The Texas Spirit Quest
is a series of Caches placed by many individuals, near cemeteries and historic sites in hopes of paying respect to the many pioneer ancestors that have ‘walked’ before us.
There are hundreds of cemeteries in the rural communities across Texas. This series will introduce you to many of them. The cache pages will provide a virtual history tour of the cemeteries, tombstones and local lore.
The Humphreys Cemetery was founded in 1855, according to a marker from the Texas Historical Commission, although the first burial here was for an individual who died in 1854. The land was bought by Joseph Humphreys; however, the first three interments were for members of the Jennings family. Besides these two families, many members of the Barrow, Crunk, Deviney, Mauldin, and Petty clans have also been laid to rest here. In addition, tradition holds that there are several slave graves on the site; no names or dates have been recorded for these unfortunates, but the cemetery association installed some markers a few years ago that bear the to-the-point and tragically brief legend of "Slave" at the spot where these graves are believed to lie.
The site is kept up very nicely, and it remains in active use, with burials taking place as recently as 2008. Since the original cache was placed here, a fence has been added, and several crepe myrtles have been planted. A quasi-reliable online source asserts there are 143 interments here, but the cemetery association claims there are roughly 300. Almost all of the headstones are in surprisingly good condition and many bear features of interest. As for the cache, it is tucked away in a tree in which non-hostile ants are bustling about, but nevertheless be a bit cautious when making the retrieval. As always--any refinements to the listed coordinates are welcomed.