Home     County Contacts     Contact Me     Site Map

Pauper Cemetery, Lamar County, Texas

LOCATION:	Pauper Cemetery was located in the northeast quadrant of Paris at the 1700 block of E. Price St. It is in Block 189 in the city of Paris of the Lamar County Road Map produced by American Drafting and Services revised December 1993.
DIRECTIONS:	From Lamar Ave., turn north on 16th St NE. Proceed to E. Price St. and turn east (right). Where the line of headstones stops (Oddfellows Cemetery) is the western line of the pauper cemetery. The blue sign for the Jewish Cemetery is on the northern edge of the cemetery.
GPS COORDINATES:	33° 39' 45.8611" N, 95° 32' 14.8297" W (33.662739189 Latitude and -95.537452698 Longitude)
OLDEST KNOWN BURIAL:	The oldest inscribed grave is not known.
NUMBER OF GRAVES:	Not known - however, from the dowsing, there are probably only 25-30 graves here - all unmarked. (July 2017)
SIGNS/MARKERS:	There is not a sign for the cemetery.
LAST ENUMERATION:	Cemetery was last visited by Betsy Mills and Fay Elder on 8 Oct 2013.
ADD'L INFORMATION:	Not much information is known about the cemetery. From THE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF NORTHEAST TEXAS NEWSLETTER #2, dated 14 Aug 1981, p. 3, an article titled 'Silent Cities' by Elizabeth Booth: 'When the Odd Fellows saw the need for land to be used as a cemetery the association bought, on June 1, 1871, a square of four lots from the Evergreen Cemetery Association. Realizing the space would soon be used, the lodge, in 1873, bought from K. L. Tudor, 1 1/2 acres plus 110 1/2 poles of ground. Later the city of Paris acquired a small piece of ground adjoining those of the Odd Fellows which was used for the burial of paupers.' THE PARIS NEWS, Monday, 22 Aug 1938, p. 4: "BACKWARD GLANCES By A. W. Neville. CITY BOUGHT FIVE-ACRE BURIAL PLOT - Cemetery Near Pine Bluff Street Was Causing Complaint So Its Use Was Abandoned - Good many years ago the city had a plot of ground east of the Odd Fellows cemetery, in which person whose burial had to be paid for by the city were laid to rest. There was no attempt made to keep it in any condition other than that provided by nature--grass and weeds and undergrowth were rank and graves were dug haphazard with no regard to regularity in spacing or conserving of room for future burials. In April 1895, E. P. Scott better known as (Red) because of his flaming hair, a lawyer, addressed the city council and asked that two practices be stopped- that persons for whose burial the county was liable were being buried in the comparatively small plot, and that some burials were being made in graves so shallow that it created a nuisance. Scott's home was east of this burial ground. At a later meeting the city marshal was instructed to notify the county that no burials were to be made in that place except those ordered by the city. I do not know where county burials were made previous to that time, but the county had been having to bury paupers ever since its organization as a county. Apparently the alderman, or some of them, concluded the burying ground was about filled and was too near some private property to continue its use. A report was made to the city council in September, 1895, that an option had been secured on 11 acres of land northeast of Paris, about two miles from the public square, for $20 an acre and that Lamar county had agreed to take six acres of the tract at that price if the city would take the balance. The council decided to do this though by a narrow margin, the vote being 4 to 3. At this same meeting there was presented to the council a petition from a number of residents, asking that no more burials be permitted in what was known as the Old Grave Yard on North Robinson (Sixteenth) street. This was read and the record says, 'received and filed.' October 28 the council ordered a warrant drawn in favor of P. M. Chisum for $100 to pay for the city's five acres, and from that time it was used as a burying place for persons who had no none to provide for them. I presume the county also paid its part for the remaining six acres. The burials in Old Grave Yard were not prohibited, because many pioneers are buried there and occasionally one of their descendants passes and the family wishes the body to be laid near the older members of the clan. So burials are still made here though they are infrequent, and the place is tended and kept slightly by the city's park department." THE PARIS NEWS, 3 Jun 1954: “Backward Glances, by A. W. Neville -- Shallow Graves Caused Protest- Many years ago the city had to bury persons who were classed as paupers, having no relatives to do that final service. East of the Odd Fellows Cemetery the city owned a small piece of ground that was used for that purpose. It had no care and was covered by grass, weeds and underbrush. In 1895 a citizen living east of this ground told the council that the county was burying paupers there, that the graves were so shallow as to be a threat to sanitation, and he asked that burials there be discontinued. Later that year a committee reported that 11 acres about two miles northeast of the public square could be bought from P. M. Chisum for $20 an acre, and that the county would pay for six acres if the city would pay for the other five acres, the ground to be used for pauper burials. The council decided to buy, but by a close vote, 4 to 3, one alderman being absent. The council at this same session had a petition signed by a number, of citizens, asking that future burials in the old cemetery on the hill in northwest Paris be prohibited, and the petition was 'received and filed,' meaning that no action was taken and that it was pigeonholed. The council did not forbid burials there because occasionally a descendant of some oldtimer buried there died and the family wished the body to be laid beside those buried there in other years. The Old Cemetery, which had been given by George Wright to the city for a burial ground before Evergreen Cemetery was established, was at that time almost in the condition of the pauper burial ground. Some years later, while Ed McCuistion was mayor, the graveyard was made a part of the parks system, was cleared of undergrowth and has since [1954] been kept in fairly decent condition." On October 8, 2013, Faye Elder came and dowsed the pauper cemetery. She found that most of the graves are up near the Odd Fellow Cemetery. There was a gap in the middle and Faye said that might mean there used to be a tree there and they buried the graves around it. There were gaps between the graves and she said that may have happened if they were being dug close together in time - they would have to move further apart to keep them from caving in so they would skip a space. From about the big dead tree to the east there didn't appear to be any more graves.
PICTURE(S):	No Photograph of the Cemetery Is Available

Search for names in this and other cemeteries.
Return to the map page.
Return to the list of cemeteries.
Return to the main Lamar County, TX page.