Location: Cottonwood Cemetery, Wise, Texas, United States
Surname/tag: cemeteries, wise county, texas
See the Cottonwood Cemetery category for people buried in this cemetery.
General Information
Cemetery name: Cottonwood Cemetery; (also known as 'Old Cottonwood Cemetery').
Address: County Road 2560, Decatur, TX 76234
GPS Coordinates: 33.378726, -97.556135
Use the following code to add a sticker to your profiles interred in the Cottonwood Cemetery:
- {{Global Cemeteries|sub=Texas|place=[[Space:Cottonwood_Cemetery%2C_Wise_County%2C_Texas|Cottonwood Cemetery, Wise County, Texas]]}}
History
Cottonwood Cemetery is located north of Decatur, Texas. To get there, go north from Decatur on FM Road 730 and turn right on County Road 2461. Then turn left on County Road 2560. You will see the cemetery on the right side of the road, with an unlocked chain keeping the gate secure. Cottonwood Cemetery dates back as far as the 1870's based on readable headstones, but may be older. There are several unmarked and/or illegible stones there.
It is supposed that Cottonwood cemetery used to be adjacent to Cottonwood Union Church, which was destroyed during the cyclone of 1909. More research still needs to be done on the history of both the church and cemetery to confirm if they were next to each other or not.
The oldest legible headstone is that of William M. Atkerson, son of N.B. & E. Atkerson, aged 7 months old. The most recent burial was in 2022.
Cottonwood Church & School House
Cottonwood church began as a group of community members who met at the Cottonwood schoolhouse for worship and to listen to various preachers. The appear to have met primitively to at the Cottonwood school house from the summer of 1886, before beginning to plan a building of their own in 1891.
- "...it is expected that Jas. Calloway will begin a protracted meeting at the cottonwood school house tomorrow." (Wise County Messenger, June 26 1886)
- "Eld. Matthews has just closed a successful meeting at Cottonwood school-house north of Decatur." (Wise County Messenger, October 16, 1886.)
- "Eld. Harris, a Christian preacher, gave a series of sermons at Cottonwood school house last week. (Wise County Messenger, August 11, 1888.)
- "N.B. Atkerson of Brumlow country dropped in to see us on Wednesday. He says that Eld. E.H. Rogers is conducting an interesting Christian meeting at the Cottonwood school house which has been attended with great interest and good order. (Wise County Messenger, August 3, 1889.)
- "The Rev. Mr. Rogers, of the Christian church, is holding a successful meeting at Cottonwood. He is an able minister of the Gospel." (Wise County Messenger, August 10 1889.)
- "Jas. R. Calloway preaches at Cottonwood tomorrow at 11 o'clock." (Wise County Messenger, October 5, 1889.)
- "The Baptist members contemplate building a house of worship at Cottonwood." (Wise County Messenger, October 17, 1891.
Several years passed, though, until a building committee was established.
- "It is about a settled fact that a new church house will be built at Cottonwood. A building committee has been elected." (Wise County Messenger, November 22, 1901.)
By the turn of the century, they appeared to have an official building, a steady pastor with sporadic guest speakers, and they began conducting funeral services and holding weddings.
- "Rev. McConnell, pastor of the Christian Church of Cottonwood, preached last night, today, and tonight" (Wise County Messenger, November 6, 1903)
- "Mr. Henry Griffith and Miss Hester were married last Sunday at the Cottonwood Church by Elder Whitaker." (Wise County Messenger, August 5, 1904.)
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