Quail Cemetery

photo by Darrell Colson

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The land for the Quail Cemetery was donated to the community by J.E. Blevins after his infant son was buried there on September 4, 1904. It is situated one mile north of the intersection of Texas Highway 203 and FM 1547. It is in Section 51, Block 21. The record of the burials was kept for twenty or thirty years by A.W. ?Squire? Atkinson, an early day resident. When Mr. Atkinson moved away, the cemetery book was kept by Mr. Carroll Blevins, son of the donor of the land. Mr. Blevins was killed in a car wreck in 1974, the task of recording burials was assumed by Mr. Delbert White. On May 16th, 1977, a tornado destroyed Quail school and badly damaged the Quail Cemetery. All metal markers but two, and a lot of the rock and home-fixed cement markers were removed. All trees were so badly damaged they had to be removed. A Caterpillar was loaned from Guy Brandvik to help with the clean-up. Wallace Monument from Clarendon donated machinery and labor to put back large headstones. People from Samnorwood and a lot of places came to help clean up. Financial donations from local people and from several states helped put the cemetery back together. It has been a time consuming job trying to relocate where people were buried, but thanks to Juanita Langley, Jo Carson, Pam Neeley, Paula Carson, Olene Jett, Avyrilla and Delbert White, Bill and Anne Long and their grandaughters Leslie and Tori Belew, a lot has been accomplished. A Texas Sequecentenial historial marker is located in the front center section and gives the following information: Among the earliest settlers of this area were J.E. and Mary Blevins and their children. Arriving in 1902, they were soon involved in the organization of a community school, post office, and church. J.E. and Mary Jane Blevins donated land for each of those endeavors, as well as for a community cemetery. The Quail cemetery was created in 1904, shortly after the death of the Blevins? infant son. The grieving parents donated land for a cemetery and their son was the first to be buried here. There was no fence around the burial ground. Townspeople chose grave sites in which to bury members of their families. Though most graves are marked, some have plain stones, and the cemetery does contain some unmarked graves. Many of the burials are those of infants and children, a testament to the hardships of life and rudimentary medical care in early Collingsworth county. Area pioneers buried in the Quail cemetery include: J.E. Blevins (1860-1956); Mary Jane Blevins (1868-1926); Lydia Rose Atkinson (d. 1908); W.M. Barton (d. 1912); Dr. Thomas C. Atkinson (d. 1920); Dr. E.J. Beck (d. 1932); Lee Jeffres (1932); W.I. Atkinson (d. 1940); J.A. White (d. 1915).