Yall, I just spent two days with a BARTLETT cousin riding from one side of the county to the other! Found a beautiful old iron bridge that is out and found a solitary grave by the Donohoe Cemetery and almost got pinched for cattle rustlin'! And......it was hotter 'n than the southern direction of a north-bound soul!!!! However, many of the cemeteries we located were under huge oak shade trees and the wind was blowing across a creek or river or large tank and it was just perfect for genealogical hikes! Wonderful two days...even if I am writing you from my tub where I am soaking to rid myself of chigger bites! and even if my nose would put Roudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to shame! Cemeteries are wonderful! No one got up and left. No one complained about what I was doing or how. No one talked back and everyone waited his or her turn for us to gather their information. At VOLO, east side of Bell County near Sparks Community: LATHAM: L.G. Age: 55 D. 09 Aug 1905 Mary C. Age 42 D. 06 Aug 1892 Eddie b. 20 May 1895 d. 12 Sept 1907 C.J. s/o RL & CE b. 20 May 1917 d. 11 Mar 1920 Volo Cemetery is up on a hill and there is a house NE of the cemetery but those people do not know anything about the cemetery. While Valerie and I were there Mr. Hagler arrived to check on the pile of brush they were burning. He has most of his family there and takes care of the cemetery. It is not a large cemetery but is in good shape and is fenced in. There are enough shade trees that you can walk around without being in the sun too much. My wheelchair did not work but I could get around some on my crutches so I sat in a chair and recorded information while my cousin read the stones. =============================================== HOLLAND South of Holland and at the junction of 2263 or 2268, on your left if you are going North, is a very steep drive. Go up the drive and at you top the hill you are in the cemetery. It is a small one and, I think, according to history/tradition, it was to be a Checkz./Catholic cemetery. It does not have many graves in it but it is still being used and is, at least, being kept clear. I found an animal bone beside one of the MASSAR grave sites and told my cousin it was probably a human finger bone that had washed down the hill in one of our heavy rains...she left the cemetery at a hundred miles an hour...without the car! q;-> Most of the graves at this site are within curbbing. One or two have gravel covering the plots. MASSAR, Frank J. b. 04 Mar 1902 d. 21 Oct 1979 MASSAR, Mary P. (still living the source person "thinks" but no one knew where she was living...if she was still living. She would be maybe late 80s or 90s maybe. Within the same curbing: Three graves but each still has the funeral home plaque and only one could be partially read: RATLIFF, _________ b. 27 Aug 1918 d. 10 Feb 1926 (Not sure about Feb.) The plaques were from Goodnight Funeral Home, Bartlett. It is not called Goodnight anymore...someone else bought it and the names fails me at th....CONDRA Funeral Home. The main office is now in Taylor. I plan to go down to the old Goodnight Fun. Home today and see if they can tell me who the other two are that are buried next to the first one, RATLIFF. ============================================ Just across the creek and below the Donohoe Cemetery, E Bell Co., we found a single grave maybe 3 - 5 feet from the road. Mrs. Sarah HERNDON b. 1800 d. 1863 It is on your right if you are going N down the road. No occupied houses in sight. Is land under cultivation or land being used to graze cattle. The site is fenced with the iron fencing you see in older cemeteries and it literally fences the grave space. It has fairly new looking cedar posts at all four corners and the gate is wired shut. It is all very rusty. The corner post have been pointed to allow rain water to run off. Someone (was that you, Bill???) had walked in the grass as recently as this last weekend...and they walked carefully because there was a giant spider and his/her web a couple of feet in front of the grave and it was not disturbed. Within the fenced site, there was a faded Christmas plant (plastic) and evidence of other flowers so it is possible that she may be related to those up on the hill in the Donohoe Cemetery. Maybe she was someone's granma that made it that far on their trek into Texas...or maybe that was a mother and wife and that was her favorite site along the creek. ============================================= BTW, we took many photographs during the two days. ================================ SIMMONS & HENNINGTON CEMETERIES E side of Bell Co....not but a couple of miles from Milam County line. We never could get to it but did find a kind gentleman that shooed off the attacking dogs and told us that we could contact Mr.....well, let me just say we know who to contact for access...don't ask me to spell it or pronounce it. Mr.___was not at home. ======================================= JACKSON CEMETERY (forgot location...map still in car) a couple of names for contacts...David Wolf, Holland and Edw. Shiplet..I think these were persons with the SPJCXYZ??? Club or organization. ====================================== DALLAS Cemetery Behind...West of Holland...have to take Hackberry Rd. SW of Holland and S of the creek. We introduced ourselves to a gentleman at a new house and told him what we were doing and why and if he knew where the cemetery was. He told us it was on down the road and in the pasture. We asked for permission to go in and he said "Sure, as long as you shut and latch the gates so the cattle don't get out." We went in and looked things over, and then, being chased by the hungry cattle, we left. Just as we got out the gate, a man in a truck drove up and I introduced myself with story and asked if he was going into the pasture before we closed the gate. He said yes that he was going to check his cattle. I laughed and told him they were just fine, very friendly and very hungry. I told him we had the permission of the man that owned it up at the house and he then told us that he owned it. Appology given...he said we could come back if we closed the gates. It is fenced in and has a gate that is not locked. It sits up on the hill overlooking the creek. The grass inside the fenced area was way deep and we tried to hack some grass down but that is when we discovered we were out in the heat way long. We did get some pictures...dates did not seem to go back to seriously early dates as far as births in Bell Co. We did get these names: J.S. JEDOER 01 Dec 1821 24 June 1902 Jam's M. FOX 24 Nov 1888 Dec 1911 Mattie P. FOX 08 Aug 1846 05 June 1907 We took pictures of cemetery and one cow. After we left and started home, it dawned on me that he thought we were cattle rustlers...a woman in a wheelchair rustling cattle???????? We are talking BIG cows here...big cows with big horns and big appetites...... ================================================== We did not get all names from VOLO but could go back and do that if anyone needs me to. HAGLER's have a lot of sites there. I remember a THOMPSON or THOMASON...AND MAybe CALDWELL. =============================== St. John Luthern Cemetery, north of Bartlett on SH 95...about a mile or two from town. I taped almost all the persons at rest on the south side...we call it the flat side because the stones are flush with the ground. Val took pictures and scribed all the LENDEMANN, LATHAM, LANGE and some others that she knew were related to those families through marriage. When you drive into the cemetery you see what looks to be a gate to the "back" with big colorful tree-bushes on either side. That was the original entrance to the cemetery. The old road (95) ran behind the cemetery. You find you are up on a bluff and in front of you the land falls away into a valley. The land is under cultivation on the S,N, W sides. The church is behind you or to the east. Easy to get to, clean, good gravel road. The east side had the upright stones and looks more homey than the flat side. The UPRIGHT side has lots of curbbing and the graves are close together making you believe it to be a small cemetery...but whatho!!!! When you begin scribing all the names and dates....lot more there than you think. On the FLAT SIDE, there are slabs of granite, pink, gray, black and that icky lunch-meat color. On some of the slabs of granite are brass plates with the names and dates on them...or maybe copper...anyway, they have the patina or greenish colors from weathering. I think this is loaded on the Bell Co. page for Cemeteries but if you want me to send you the names, let me know. We did get pictures of these names on the UPRIGHT side and some on the FLATSIDE. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ We also did some work in some other cemeteries and exploring road and routes to the places on the maps. Many of the marked cemeteries are on private property now. Bill, what about Sunshine, Willis, REED and the one across from Reed?? Has anyone done those for you. Need to get some more film and get some pictures for you. The REED graves are on Sunshine road N of Holland but there is a excellent fence and large gate with a large lock. The one across the road from it is not always cleared but is not fenced in. There are grave sites up in the tangled hedgrow. We got out, walked about four feet into this one and saw two very large rattlers sunning themselves. We excused ourselves and retreated to the van. These are the four cemeteries grouped together on your map, Bill...east side of County...south of Volo Cemetery....could not find access to cemetery between Volo and the REED and other three...Sullivan/Sunshine Rds. junction. We think it may be a FERGUSON family cemetery since it is close to the State Historical Marker showing the site of the original home of MA Ferguson. Gate is locked. Ann We will try to do more later....