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VAN WINKLE CEMETERY - CLIMAX

FM1377         33.199N          96.450W

 According to PRINCETON AREA HISTORY AND LITTLE KNOWN FACTS, the cemetery was donated by David Van Winkle. The cemetery is not on the Van Winkle headright,, but on the headright of John Burke on the west. No deed has been found for the cemetery. In 1950 when FM 1377 was built, the cemetery sold a piece of land to the state for the road. The cemetery is shown on the right-of-way map in Vol 411, p 12. The deed for the strip of land for the road is in Vol 413, p 594. It says that there is no deed for the cemetery.

This area is known as the Climax community. When the early settlers applied for a post office, they wanted to use the name "Illinois", because so many of them were from that state. The government said that "Illinois" was already in use, so they chose "Climax." The first settler in the area was William Warden, who came in 1844. Around 1910 there were around 100 residents of the town. Abe Recer, who built a toll bridge over Sister Grove Creek, was also a resident. The Recer family has the largest family plot in the cemetery, with 22 family members.

This cemetery covers a little over an acre of land. It had two entrance gates, and is fenced on all but the road side. There is an arch over one entrance that says, "Van Winkle." A pavilion is in the middle near the front of the cemetery. Several of the old stones have been replaced with newer stones. The cemetery has a cemetery association and is well maintained. I believe that the cemetery is still in use.
Cemeteries of Collin County, Texas, by Joy Gough

VAN WINKLE CEMETERY

   This burial ground has served the residents of Climax since

the mid-1800s. The Climax community dates to 1851, when

Williams Warden, a farmer from Missouri, settled here with his

family. The rural community grew and by the 1890s, it had two

cotton gins, a grain elevator, a school, a church, a

blacksmith shop and a general store. Most residents of the

community were farmers who established small, family-owned

farms that produced mostly wheat and corn. Climax reached

its peak population around 1910, when about 100 residents

lived here. Afterwards, the settlement declined, though it

continued to serve as a retail point for local farmers into the

late 1960s.

   This cemetery is named for David Van Winkle, who surveyed

property lines in the area around Climax; the Texas

government compensated him with land, a small portion of

which became the Van Winkle Cemetery. The earliest marked

grave here is of M. L. Warnburg (d. 1867), an infant. However,

there are multiple unmarked graves in the cemetery, and oral

tradition states that the earliest interment was of a slave.

Other individuals interred here include Abraham Recer (d.1870),

who built and operated a toll bridge that crossed Sister Grove

Creek, and W. K. Long (d. 1932), a local business owner. Van

Winkle Cemetery also contains graves of military veterans.

Features include vertical stones, obelisks and curbing. In 1974,

the Van Winkle Cemetery Foundation organized to care for the

burial ground. Additional property was added in 1976 and

2007. Today, Van Winkle Cemetery continues to serve the

residents of the Climax community.

Historic Texas Cemetery - 2008