Black Cemeteries & Their History

The information on the burials in these Cemeteries have come from Death Records that are located in the Panola Co. Courthouse and from the records of the local Funeral Homes by Barbara A. Bonner. As more information is obtained, it will be added.

As family members died, they were laid out on a cooling board (flat piece of wood), in a separate room of their home. Family members and friends would gather (the wake) to pay their last respects.

The deceased would be laid on the cooling board for 12 or 16 hours, depending on the time of day he/she died. In the meantime a family member was busy making a pine box (coffin). If the family member died before daybreak, he/she could be buried late that evening. If the family member died late in the day, he/she would lie on the cooling board until the next day. The ceremony began by placing the pine box (coffin) in the back of a wagon, and family members and friends would walk behind the wagon to the nearby burying place. Sometimes this took place in a wooded area near the home of the deceased.

At times, there were markers made with the departed's name, and dates of birth and death scratched on it, or a cross (two sticks crossed and tied with rope or vine). During this time, lucky for us, some deaths were recorded in Family Bibles.

After 1903, rural communities still relied on the cooling board, and still did not record the death in the nearby county records office.

Milton Williams of Marshall, Texas, and Hawthorne of Carthage, Texas, were responsible for directing funerals for most of the rural Panola County area (African Americans) when death certificates were first recorded at the county courthouse.

On September 1, 1948, Gettis Black became a funeral director with Lewis, Coss, and Black's Funeral Home. On September 1, 1958, Gettis Black became owner and director of Black's Funeral.