Birdwell Cemetery
Mount Enterprise, Rusk County, Texas, USA
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31° 53'41.59"N
94°40'36.65"W
A historic marker should be placed a little south of the Southeast intersection of Highway 259 and County Road 3213D. The original Birdwell cemetery was a quarter mile southeast of this point in the woods before the creek.
According to correspondence with family researchers, the general coordinates of the site of the cemetery would be approximately N 31.89513 W 94.67575, and the coordinates of the original site of the Allen Birdwell house would be approximately N 31.89413 W 94.67788.
The Birdwell family cemetery site is located three miles south of Mt. Enterprise, east side of Highway 259.
Driving south, turn east (right) off of Highway 259 onto County Road 3213D to go to the original Leroy Ross house site. Leroy G. Ross (1882-1955) purchased the Birdwell farm in 1904 and moved there with his young wife. The remains of the Ross home are still there at the end of the road, and the old barn south of it. East of the barn, you see woods and ridge lines as the land falls off towards the creek to the south and east. A distance 200 or 300 yards east of the barn would still be on the first ridge, in what is now woods. It is possible that the cemetery was in the clearing before the woods, but could be in the next clearing on the other side of the woods, between the woods and the creek.
Mrs. Bernice Lillian Bartlett Bohannon said: One hundred yards south of the house where Mrs. Ruby Dixon lives (old Ross home) is an old barn, and the cemetery was on a hill two hundred or three hundred yards east of the barn, on the biggest hill around. The original site of the Birdwell house was 50 or 75 yards south of the barn, and the spring was 200 feet west of Wooten Creek. Wooten Creek becomes Bayou Loco as it turns northeast in this area.
The Allen Birdwell plantation consisted of more than 914 acres purchased in 1851 on Wooten Creek in Rusk County.
He purchased a 185-acre tract said to have been in earlier days an Indian Village. A Mexican Land Grant conveyed it to Frost Thorn. Allen Birdwell sold it to his son Henry Birdwell in 1888. It was sold in 1904 to Leroy G. Ross (1882-1955). The ledger or notebook of Col. Allen Birdwell (sometimes called his diary) was found in the old log Birdwell house by L.G. Ross and preserved by him. In 1944, Mrs. Monnye Ross (1881-1967) let Miss Sue B. Mann copy the book. This appears to be the same little book that Mrs. Ross gave Mrs. Bohannon which is described as an Almanac and notebook in which Col. Allen Birdwell had kept cotton records. She is thought to have given it to Jerry Herbert Birdwell Sr. or Jr. when they were researching the Birdwell family history.
Graves here include Republic of Texas pioneer settlers John Birdwell, who came to Houston in 1838, and several sons and daughters, including Col. Allen B. Birdwell, elected county commissioner (c1844) and member of the Texas State Legislature 1853-44, 1863-64. Allen Birdwell and his slaves helped build the railroad from Jacksonville through Nacogdoches to Beaumont.
Jack Bartlett wrote that burials here include two Confederate soldiers, Col. Birdwell's Native American wife Lucinda Ross from Alabama, and at least 16 slaves.
There are 30-plus graves here, possibly more than 40.
The next owner after Leroy Ross (Sr) bulldozed the cemetery in 1968-1969 and threw the markers "in a ditch," which some describe as the creek bed or spring bed. Of the more substantial markers were those of the Mr. and Mrs. March which were either identical or a single square stone carved on two sides.
31° 53'41.59"N
94°40'36.65"W
A historic marker should be placed a little south of the Southeast intersection of Highway 259 and County Road 3213D. The original Birdwell cemetery was a quarter mile southeast of this point in the woods before the creek.
According to correspondence with family researchers, the general coordinates of the site of the cemetery would be approximately N 31.89513 W 94.67575, and the coordinates of the original site of the Allen Birdwell house would be approximately N 31.89413 W 94.67788.
The Birdwell family cemetery site is located three miles south of Mt. Enterprise, east side of Highway 259.
Driving south, turn east (right) off of Highway 259 onto County Road 3213D to go to the original Leroy Ross house site. Leroy G. Ross (1882-1955) purchased the Birdwell farm in 1904 and moved there with his young wife. The remains of the Ross home are still there at the end of the road, and the old barn south of it. East of the barn, you see woods and ridge lines as the land falls off towards the creek to the south and east. A distance 200 or 300 yards east of the barn would still be on the first ridge, in what is now woods. It is possible that the cemetery was in the clearing before the woods, but could be in the next clearing on the other side of the woods, between the woods and the creek.
Mrs. Bernice Lillian Bartlett Bohannon said: One hundred yards south of the house where Mrs. Ruby Dixon lives (old Ross home) is an old barn, and the cemetery was on a hill two hundred or three hundred yards east of the barn, on the biggest hill around. The original site of the Birdwell house was 50 or 75 yards south of the barn, and the spring was 200 feet west of Wooten Creek. Wooten Creek becomes Bayou Loco as it turns northeast in this area.
The Allen Birdwell plantation consisted of more than 914 acres purchased in 1851 on Wooten Creek in Rusk County.
He purchased a 185-acre tract said to have been in earlier days an Indian Village. A Mexican Land Grant conveyed it to Frost Thorn. Allen Birdwell sold it to his son Henry Birdwell in 1888. It was sold in 1904 to Leroy G. Ross (1882-1955). The ledger or notebook of Col. Allen Birdwell (sometimes called his diary) was found in the old log Birdwell house by L.G. Ross and preserved by him. In 1944, Mrs. Monnye Ross (1881-1967) let Miss Sue B. Mann copy the book. This appears to be the same little book that Mrs. Ross gave Mrs. Bohannon which is described as an Almanac and notebook in which Col. Allen Birdwell had kept cotton records. She is thought to have given it to Jerry Herbert Birdwell Sr. or Jr. when they were researching the Birdwell family history.
Graves here include Republic of Texas pioneer settlers John Birdwell, who came to Houston in 1838, and several sons and daughters, including Col. Allen B. Birdwell, elected county commissioner (c1844) and member of the Texas State Legislature 1853-44, 1863-64. Allen Birdwell and his slaves helped build the railroad from Jacksonville through Nacogdoches to Beaumont.
Jack Bartlett wrote that burials here include two Confederate soldiers, Col. Birdwell's Native American wife Lucinda Ross from Alabama, and at least 16 slaves.
There are 30-plus graves here, possibly more than 40.
The next owner after Leroy Ross (Sr) bulldozed the cemetery in 1968-1969 and threw the markers "in a ditch," which some describe as the creek bed or spring bed. Of the more substantial markers were those of the Mr. and Mrs. March which were either identical or a single square stone carved on two sides.
Nearby cemeteries
Mount Enterprise, Rusk County, Texas, USA
- Total memorials189
- Percent photographed95%
- Percent with GPS97%
Mount Enterprise, Rusk County, Texas, USA
- Total memorials176
- Percent photographed90%
- Percent with GPS0%
Mount Enterprise, Rusk County, Texas, USA
- Total memorials10
- Percent photographed0%
Mount Enterprise, Rusk County, Texas, USA
- Total memorials5
- Percent photographed20%
- Added: 31 Mar 2010
- Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2348490
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