Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
Milam County, Texas
Mumford Cemetery
FM 437
The following is an excerpt from notes and email from Jack Brooks re his visit to the Mumford Cemetery in May, 2014.
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Another MCHC inquiry led me to the Mumford cemetery.
The Mumford Cemetery is located a couple miles northeast of Davilla. (By the way, I read a THC marker in front of the Davilla Baptist Church which stated that Davilla was previously called Mumford Springs.)
Mary Mumford (five Mumfords interred) wanted to know how she would be able to gain access to the cemetery since it was on private property. The cemetery is located on land owned by Dr. Richter. I contacted him and we arranged a time to visit the cemetery. I met him at the gate. He said to jump in his "ratty" old pickup, because my passenger car wouldn't be able to go where we were going and, furthermore, it would get all scratched up. That was an understatement! I'll leave out the details of the circuitous path that we took to get there. I've been around the block a time or two on these cemeteries, and what faced us was an impenetrable wall of woods and briar vines upon the arrival to the site. I thought that my short sleeve shirt and us having no pruning tools was probably a mistake. I don't know about Dr. Richter but my arms are still healing six weeks later.
Once we arrived at the cemetery, it was considerably less dense but still overgrown. The last interment shown was Robert Ray, in 1905. It didn't appear that it has had an iota of care in the 109 years since. I did take a few photos but with the dense woods closing in on it, it was difficult to get at a respectable angle to shoot very many headstones. We were able to find a way out that was a little more merciful, but not much. I thanked the wounded and bleeding Dr. Richter profusely and promised that I would never subject him to that again. I had previously purchased a $25 gift certificate for him to a small local restaurant in Rogers, near his office. After what we had been through, I felt it was now an insignificant stipend but I humbly presented it.
A fellow Genealogical Society member, Blake Mayfield, also has an ancestor interred in that same cemetery. Blake knew knew that Dr. Richter owned the 350+ acres surrounding Mumford, and he had previously mentioned that he would like to visit the cemetery. Dr. Richter agreed, but Blake should surely be armed with pruners, machetes and chain saws. He will contact Mary Mumford to let her know when he again visits the Cemetery.
Attachment #4 and #5 are a few samples of the Mumford cemetery grounds.
*****
Another MCHC inquiry led me to the Mumford cemetery.
The Mumford Cemetery is located a couple miles northeast of Davilla. (By the way, I read a THC marker in front of the Davilla Baptist Church which stated that Davilla was previously called Mumford Springs.)
Mary Mumford (five Mumfords interred) wanted to know how she would be able to gain access to the cemetery since it was on private property. The cemetery is located on land owned by Dr. Richter. I contacted him and we arranged a time to visit the cemetery. I met him at the gate. He said to jump in his "ratty" old pickup, because my passenger car wouldn't be able to go where we were going and, furthermore, it would get all scratched up. That was an understatement! I'll leave out the details of the circuitous path that we took to get there. I've been around the block a time or two on these cemeteries, and what faced us was an impenetrable wall of woods and briar vines upon the arrival to the site. I thought that my short sleeve shirt and us having no pruning tools was probably a mistake. I don't know about Dr. Richter but my arms are still healing six weeks later.
Once we arrived at the cemetery, it was considerably less dense but still overgrown. The last interment shown was Robert Ray, in 1905. It didn't appear that it has had an iota of care in the 109 years since. I did take a few photos but with the dense woods closing in on it, it was difficult to get at a respectable angle to shoot very many headstones. We were able to find a way out that was a little more merciful, but not much. I thanked the wounded and bleeding Dr. Richter profusely and promised that I would never subject him to that again. I had previously purchased a $25 gift certificate for him to a small local restaurant in Rogers, near his office. After what we had been through, I felt it was now an insignificant stipend but I humbly presented it.
A fellow Genealogical Society member, Blake Mayfield, also has an ancestor interred in that same cemetery. Blake knew knew that Dr. Richter owned the 350+ acres surrounding Mumford, and he had previously mentioned that he would like to visit the cemetery. Dr. Richter agreed, but Blake should surely be armed with pruners, machetes and chain saws. He will contact Mary Mumford to let her know when he again visits the Cemetery.
Attachment #4 and #5 are a few samples of the Mumford cemetery grounds.
4
5
Mumford Cemetery
photos courtesy of
Jack Brooks
May, 2014
photos courtesy of
Jack Brooks
May, 2014