Established 1891
Burial site for 12 Civil War Veterans and Crosby County's first settlers, Henry and Elizabeth Smith.
Irony of fate played a part in the Emma burying ground. Levi Jones, son of Mrs. Katie Jones who ran the Jones Hotel, said to Jeff Spikes and others standing by, "We have everything now but a cemetery. I guess we are going to have to kill off some old codger and start one since the county is so healthy no one is going to die." Levi was young so he knew he was not the "Old Codger".
It was summer time, wild red plums and purple grapes in the breaks were plentiful. Levi's mother needed the fruit to make jellies and jams for her hotel guests. Levi took his gun, a two-horse wagon and headed for the breaks for a jog of wood and the wanted fruit. In some way when he lifted his gun from the wagon, it went off and shot him in the heart, killing him instantly. So the Emma graveyard had its first occupant and he was shot just as Levi had said it would have to be done. (Information from the book Gone, but not forgotten and Through the Years, a History of Crosby County by Spikes and Ellis.)
This cemetery surveyed by Boy Scout Troops Post 333, 1963
Cemetery surveyed and mapped by Marcia Lockwood 1989; Map to scale located at Ralls Historical Museum
Cemetery photographed by Linda Hughes June, 2000This is a map showing the burial locations of the Old Emma Cemetery reading each row from North to South and beginning on the West side as row 1. (The entrance is on the Southeast corner.)
Map for location purposes only
If you know where the graves listed below are located or the names of the unknowns above, please contact me
Locations unknown:
Dalton, Infant daughter of J.W. and S.E. Dalton 8/15/1891-12/13/1891
Hubert, John 2/13/1920-2/19/1920
Whited, Child 1931 age 1 year
Crosby County TXGenWeb Project
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