Freestone County, Texas Cemeteries [Remember that this cemetery is close to Leon County, so search for Leon County death certificates as well.] Old Zion Cemetery ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGS Map: Donie Quadrangle Submitted by James Richardson History: Egbert Benjamin Beall was originally born in Campbell County, Georgia. Egbert Beall's original parcel was from a land grant to those who fought for the Republic of Texas. Egbert Beall formally deeded 5 acres of land to Old Zion Cemetery on Mar 11, 1873 for the purpose of a church, cemetery and a school. The cemetery had actually been established many years earlier. The Zion community was named after the Zion Church located there. Most of Egbert Beall's family is buried here with the exception of Joseph, Mary (Cowart) and Thomas. Some of William Tarpley Radford's family is buried at Old Zion. William Radford married Amanda E.B. Varnell in Perry County, Ala. before eventually moving to Freestone County. William Ervin Martin married Nancy Pender and eventually moves from Dale County, Alabama to Freestone County after 1860.Henry Ward was much later, but a resident of nearby Buffalo in Leon County. Location: about 3.5 miles east of Donie and 6.2 miles west of Buffalo (in Leon County). Directions: From beautiful downtown Donie (Bank, Post Office, and Turner Brothers Feed Store), take Hwy 164 east 3.6 miles toward Buffalo. Turn right on County Road 784. Off of the right side of Highway 164 about 200 yards you will see a little hill covered with cedar trees. The wooded hill will be noticable since the surrounding land is flat grassland for cattle. There is a gate to the cemetery and a couple of signs. One says Northwestern Resources and a warning sign. The gate will be locked. Ignore the signs. We have permission to go to the cemetery. James Richardson has keys to the gate and he will also leave a key at Turner Brothers Feed Store. We are keeping the gate locked to prevent vandals from destroying the cemetery. There is evidence of 127 graves but only the following have headstones. [Mr. Richardson's source seems very old. Not listed are any of the more modern graves (seems to be before 1978). Mr. Richardson's source apparently only listed the years. The dates were taken from the History of Freestone Co., TX Vol II since the Mr. Richardson only provided the years.] Oldest Marked Grave: Asero Pate 5/9/1839 if Vol II correct. GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 31.4690637 - Longitude: -96.1638562 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last Name First Name Birth Date Death Date Comments ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - A. 1879 Baker, Madge 08/03/1910-09/03/1919 [Banks, Minnieola 03/15/1900-02/27/1988] Beall, Baby 1871- 1871 d/o Egbert & Martha Beall, Baby 1874- 1874 d/o Egbert & Martha Beall, Baby 1856- 1856 s/o Egbert & Martha Beall, Baby 1854- 1854 s/o Egbert & Martha Beall, Benjamin M. 1867- 1870 s/o Egbert & Martha Beall, Egbert B[enjamin] 09/04/1830-04/17/1901 h/o Martha Beall, James E. 1863- 1872 s/o Egbert & Martha Beall, Martha L[inna Kolb] 02/27/1835-03/03/1912 w/o Egbert Beall, Robert A. 1870- 1872 s/o Egbert & Martha Beall, Sarah M. 1860- 1872 d/o Egbert & Martha Beall, William B[utt] 1852- 1873 s/o Egbert & Martha [Eatmon, Curtis 02/26/1919-12/20/1985 ] [Gabriel, Rodney Allen 07/26/1978-07/26/1978] Hall, James 05/09/1811-11/20/1870 [Haynes, Ella Ruth 09/01/1915-04/24/1984] Johnston, Burtie 08/13/1884-07/10/1889 Johnston, David H. 08/30/1869-05/02/1878 Johnston, Franklin 12/18/1886-04/15/1887 [Jones, Leola McIlveen 04/22/1896-09/23/1978] Martin, Infant 04/06/1888-04/06/1888 Martin, M[arione] M. 03/02/1847-03/07/1885 Martin, Nancy [C. Pender] 09/22/1819-12/31/1877 w/o Wm. E. Martin, Robert T. Y. 11/03/1850-05/07/1888 Martin, W[illiam] E[rvin] 12/02/1818-09/30/1878 h/o Nancy Martin, W. T. J. 08/27/1891-01/27/1892 [Mims, Lillian 11/19/1910-08/06/1986] Newman, Mary A. no dates Newman, Sam no dates [Pate, Asero 08/10/1833-05/09/1839] Pait, (Pate?) Shaw 1828- 1900 Pate, Cisero 1881- 1889 Pate, Emma 1882- 1888 Pate, John 07/16/1878 Pate, Lucy 03/01/1849-05/20/1941 Pate, Rildy 1887 Pate, W.M. (Rev) 12/30/1884-03/17/1932 Patterson, John 1795-10/16/1873 h/o Mahalia Cowart Pippin, Luther 05/02/1869-08/29/1887 Radford, Amanda E. [B. Varnell] 04/30/1825-09/09/1881 w/o Wm. T. Radford, Elbert W[ade] 10/21/1845-11/04/1872 s/o Wm. T. & Amanda Radford, George W. 01/30/1847-10/15/1871 s/o Wm. T. & Amanda Radford, Morgana A. 02/18/1873-08/16/1874 [d/o Ebeniezer & Bethay] Radford, W[illiam] T[arpley] 12/04/1851-08/05/1877 h/o Amanada [Ransom, Clarina 04/08/1910-02/27/1988] [Ransom, Dock 02/20/1907-01/25/1988] Shirey, Mattie N. 01/06/1895-11/09/1899 [Taylor, Wilmer 03/15/1917-01/02/1989 ] Vann, Infant 09/24/1897-09/24/1897 Vann, Susan (Mrs) 1880-[03/12/]1963 w/o John Ward, Ella [Bollinger] 05/15/1860-04/12/1905 w/o Henry Ward, Henry 06/09/1853-01/23/1918 h/o Ella Ward, Marguerite 1917- 1918 Ward, Nuel (Baby) 09/14/1916-09/26/1916 [Washington, Inez 02/03/1925-04/30/1984]