A Texas Historical Marker granted to the Whitaker Memorial Cemetery

A Texas historical marker has been granted for the Whitaker Memorial Cemetery located 3.3 miles south from Kildare on County Road 248. The dedication has been set for 10 a.m. on August 3, 1996. Whitaker will be the first Black cemetery in Cass County to receive an official Texas historical marker.

Mrs. Belzora Brown Cheatham of Chicago, Illinois spearheaded the project of doing the necessary research to prove eligibility and to raise the necessary funds. She wrote, “On February 28, 1840 a group of settlers and their slaves left South Carolina for a place called Texas. I have traced some of the slaves to Whitaker Memorial Cemetery. This means they came before Texas was admitted to the union.”

In doing her research, she learned a number of interesting stories. On October 15, 1868, seven men were killed in an outrage on the Whitaker plantation. She found this information in a report filed by Ben F. Whitaker with the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. However, this report did not name the men. Since these men and other freedmen still worked on the Whitaker plantation, it is believed they are buried in the Whitaker Cemetery.

Back in the early 1900s, there was a cyclone or heavy windstorm in the Lodi area. Eight members of the Suggs family were killed. They are buried in the Whitaker Cemetery in unmarked graves.

Mrs. Cheatham tells of beginning her research at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana where she found information on Cass County in CCGS Quarterlies, “Cass County Cemeteries,” by CCGS, and other publications. I am glad to know that Cass County was so well represented in an Indiana library.

Much work has been done to identify the many unmarked graves and establish dates of birth and death, with a good deal of success. Of the 134 unidentified graves, seven are believed to be the unidentified males killed in 1868, and eight are the Suggs family killed in the storm.

Many other names have been furnished without knowing the exact location of the grave. Some 85 family names are represented in those buried in the Whitaker Cemetery. The earliest marked grave is that of Ezekiel Ross who died in 1887. However, there must have been many graves there long before that date.

The Whitaker plantation was owned by Willis Whitaker from South Carolina. He owned properties in both Bowie and Cass Counties. “The First Settlers of Bowie and Cass Counties, Texas,” by Gifford White, gives “Clerk’s Reports of the Board of Land Commissioners for Bowie County.” These reports state that Willis Whitaker migrated to Texas from South Carolina, arriving in May 1840. He was issued a Pre-emption Certificate for 640 acres of land in Bowie County on November 1, 1841.

In 1844, he married Mrs. Elizabeth Rosborough from South Carolina. He is listed on the Cass County tax rolls in 1846, and in 1853 he filed application for guardianship of his stepchildren, James Thomas and Mary Ann Rosborough, to handle an inheritance matter.

Willis Whitaker was one of the founders of the Baptist Church of Christ at Mount Zion. He, his wife Elizabeth, and a slave named Immanuel were charter members. Records show that Willis Whitaker served as a private in the County Patrols in 1861.

The 1860 Cass County census lists Willis Whitaker, farmer, age 61; his wife Elizabeth, 46; a son Willis, 26; a stepdaughter Mary Ann Rosborough, 20; a son J. D., 18; a son Benjamin E, 14; a daughter Nancy, 11; a son William L., 9; and a son H. M., age 8.

After the death of Willis Whitaker, his estate was divided. The 700 acre home place was deeded to Benjamin E Whitaker in 1877 as his share of the estate.

WHITTAKER MEMORIAL CEMETERY THIS AFRICAN AMERICAN CEMETERY HAS ONCE PART OF A LARGE PLANTATION OWNED BY SOUTH CAROLINA NATIVE WILLIS WHITAKER{WHITTAKER}, WHO CAME TO TEXAS’ IN 1840 WITH HIS FAMILY AND MORE THAN 50 SLAVES WHITAKER HAD ACQUIRED NEARLY 3000 ACRES BY 1850: A SIX-ACRE TRACT OF LAND WAS GIVEN AS A CEMETERY FOR THE SLAVES OF THE PLANTATION. THOSE BURIED HERE WERE SLAVES, FREED AFRICAN AMERICANS, AND THEIR DESCENDANTS, THE EARLIEST GRAVES MAY BE THOSE OF SEVEN FREEDMEN KILLED ON THE PLANTATION IN 1868 AN EPIDEMIC OF MALARIA IN 1896 CLAIMED MANY LIVES, AS DID THE DISEASES OF SMALL-POX AND TUBERCULOSIS. IT IS BELIEVED THAT SOME OF THESE VICTIMS WERE TRANSPORTED TO THE CEMETERY FOR MASS BURIAL. NATURAL DISASTERS ALSO TOOK THEIR TOLL: EIGHT MEMBERS OF ONE FAMILY WERE KILLED IN A WIND STORM IN 1900.

MANY PEOPLE WERE BURIED IN UNMARKED GRAVES, WHILE OTHERS RECEIVED MAKESHIFT MARKERS AND ROCKS AS TOMBSTONES FAMILY MEMBERS PLACED NEW HEADSTONES TO REPLACE SOME BROKEN OR ILLEGIBLE MARKERS. DOCUMENTED BURIALS NUMBER MORE THAN 350, INCLUDING EDUCATORS, BUSINESSMEN, AND VETERANS. THIS CEMETERY IS STILL IN USE BY CITIZENS OF THE AREA, AS WELL AS MANY FORMER RESIDENTS WHO ARE RETURNED HERE TO BE BURIED. {1996}

A SPECIAL NOTE TO ALL OF OUR READERS If you are having trouble with your Genealogy or just want to know who your Great Grandfather was and what he did The Cass County Genealogical Society might be able to answer your questions.

Or if you have an interesting or humors tale about your family, or a little-known tidbit about our local history that you would like to see recorded for posterity, please contact us at:

C. C. G. S. P. O. Box 880 Atlanta, Texas 75551, E-mail us at evanjevans@yahoo.com , Call us at (903) 796-3081, Or just visit us in the Genealogy and History Section on the Second Floor of the Atlanta Public Library.