Freestone County Cemeteries Tyus/Pine Bluff Cemetery by Eric Bonner Wood ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGS Map: Yard Quadrangle Status: Inactive since 1935 (Texanna Tyus). Background: The Tyus cemetery is the burial spot of Robert Malone Tyus, Sr and his descendants. The nearby spot on the river where the house stood is known as Tyus Bluff. I highly recommend reading History of Freestone Vol II, #886 and #889. The cemetery has also been suggested by many as a burial ground for the settlements of Troy, Pine Bluff and Boardpile. Layout: Cemetery enclosure is almost a square enclosing about 4,225 square feet or approx 1/10 an acre. North fence aligned N80 degree E. Enclosed by old style metal graveyard fence with metal posts was erected about 1930. Non Tyus folks buried there outside the fence. They lived out of the woods there and worked in the saw mills and on the river. Location: NE of Fairfield about 1/2 mile from the Trinity River on Texas Department of Corrections land, Coffield unit. Located on Coffield State Prison property. Contact Info: Warden at the Cofield unit: (903) 928-2211 Directions: Go eastward from Fairfield down Highway 84. Turn left onto FM 1364/#163 near Turlington. Go down FM 1364/#163 for 3.3 miles to junction with #109 that goes to the Coffield State Prison. Go to the left fork onto #109 towards the prison for 1.3 miles to gate on east side of road. Go .8 miles from gate on prison property road until a road taking off in a southeasterly direction is reached. Cemetery is .2 mile from junction of these two roads. USGS Topographic Map: Tennessee Colony Quadrangle, Turlington survey Number of Graves: at least 42 graves (only 19 listed in H of FC Vol II) Oldest Marked Grave: 21 Sep 1875 R. M. Tyus GPS Coordinates: Latitude: 31.78, Longitude: -95.9794 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Should be here according to H of FC, Vol II, #886: Ivy, Benjamin Adair 1/5/1872-12/05/1915 h/o Willie Ann] Ivy, Willie Ann V[anderburg] 1875-1906 [w/o Ben Adair] [her dates are 07/18/1876-1906 (H of FC, Vol II, #886) They married 07/06/1892 in Freestone County. ] [From Linda Mullen on July 25, 2011: Ivy, infant Ivy, Winfred Ann "Annie" (Self) birth: April 1880 (from 1900 Census) death: 1916 (from family history passed down) w/o Thomas Wooten Ivy m 10 Aug 1898 in Freestone County. "According to older family members from the Self family, Annie Self Ivy is buried at the Tyus Cemetery outside of the fence. They don't know why she was buried on the outside of the fence but her and a baby are supposedly buried there." ] Sheppard, Oscar (no dates) [h/o Elizabeth A.] [Should be here according to H of FC, Vol II, #886: Sheppard, Elizabeth A. abt 1856-? w/o Oscar] Tyus, G. B. ?-1930 Tyus, Texanna [Winkler] 07/17/1866-11/20/1935 [2nd w/o William] Tyus, William T[homas] 02/10/1851-11/02/1917 [h/o Texanna; s/o R.M. & A.C.] Tyus, Nora Bell 02/13/1896-03/28/1896 Tyus, Joseph A[lbert] 07/07/1891-09/11/1894 Tyus, R[obert] M[alone] 03/17/1811-09/21/1875 [fought for Texas Independence. Certificate #19 for 640 acres bounty land issued by the Republic of Texas on May 5, 1838. Settled in Freestone Co., TX in 1847. #104 in 1850 Limestone Co census. Tombstone was erected in 1930.] Tyus, A[manda] C. [Haynie] 02/28/1832-05/27/1904 Tyus, LeeAnn V[andenburg] (no dates) [might be: Lee Ann abt 1858-7/18/1876 who married John Quitman Vanderburg on 7/22/1875 FC. He left two months before a baby born, and Lee Ann died in child birth.] Tyus, Joe (no dates) Tyus, Ben (no dates) Tyus, Bertha (no dates) Tyus, Mollie 01/04/1880-01/09/1883 [Note could be Tyus, Mothey 01/04/1881-01/09/1883 3rd c/o William & M.E.] Tyus, M[ary] E[llen Tolbert] 04/29/1849-04/06/1881 [1 w/o William T.] Tyus, Fanny 07/22/1878-04/22/1888 [1st d/o William and M.E.] Tyus, Lizzie S[heppard] (no dates) Tyus, Sallie (no dates) Tyus, Ellen B[ertha] 12/03/1882-02/04/1883 [Should be here according to H of FC, Vol II, #889: Tyus, William 01/1880-probably 1880 Tyus, Mothey 01/04/1881-01/09/1883 ] [ Winkler, Arnold Birth: Nov 1876 (from 1900 Census) Death: 24 Dec 1905; Blunt, TX (death record on familysearch.org) h/o Melvina Bride (Self) At the Antioch Memorial, Clara Marie Winkler Childs told Paula Snider that her grandfather, Arnold Winkler is buried at the Tyus Cemetery. Her grandmother, Melvina Winkler is buried at Antioch (Melvina asked them to not bury her near that river, so she is at Turlington Antioch). On census records, they spelled his name as Arnal Winkler. Winkler, Infant (c/o Arnold and Melvina (Self) Winkler) Born: 24 Dec 1905 Died: Dec 1905 From Linda Mullen: "Mary (Self) King, granddaughter of William Thomas Self -- a brother of Melvina, states, "A week before Arnold died, she (Melvina) had a baby that did not live. She was 29 at the time and never married again, raised her children alone." Aug. 16, 2001. EBW - Infant's birth certificate says born 24 Dec 1905. ] Numerous others unidentifiable. Most should be Tyus graves according to H of FC, Vol I, pg. 197.