Ringo
Cemetery
Ringo Cemetery, bef Jun
1849,"This cemetery is located in the southwest quadrant
of Red River County, Texas. GPS COORDINATES: Datum WGS84: 33
Deg 24.559N, 95 Deg 17.014W. This cemetery is mentioned in RED
RIVER RECOLLECTIONS page 69 after the McCrury Cemetery listing.
It is a small family cemetery on the historic Abraham Ringo land
near McCrury Community and is 1.7 miles west on FM 196 of the
McCrury Cemetery and 1/10 miles south of the road. There is a
Texas Memorial Plaque for this cemetery. There are 7 pieces of
broken granite used to locate the graves and a concrete marker
inscribed 'Family of Peter Ringo'. There are no other names or
dates.
The 1850 Federal Census in RRCo TX has Peter, age 40, of KY and
a farmer living in Household 41 with 6 children. As Peter does
not appear in the 1860, 1870 nor 1880 census he may be interred
here. By 1860 4 of the children are married in RRCo TX and one
is already widowed. Of the 6 original children, only 2 appear
in the 1860 census. This cemetery was surveyed on 24 Nov 1999
by Lawrence and Sue Dale.
CLARKSVILLE TIMES 31 Aug 2000: A special ceremony dedicating
the Texas historical marker for Ringo Ferry and Ringo Cemetery
in southwestern Red River County was conducted Saturday, August
12. Members of Red River Conty Historical Commission Committee
officiated the event with Mary Hausler, chairperson, welcoming
Ringo family descendants and county residents who witnessed the
dedication. The marker is located on FM 196 southwest of Bogata
about 2 miles northeast of the site on the Sulphur River where
the ferry was once operated by the Ringo family. It is situated
650 feet north of the Ringo Cemetery. The cemetery, resting place
for 16 people, was destroyed some time before 1961, but restoration
efforts recently recovered 8 of the grave markers. William K.
Barnard, Ph. D., of Dallas is a descendant of the Peter Ringo
family which established the Ringo Ferry. He gave the introduction,
a brief history of the ferry and cemetery, and performed the
unveiling of the marker. According to Dr. Barnard, Peter Ringo
was the great great great grandson of Philip Jantzen Ringo, one
of the earliest settlers of the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam
(Manhattan Island, New York), which was established in 1626.
Records indicate he was in New Amsterdam as early as 1638. Peter
Ringo was born February 19, 1800, near Mt. Sterling, Montgomery
County, Kentucky. He came to the Republic of Texas from Cooper
County, Missouri, January 15, 1840. With him were his wife, Edy
and children: James, Abraham, Benjamin, Samuel, Robert, Elizabeth,
Elias, Marinda and Amanda. Peter and his family established the
ferry on the Sulphur River in 1840. It was the access point from
Red River County to the first main roadway leading south to Austin,
the new capitol of the Republic of Texas. The ferry operated
for well over 50 years and was replaced by the Ringo Bridge in
about 1900. It was in use until the mid 30's when State Highway
37 was constructed and traversed the Sulphur, connecting Mt.
Vernon to Clarksville. 'For about 100 years the Ringo Ferry,
Ringo Bridge or Ringo Crossing served an important role.' Bernard
said. 'It provided convenient travel, shipping and communication
between Red River County and the interior of the Republic of
Texas and the state of Texas.' The area today is still known
as Ringo Crossing. Peter Ringo established a family cemetery
approximately 2 miles northeast of Ringo Crossing. 'The cemetery
is on a high bluff overlooking the Sulphur River bottoms, currently
under cultivation by Brushy Creek Farms,' the Ringo descendant
reported. Although the cemetery was destroyed, one tombstone
engraved 'Peter Ringo and Family' and the remains of 8 grave
markers were placed under an ancient tree. The location of the
cemetery was located by surface scraping thanks to information
provided by Mr. Pearis Abernathy', Barnard said. 'As a young
man, Mr. Abernathy lived with his parents across the road from
the cemetery. He and his father maintained the cemetery and fenced
it.' Ringo family descendants present were: Mary Barnard, wife
of Dan Barnard of Deport; Ruth and William K. Barnard and his
sister, Patricia Farmer, all of Dallas; Thomas Peters of Cooper;
Lillian Peters, wife of the late Jolly Peters of Cooper and her
daughters, Jenny Peters of Cooper and Lynda Hill of Flower Mound.
As of 20 Jan 2003 there stil is no fence as promised at the dedication
ceremony for the historical marker. While on site we took the
GPS Coordinates. We were at the area again on 23 Jan 2004 and
took pictures of the unrestored site and the historical marker."
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