WILLOW OAK CEMETERY HISTORY
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WILLOW OAK CEMETERY
A NARRATIVE HISTORY
The Willow Oak Cemetery and Church is located on Poinsettia Road in Upshur County north of Gilmer in the Isaac Hix Survey of the northeastern part of Upshur and southeastern part of Camp Counties.
Isaac Hix was born in Tennessee. Exactly when he came to Texas hasn't yet been determined. Whether or not he rendered service to the Texian cause during the Texas Revolution has also not been determined. Hix married a Tennessee woman named Candace Midkiff who had been the second wife of Peter Ellis Bean. Hix is believed to have been the Hix who later abandoned Candace in order to escape prosecution for horse thievery.
Hix applied for and was awarded a land grant or head right of a league and a labor by the governor in what would become Upshur County. That land grant was recorded in the Texas General Land Office as Abstract 203, Harrison District, Class 1, File 35. Historians will recall that prior to the organization of Upshur County on April 27, 1846, it was a part of Harrison and Nacogdoches Counties. Hix applied for and received a patent (# 768, Vol. 6, Cert. 625) to his land in Upshur County on December 19, 1848 (Book B, p. 157) for 4,605 acres plus an additional 794 acres in the "new" Upshur County. The grant was filed for record on April 11, 1849.
During the period of the Republic of Texas, land grants were classified as Class 1, 2, 2(M(unofficial)), 3 and 4. That Hix was awarded a league and a labor as a Class 1 grant indicates that he was already in Texas before March 2, 1836 with family (families in Texas prior to this date eligible for 1 league + 1 labor.) A Class 1 land grant carried "Unconditional Privileges" which meant that the grantee was free to do with the land whatever he wanted and was not required to establish residency in Texas.
W. M. Smith and wife Eliza(beth) bought land where the Willow Oak site is located in the Hix Survey. In 1878, Smith and his wife would sell 130 acres of land to Isaac Timms Pilgrim. Included in that transaction in the Deed of Sale would be a "set-aside" of two acres for use in perpetuity for the cemetery and church.
?Deed of Sale from W.M. Smith and wife, Eliza P. Smith to Isaac T. Pilgrim?, dated 12 January 1878; reg. 27 March 1880, Upshur County, Texas, Deed Bk. 8, pp. 445, Upshur County Courthouse, Gilmer, Upshur County, Texas.
The deed reads as follows (transcribed as written):
W. M. Smith and Wife To Deed Isaac T. Pilgrim
State of Texas}
Upshur County}
Know all men by these presents that we, W. M. Smith and my wife Eliza P. Smith
of Upshur County and state aforesaid, for and in consideration of Six Hundred
Dollars lawful money of the United States to us in hand paid by Isaac T. Pilgrim
of Upshur County, the receipt of is hereby acknowledged, have this day bargained,
Sold, alienated and by these presents convey unto the said Isaac T. Pilgrim,
his heirs, assigns and executors forever all the following parcel or tract
of land lying and being situate in Upshur County and State of Texas it being
a part of the Isaac Hicks Survey bounded as follows: Beginning at J.
C. Mobleys South West Corner, Thence West Six Hundred and thirty three yds.
to a Stake on the EAst line of Tabitha Metcaffs survey from which a black
Jack bears N. 81 degrees E. 81/100 yds. another bears S. 41 degrees E. 4/15
yds. Thence N. with said line to R. J. Davis S. W. corner, Thence E. with
said S. line Six hundred and thirty three yds. to the said Mobley?s N. W.
Corner, Thence South with Mobleys Survey to the place of beginning containing
one hundred and thirty acres (less two acres described as follows: Beginning
at the S. W. corner of the above described tract, Thence North 98 14/47 yds.,
Thence East 98 14/47 yds., Thence South 98 14/47 yds., Thence West 98 14/47
yds. to the place of beginning for the use and benefit of Willow Oak Baptist
Church.) to have and hold the said lands unto the said Isaac T. Pilgrim, his
heirs & assigns forever, the following described lands we warrant and
defend the same against the lawful claims of all persons whomsoever and warrant
the title to be free and unincumbered. In testimony of which we set our hands
and seal (using scrawl for Seal) on this the 12th day of January A. D.1878.
W. M. Smith (Seal) E. P. Smith (Seal)
State of Texas}
Upshur County}
Before the undersigned authority a Notary Public for Upshur County, appeared
W. M. Smith of Upshur County, to me well known and acknowledged he signed
the above deed of conveyance for and in consideration of the amount therein
specified; and also his wife, Eliza P. Smith we after being examined privily
by me and having the foregoing deed fully explained to her States She signed
the same of her own accord and does not wish to retract the same.
(L.S.) Given under my hand and official seal this 12th Jany 1878
W. B. Bailey Notary Public.
Isaac Timms Pilgrim came to Texas in a wagon train from Rome, Georgia with his wife, Hannah Berry Davis, and their 3 children. Other families that came with the wagon train included the Davis, Brison, Hudgins, Goodring, Bates, Dean, Lindsey, Bishop and Elrod families. Isaac was a veteran of the Civil War, having served from June 1861 to April 1865. The wagon train arrived at the present day location of Pleasant Grove Cemetery in November or December of 1870.
On January 12, 1878 a Deed of Sale was executed between W. M. Smith and Isaac Timms Pilgrim. This deed was registered in the Upshur County Deed Book 8, pp. 45 at the Upshur County Courthouse in Gilmer on March 27, 1880. It should be noted that Hix's name in the body of the deed is given as Isaac Hicks.
The language in the Deed included the "set-aside" of the two acres which comprise the Willow Oak site to which Isaac agreed. It has been postulated that Isaac was the person who donated the land at the Willow Oak site but that is apparently not the case. He merely agreed to what was already in existence.
The site of the present Willow Oak Cemetery was already being used as a burial location prior to Isaac buying his land. The oldest part of the cemetery is in the southeast corner. There are probably a number of unmarked burial sites located there. And there are burial sites within the cemetery of persons unknown whose graves are marked only with a stone, piece of iron ore or a handmade sandstone marker. Some graves are marked with obelisks, i.e., Mason, Woodmen of the World, etc. Willow Oak Baptist Church was formed in 1870 and has been rebuilt twice, in 1898 and 1945. So the church was in already in use before Isaac Pilgrim came to Texas.
The earliest marked grave site appears to be that of Martha E. J. Ennis, daughter of G. W. Ennis and M. F. (?), who died on December 1, 1877. Second oldest marked grave is that of Carry Goodwin, son of J. L. Goodwin and E. A. (?), who died on February 13, 1878. Third oldest marked grave is that of Joseph Chandler "J. C." Dean who died May 14, 1879. J. C. Dean was the husband of Francis Elizabeth Powell, daughter of Benjamin James Lucas Powell and Elizabeth Anna Adams. The Powells came to Texas from Alabama and settled at Simpsonville. The Powells were charter members of the Willow Oak Baptist Church.
On September 2, 1878, Hannah Pilgrim passed away, just 8 months after Isaac bought his land at Willow Oak, leaving him a widower with three children. On March 6, 1879 he married Sarah Emmaline Powell, daughter to Benjamin James Lucas Powell and sister of Francis Elizabeth Powell Dean, widow of J. C. Dean. Isaac erected a home where the north gate of the present day cemetery is located, across the road from the church, although it isn't known if the home was built before Hannah died or after he married Sarah.
Isaac and his son-in-law, Thomas Jefferson "T. J." Sworfford, built and operated a cotton gin beside what is now Palmetto Road just south of the Willow Oak Baptist Church. The gin and the entire ginned crop for that year was destroyed by fire in 1892. Apparently the loss of the gin sent T. J. and his family packing. He loaded them up his and moved to Duncan, Arizona.
It is believed that after the gin was destroyed, Isaac sold the land at Willow Oak and bought 48 acres in the M. Cartwright Survey south of Pine in Camp County where he lived and farmed until his death in 1907. He is also said to have been a Deputy Sheriff of Camp County but proof of that remains to be found.
Today, Willow Oak is a quiet and peaceful place. It is well cared for with little damage evident except for the passage of time.
A project is currently underway to have Willow Oak designated as a historical cemetery by the Texas State Historical Society. Any additional information regarding Willow Oak would be appreciated.
Compiled by: Billy
King Pilgrim
Houston, Texas
References:
Texas General Land Grant Office, Archives and Records, Land Grant Collection, (Austin, Texas).
Artemesia Lucille Brison Spencer, "The Camp County Story II, Wagon Train From Rome, Georgia", (Branch-Smith, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas 1981) p. 40.
The Upshur County Sesquicentennial Committee, "Upshur County,
Texas, A Sesquicentennial History, The Pilgrim Family", (Taylor Publishing
Company,
Dallas, Texas 1996) p. 265.
The Upshur County Historical Society, "1972 Upshur County Cemetery Survey and Abstract".
"The Handy Book for Genealogists", United States of America, Ninth Edition, (The Everton Publishers, Inc., Logan, Utah 1999).
"Class Designations for Settlers of the Republic (of Texas)", (Lone Star Junction, 1996.
Upshur County, Texas Deed Book 8, pp. 445.
Camp County Genealogical Society, "Camp County Texas Marriages,
1874-1978, Books 1 - 13", (Penobscot Press, 1996)
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