Abston Cemetery - Lavon
Location: West side of SH 78 about ½ mile north of FM 6, at the back of a picnic area. A sign at the park says: Robert L. Yielding Park, dedicated – 6/21/88, Courtesy of Roland Boyd Family, City of Lavon, Army Corps of Engineers.
Cemeteries of Collin County, Texas, by Joy Gough
John Abston was buried here in 1856. He is the only veteran of the Revolutionary War buried in North Texas.
Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church was once a few hundred feet east of the cemetery. It started in 1857, and was disbanded in 1882, with part of the congregation going to Pleasant Hill Baptist Church (South Church), which later became Nevada Baptist, and part to Copeville Baptist Church (North Church).
The north end of this cemetery was used for Negro burials, with the south end for white burials. The cemetery has a historical marker.
This cemetery is shown in Collin County Tax maps as being on the T. F. Roberts survey. Elias Belew deeded .62 acres of land for a public cemetery in Vol 213, p 529, to Trustees, George Williams and W. F. Boyd. There is some controversy over where Elias Belew, a former slave, got the land around the cemetery originally. Some say he was given the land by the Abstons on the condition that he maintain the cemetery. Another source says that the Belews gave him the land under the same conditions. Both theories have to be wrong.
According the Collin County deed records, neither family owned land on the Roberts survey, so they could not have given it to him, and Elias Belew paid $1300+ for the land around the cemetery with the deed listed in Vol 12, p 126.
The information in A HISTORY OF NEVADA, TEXAS, by Grace (Moran) Evans, is also wrong. The 3 deeds listed as the source of the land around the cemetery by the Belew family are all on the wrong headrights. When the land around the cemetery was sold because one of the Belew daughters defaulted on a loan, the Boyd family bought the land. A cemetery cannot be sold, and was not part of the transaction, as was stated in that book.
The Abstons and the Stimsons came to Texas together in 1842. John Abston's daughter, Sarah, married Daniel Stimson. The Abstons owned land in the Rainer survey, which is the headright south of the Roberts survey, and in several other nearby headrights. There are some Abston descendants, who insist that this was the Abston Family Cemetery and that it is on the Rainer survey. They also say that all of the deeds and tax maps pertaining to the cemetery in the Collin County Courthouse have been forged or tampered with.
Most of the people buried here, who have stones, are from the Abston family. The cemetery has numerous unmarked graves.
According to A HISTORY OF NEVADA, TEXAS, the first person buried here was not John Abston in 1856. It was Marcus C. Dupuy on about December 10, 1852. There is no marker for his grave. On March 21, 1849, Marcus Dupuy bought all 320 acres of the T. F. Roberts survey with the deed listed in Vol B, #277. This cemetery was probably started as the Dupuy family cemetery. His widow, Eliza Dupuy, sold 150 acres to R. D. McElroy (McLeroy) in Vol S, p 153.
As stated above, Elias Belew bought 75 ¾ acres of land around the cemetery from R. D. McLeroy in Vol 12, p 126. In COLLIN COUNTY CEMETERY INSCRIPTIONS I, and in literature pertaining to the historical marker, Elias Belew's name is spelled with 2 "l's" . The name is French and is spelled with one "l". It is pronounced "Blue."
In the late 1980's Abston/Stimson relative, Roland Boyd, moved the stones from the Stimson Family Cemetery in Allen to the Stimson family plot here.
John Abston was buried here in 1856. He is the only veteran of the Revolutionary War buried in North Texas.
Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church was once a few hundred feet east of the cemetery. It started in 1857, and was disbanded in 1882, with part of the congregation going to Pleasant Hill Baptist Church (South Church), which later became Nevada Baptist, and part to Copeville Baptist Church (North Church).
The north end of this cemetery was used for Negro burials, with the south end for white burials. The cemetery has a historical marker.
This cemetery is shown in Collin County Tax maps as being on the T. F. Roberts survey. Elias Belew deeded .62 acres of land for a public cemetery in Vol 213, p 529, to Trustees, George Williams and W. F. Boyd. There is some controversy over where Elias Belew, a former slave, got the land around the cemetery originally. Some say he was given the land by the Abstons on the condition that he maintain the cemetery. Another source says that the Belews gave him the land under the same conditions. Both theories have to be wrong.
According the Collin County deed records, neither family owned land on the Roberts survey, so they could not have given it to him, and Elias Belew paid $1300+ for the land around the cemetery with the deed listed in Vol 12, p 126.
The information in A HISTORY OF NEVADA, TEXAS, by Grace (Moran) Evans, is also wrong. The 3 deeds listed as the source of the land around the cemetery by the Belew family are all on the wrong headrights. When the land around the cemetery was sold because one of the Belew daughters defaulted on a loan, the Boyd family bought the land. A cemetery cannot be sold, and was not part of the transaction, as was stated in that book.
The Abstons and the Stimsons came to Texas together in 1842. John Abston's daughter, Sarah, married Daniel Stimson. The Abstons owned land in the Rainer survey, which is the headright south of the Roberts survey, and in several other nearby headrights. There are some Abston descendants, who insist that this was the Abston Family Cemetery and that it is on the Rainer survey. They also say that all of the deeds and tax maps pertaining to the cemetery in the Collin County Courthouse have been forged or tampered with.
Most of the people buried here, who have stones, are from the Abston family. The cemetery has numerous unmarked graves.
According to A HISTORY OF NEVADA, TEXAS, the first person buried here was not John Abston in 1856. It was Marcus C. Dupuy on about December 10, 1852. There is no marker for his grave. On March 21, 1849, Marcus Dupuy bought all 320 acres of the T. F. Roberts survey with the deed listed in Vol B, #277. This cemetery was probably started as the Dupuy family cemetery. His widow, Eliza Dupuy, sold 150 acres to R. D. McElroy (McLeroy) in Vol S, p 153.
As stated above, Elias Belew bought 75 ¾ acres of land around the cemetery from R. D. McLeroy in Vol 12, p 126. In COLLIN COUNTY CEMETERY INSCRIPTIONS I, and in literature pertaining to the historical marker, Elias Belew's name is spelled with 2 "l's" . The name is French and is spelled with one "l". It is pronounced "Blue."
In the late 1980's Abston/Stimson relative, Roland Boyd, moved the stones from the Stimson Family Cemetery in Allen to the Stimson family plot here.
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ABSTON CEMETERY
JOHN ABSTON (1761-1856), A SOLDIER IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, WAS A NATIVE OF VIRGINIA. IN THE 1830S ABSTON AND HIS FAMILY MOVED TO MISSOURI. IN 1853 HE MOVED TO COLLIN COUNTY, TEXAS, WITH THE FAMILY OF HIS SON JESSE. FOLLOWING JESSE’S DEATH THAT YEAR, THE FAMILY MOVED FARTHER SOUTH IN THE COUNTY. JOHN ABSTON AND JESSE ABSTON’S WIDOW, SARAH, PURCHASED LAND IN THIS AREA IN 1854. A SMALL PLOT OF LAND WAS SET ASIDE AS A FAMILY BURIAL GROUND. JOHN ABSTON’S BURIAL HERE IN 1856 WAS THE FIRST IN THE CEMETERY. THERE ARE THIRTY-SEVEN MARKED GRAVES, INCLUDING THOSE OF SEVERAL GENERATIONS OF THE ABTON AND RELATED FAMILIES. ALL BUT ONE OF THE STONES BEAR 19TH-CENTURY DEATH DATES. ACCORDING TO FAMILY TRADITION, SARAH ABSTON AT ONE TIME GAVE A SMALL HOUSE AND A PARCEL OF LAND TO A FORMER SLAVE, ELIAS BELLEW, WITH THE AGREEMENT THAT HE WOULD MAINTAIN THE CEMETERY. AS A RESULT, THE GRAVEYARD HAS ALSO BEEN REFERRED TO AS THE OLD BELLEW CEMETERY. DESCENDANTS OF THOSE INTERRED IN THIS CEMETERY STILL RESIDE IN COLLIN COUNTY. THE GRAVEYARD STANDS AS A REMINDER OF THE AREA’S HERITAGE. Texas Historical Marker 1988 |
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