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Johnson Cemetery (aka Old Macedonia Cemetery), Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas - From the Sabine County Court House in Hemphill, Texas go West on State Hwy 184 (Main Street) for ??? miles to Arnold Street?. Turn Right and go ???miles to Closed gate on private property. Continue through gate for ?? miles to cemetery at end of road. ????? Additional information added in parenthesis.
1. Information from "History of Macedonia Baptist Church Cemetery" - ... "According to some of the older residents of the community, Macedonia Cemetery and Macedonia Baptist Church had their origin even earlier than 1885. This means Macedonia Church and Cemetery must have begun shortly after Hemphill came into existence in 1858.
2. According to Whitman Johnson, a lifelong resident of Hemphill, his father, Henry Johnson, born in 1862 told him of what was referred to as "Old Macedonia Church and Cemetery".
3. Old Macedonia is located about one mile north of Hemphill approximately 1/2 mile from the current Hemphill High School. The facility served as the meeting place for both Methodist and Baptist congregations. Whitman Johnson said his father told him that when Macedonia Church moved to it current location, the Methodist congregation continued to use the church until it burned the late 1800's. Records at the Sabine County Courthouse show the Old Macedonia Cemetery and Church was given to the Colored Methodist church by Joel Craig in 1893.
4. During an interview with Blanche Toole, Sabine County Historian, she said that in the mid to late 1800's there was a steam mill and a settlement of black people located in this area. She said this community of blacks disbanded when the mill closed in the early 1900's.
5. Today, Old Macedonia Cemetery has approximately six marked and ninety unmarked graves. The earliest marked grave is that of T. B. Buckley, born in 1862 and died in 1905.
6. The most recent markings indicate that some family members continued to bury their love ones at Old Macedonia Cemetery until the early 1940's."
*GPS Coordinates needed ; First Marked Burial - 1905 ; Last Marked Burial - 1940's
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