Freestone County, Texas
Cemeteries


Gorman Cemetery  (a.k.a. Sam Gorman Cemetery)

African American Cemetery  

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Status: Inactive (since 1943)

Background: Gorman Cemetery began as a slave cemetery.  In the olden times, the 
  members of the Shiloh Baptist Church use to bury their dead in the Sam Gorman 
  Cemetery.  However, often bad weather and muddy roads delayed burials since
  the cemetery was a distance from the church and residents.  Later the
  Shiloh Baptist Church voted about 1940's to move start using a newly 
  donated parcel of land for the cemetery and abandon the older Gorman 
  Cemetery.  Some of the old stones were moved from Gorman Cemetery to 
  the Shiloh Cemetery.

  Over time, many of the families buried here moved nearby across the county 
  line to the town of Oakwood in adjacent Leon County.  
  
Directions: Go east from Fairfield down Highway 84.  Past Red Lake, turn right
onto FM 489.  Located on County Road that goes west from FM 489, at end of
Burleson Lake Dam.

Layout:  Cemetery is in very poor condition with practically no upkeep.  Covers
about 3 acres.  

Number of Graves:  Only 7-8 graves found.  Many were moved to Shiloh.

Oldest Marked Grave: 17 Nov 1918  J. F. Tippen

GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 31.65716, Longitude: -95.95903

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Davis, Earnest                ?-02/17/1932 TX Pvt Res Labor, QMC WWI; *D*; [s/o Mose]

Eddings, Ester       04/02/1902-04/14/1925  w/o Roscoe

Harris, May          01/22/1872-09/06/1942
Harris, Peter        12/23/1883-09/17/1943 *D* (death cert shows buried at Shiloh)

Malone, Willie       02/19/1890-09/08/1926
Manning, Fanny             1839-09/11/1898  age 59

Tippin, Mr. J. Frank 04/05/1882-11/17/1918 *D*; [s/o Joe]

Wade, Adam           06/10/1852-11/12/1921

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KNOWN UNMARKED GRAVES:

Harris, Henry Busch  12/20/1902-10/26/1930 *D*; [s/o Lewis & Virginia Rump]

Wade, Lucindia Collins 06/??/1854-09/23/1929 *D*; [d/o Gelbert & Mary Collins]
Willis, Hattie [Richman]   1861-02/04/1931 *D*; [w/o Harris; d/o Logue & Lou Richman]

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LEGEND FOR CEMETERY LISTINGS:

*O* = Obituary listed elsewhere on this site
*D* = Death Certificate listed elsewhere on this site
*B* = Biography listed elsewhere on this site
*P* = Photo of tombstone on this website
*S* = Social Security death index listed elsewhere on this site  
*C* = Calculated date based on death date - age given in years and months and days.
y = year; mo or m = month; d = day(s); 
h/o = husband of; h1/o = first husband of; h2/o = second husband of
w/o = wife of; w1/o = first wife of; w2/o = second wife of
m = married to
d/o = daughter of; s/o = daughter of
? = unknown birth date or death date (based on position)
x2 marker = single marker for two graves, typically married couples
TX = Texas; Cav = Cavalry
CO = Company; Reg = Regiment; WWI = World War I; WWII = World War II; 
CSA = soldier in the Confederate States of America
f.h. = funeral home marker
h&f = husband & father