Cotton Gin Cemetery

Margarette Wills, her slaves, and her son James S. Wills came to this area in 1845, and Dr. James S. Wills is credited with establishing the Cotton Gin community in 1848. According to family history, Dr. Wills gave the land for a public cemetery with separate sections for Anglo and African Americans. Although there were likely earlier burials, the oldest legible gravestone in the Anglo section is that of Mary Manning, who died in 1854 at age 59. The next identifiable death date is that of an infant daughter of J.W. and A.A. Story, buried in 1858. Those interred here include military veterans such as Abraham Roland, born about 1794 and died in 1868, who fought in the War of 1812, at least 67 Civil War veterans, and veterans of other major conflicts.

Texas · United States