now had a way to ship their cotton to market. The cemetery grew also. Of approximately 1,000 marked graves now existing, some133 are of a date before 1900. Veterans of 6 wars are buried there.(5)
The cemetery consisted of 8.4 acres for many years, but was filling up by the start of the 21st Century. In 2003, Mr. Sherman T. Chapman deeded an adjoining 2.5 acres for future expansion. This acreage has been cleared and incorporated into the cemetery.
Over the years burial at Hooker Cemetery had been free of charge to family and community members. In the 1920’s the Hooker Cemetery Association was formed to provide ongoing care for the cemetery. It was incorporated as a non–profit cemetery in 1974. The association has established burial fees and regulations, administers and maintains the cemetery, and meets annually to elect officers and transact business.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. General Land Office of Texas, Austin; Red River County Certificate #149 to James Hooker, 7 March 1842.
2. JUDGE JAMES HOOKER OF HOOKER RIDGE, Speech given by W. W. Harrison in 1966 at dedication historical grave marker; Copy in Greenville Public Library.
3. History of Greenville and Hunt County, W. W. Harrison, 1976, Texas Press, Austin.
4. The Handbook of Texas Online, Rains County (www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online)
5. Hooker Cemetery Association; grave records.