The Unidentified & The Cagle Mysteries

In the Wilks Cemetery there was a beautiful monument to the “Family of S. C. and M. G. Cagle”.  Tall, monolithic, beautifully carved and inscribed all round, it marked what we came to term, “the Cagle Row”.  To the north of the monument were four small foot stones with the initials, “MSC”, “SHH”, “ESC”, and “MVC”.  To the south was a foot stone marked, “JHC”, for a total of seven expected graves.  The disinterment revealed eight graves in this row, only two of which we could be certain about - the graves of Susan Catherine Barkley Cagle and Martin Gaines Cagle.

Rubbings from the Cagle monument.

Based on the inscription on the monument, the ready assumption was that the foot stones with initials ending in “C” were Cagle children.  It also seemed certain that SHH, resting between MSC and ESC, was a family member. I set out early on to discover as much as I could about the Cagle family, and align the facts with the evidence in the Cemetery.

I was able to use familySearch.org to zero in on an 1850 census that seemed to establish the nuclear family as parents Martin and Susan, along with children Robert, Frances, Edward (or Edmond), Martin, and Mary.  Then I discovered an entry in the 1850 Fannin County Mortality Index, that established the existence of little Martha, dead in Sep, 1850 of scarlet fever, and my definition of the family expanded. 

In the 1860 census, Susan, age 44, Robert, age 23, Edward, age 19, Mary, age 13, and John, age 9, are listed. Martin Cagle (the senior) had died in 1852.  I had found uncorroborated evidence that Martin (the son) died at age 16, placing his death in 1860, though he is not listed in the 1860 Fannin County Mortality Index. His absence from the census seemed to support an early death, perhaps earlier than 1860. Frances had married in 1956 which explains her absence. John was not yet born at the time of the 1850 census. His presence in the 1860 census led me to expand my definition of the family again. (As a side note, the 1860 census also includes Willis Escue, age 21, a farm hand.)

I worked for months with this family roster - Martin and Susan and seven children, mapping the family members onto the marked graves in the “Cagle row” with a sense of certainty.  MSC and MVC I ascribed to Martha and son Martin. ESC and JHC I presumed to belong to Edward and John. SHH remained a mystery.

Then, months later, I found a memoir written by Frances Cagle’s husband, Thomas Hale, which stated, “…. To Mr. and Mrs. Cagle were born eight children: Frances, who is now Mrs. Hale; Robert; Edward; Martha, who died in childhood; John; Martin; Susan, deceased; and Mary, the wife of R. Russell.”   My conception of the family had to expand again to include Susan, who must have entered and left this world in between census years. This bit of information had the advantage of providing closure in a reliable way - there were eight children, a fact confirmed by a close and contemporary family member, well after the death of the parents, Martin & Susan.  The family roster was complete.  However, I still had no information on little Susan other than the fact of her existence. And I had found almost nothing about the sons that appeared to reach manhood - Robert, Edward, and John.

Martin and Susan married in May, 1836.  Robert was 12 years old in the 1850 census, placing his birth in 1838 or thereabouts.  Frances was born in May, 1839.   In the 1840 census for Lafayette, Arkansas, which does not list by name anyone other than Martin, the family consists of an adult male between the ages of 30 and 39, an adult female between the ages of 20-29, two children under the age of 5, and a female aged 15-19.  The teenager is a mystery, but the adults correspond to what we know about Martin and Susan, and the two children to what we know of Robert & Frances.  It is possible that daughter Susan was born in 1837 and died before the 1840 census was taken, however there is a user-submitted family tree on ancestry.com that places her birth in 1847.  If this is Susan’s correct birth year, she presumably died in Fannin County, though we have no record of her death.  If she had died in the same epidemic as Martha, surely she, too, would be listed in the 1850 Fannin County Mortality Index.  Why is there no foot stone in the cemetery corresponding to her initials?  Had she already been laid to rest when Little Martha died?  Could she have been laid to rest elsewhere?  It saddens me to think of the little sprite all but lost to history.

Tax records also provided valuable insight into the family circumstances.  After Martin’s death in 1852, the records clearly show that Susan continued as head of household and might even have expanded the family holdings.  The Fannin County tax rolls for 1857 show Susan assessed for 320 acres on the Sulphur River in addition to the 214 acre tract that held the Wilks Family Cemetery.   The 1864 Tax Rolls list the tracts as “Cagle, Susan, by T. C. Hale, Admin”, indicating that the land is still held by the family despite Susan’s death in 1861.  In 1865, both tracts are listed under Thomas C Hale. 

This was the extent of my information when I began looking at the Fannin County Probate Minutes. In Book E of the Probate Minutes, page 260, there is an entry dated, November 24, 1862, which states

“Guardianship of the minors Mary C. Cagle and John H. Cagle. It is ordered by the court that Thomas C. Hale be appointed guardian of the persons and property of John H. Cagle and Mary C. Cagle ( the said Mary C. having chosen in open court the said Thomas C. Hale) and that he give Bond in the sum of $1000. One thousand dollars each and that letters issue.“

At the time of this entry, Mary Cagle would have been sixteen years old and John eleven. Then on page 421 of the same book, minutes dated November 28, 1864 address the settlement of the estates of Susan Cagle, Edward Cagle, and Robert Cagle. The entry reads in part

“Thomas C Hale the admin of the estate of Susan C. Cagle, Edward C. Cagle and Robert Cagle dec’d would file herewith his final report for a settlement of said estates and ask to be discharged from all further liability as admin. He states that there are but three heirs to the said estates viz Frances D. Hale the wife of this admin & the minors Mary C Cagle and John H Cagle.”

With this document we have confirmation of the deaths of Edward and Robert at some point prior to November, 1864, and a strong indication that they died without descendants, their siblings being their only heirs. The absence of any mention of son Martin, is a strong indication that he, indeed, died sometime prior to the death of his mother. Furthermore, we have confirmation that John H. Cagle is still living in late 1864.

In Book V, of the Deed Records, page 492, in an entry dated August 11, 1873, the sale of the 214 acres of the Wilks Cemetery tract by the Cagle heirs to Madison, Newton, and Milton Wilks is recorded. The signatories to this document are Thomas C. Hale, Frances D. (Cagle) Hale, R. F. Russell, and Mary C. (Cagle) Russell, leaving us to wonder still about the fate of young John. In 1873 John Cagle, if living, would have been a young man of 22. Does his absence as signatory to this deed indicate that he had died sometime between 1864 and 1873? Hoping to find more of his story I returned to the County Clerk’s Office to investigate the death records - records I had not yet dipped into. I went prepared to carefully search the death records from 1844 - 1873 - from a year prior to the date I believed the Cagles to have arrived in the area through the year of the sale of the Cagle property to the Wilks. I hoped to find more information about the deaths of the Cagle children. I hoped to find references to the burial place of Martin Gaines and Susan Catherine, a reference that might prove useful in understanding the history of what became the Wilks Cemetery. Sadly, what I found was that we do not have death records in Fannin County prior to 1903.

Regarding the foot stones in the Cemetery, the assumption that those with initials ending in “C” line up with children Martha, Martin, Edward, and John is not disputed by the facts, though the facts do not provide certain proof either. “SHH” is still a mystery - perhaps a member of the Hale family - and the unmarked grave even more obscure. Unless some unexpected breakthrough comes my way in my research, we will have to wait for what science and DNA can tell us.

There is an interesting side note that came out of this research. In the record of the transfer of the land to the Wilks, the document describes the property as

“…on Bois D’Arc Creek containing two hundred and fourteen acres less one fourth of an acre surveyed by virtue of the headright certificate of James Kerr…”. 

I can’t help but wonder if that 1/4 acre exclusion is our cemetery, and whether that indicates that it was, in 1873, seen as a community cemetery rather than a family cemetery on private land.

Story by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

The Unidentified

As we wait for the first bit of scientific information to emerge from Dr. Whitely and her team about the remains removed from the Wilks and Bonham Cemeteries, I want to explore several lines of inquiry that could shed light on the unidentified remains found. These lines of inquiry include looking at the occupation of the land, the families on the surrounding properties, the early road systems in the area, and further details and gaps related to the information we have about the Cagle, Wllks, and Bonham families.

To begin that effort, I pulled all the known burials in Fannin County dating from 1838 to 1852 from the Fannin County GenWeb site. I used these dates because 1838 is the earliest recorded burial in Fannin County and Martin Cagle, the first fully documented burial in the Wilks & Bonham Cemeteries, was buried in 1852.  The initial on-site assessment of the removal team was that the burials to the east of the Cagle row in the Wilks Cemetery were older graves, so my focus was on the period prior to Martin Cagle’s death. My intent was to map the ‘hotspots’ of early Fannin County settlement by locating where the known burials were, hoping that the pattern produced might provide clues as to these early Wilks Cemetery graves. The surnames of other early burials in the area would, I thought, provide good starting points for further research. I used the map of all known cemeteries in Fannin County from the GenWeb site as my starting point. The result for the northeastern part of the County is show below, with the current path of Bois d’Arc Creek highlighted.

There are a few scattered locations along Red River, and then a concentrated area south and east of Bois D’Arc Creek.  The only known burials in the 1838-1852 time frame along the western side of Bois D’Arc Creek are those at the Wilks Cemetery itself (dark red dot on the map).  The Wilks Cemetery stands conspicuously alone. Certainly there are burial grounds we will never know about where the only markers were wooden posts that have completely disappeared, but it seems likely these would be in proportion to the marked graves that have remained. And perhaps this pattern should not be surprising, illustrating early settlements spreading into the area from the more established communities to the east, overland and along the River.

Studying this map, I began to think about how one would choose a burial ground for a loved one in frontier conditions. If there was a community cemetery in a given location, how wide an area was it likely to serve? What distance was considered nearby, what distance a long journey? To what extent would the area creeks limit travel in a time of few roads? These sorts of questions led me to the creation of another map.

Base map from “Texas Land Survey Maps for Fannin County”, by Gregory A. Boyd, J. D., used with permission of the publisher.

In this one, I highlighted the major creeks (in red) on a map of original land grant awardees, estimating the original course of the creeks prior to the creation of Coffee Mill Lake (in light purple). A ‘basin’ of sorts emerged (highlighted in pink) around the Wilks & Bonham cemeteries. The headright names provide a starting point for the original claimants of the land, and the creeks a reasonable boundary of an extended community.

In an attempt to put the ‘basin’ in context within the larger land area and the earliest settlements in Fannin County, and to explore the distances between them, I created a third map. Using the Google Earth app, I drew a five mile radius around key areas. I am told by old-timers from the Carson area, that even in the early 20th century a trip to Bonham was a two day affair in horse-drawn wagon. One day was dedicated to the drive into town and taking care of business. By then it was late, and folks would stay over night then start the journey home the next morning. Given the well established road system at that time, I felt safe in assuming that a five mile journey in an area of few roads would be a significant distance.

These maps have given me a lot to think about and a wealth of questions to pursue. They will guide and inform my research going forward as we piece together as much as we can of the story of the Unidentified.

Story by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

The Disinterment of the Graves, Part III

On March 6, 2019, we return again to the Cemeteries. The work is complete at the Wilks site and the Bonham site is now yielding up its own set of surprises. The Bonham site holds not two graves, but twenty-three graves. Charity and Louisa Bonham have not been alone after all. We arrive in the early morning to an enormous work area from which twenty-one burials have been recovered. A recovery is underway under a pavilion, and one last burial shaft remains to be addressed.

Bonham site in early light, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

The remains at the Bonham site are not as well preserved as the remains at the Wilks site, tending to be bone fragments rather than whole skeletons. The soil at the Wilks site is better drained and less acidic, and there was less damage there from the overgrowth of forest. As at the Wilks site, many of the burials are of infants and children. The graves, generally, are more shallow, and in one case an adult and two children were found in the same grave shaft. It is easy to read these as hasty burials and to speculate that perhaps they are the result of an overwhelming epidemic of some sort. The DNA work on these remains will be more difficult due to the deteriorated condition of the bodies, and we must hope that sufficient information can be retrieved to shed some light on these families. Some grave artifacts have been found, including ruby red beads, some buttons, and some pins. In one of the better preserved cases, the individual found is estimated to have been about 6’ 3” tall, unusually tall for the era.

The graves at the Bonham site are more randomly placed, but there is some organization along 6 irregular rows. Charity and Louisa are the westernmost burials. Then in a staggered row to the east of them are 4 graves, one to the north and three to the south. Continuing to move to the east, the next row has 4 graves - 2 at the northern end of the perimeter and 2 to the south beyond a sizable gap. The next row is the most regular with 8 burials in a line. The next row has 3 widely spaced graves, and the final row has one grave. The following schematic is illustrative, but not to scale.

For illustrative purposes only.

In the final count, 34 graves were recovered from the Wilks Cemetery, 23 from the Bonham Cemetery. Of 57 graves, 34 were unmarked. The 23 burials at the Bonham site included 8 adults, 3 juveniles/adults (could be teenagers or small adults), and 12 infants.  At the Wilks site there were 13 adults, 9 juveniles, and 12 infants/toddlers.  (These numbers are courtesy of AR Consultants and are based on what they observed in the field. They may change after they conduct their complete analysis.) Perhaps the biggest job is only just now beginning with the effort of trying to identify as many of the unknown remains as possible.

Emptied grave, Bonham Site, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Ginger documenting the Bonham Site, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Bonham Site, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

After visiting the Bonham site, we walk down to the Wilks site. In the relentless march of time, it is no more. The Texas Historical Commission has been asked to release the site, and once this release is given, the clay soil found there will be harvested for use in building the dam.

Final view of the Wilks Cemetery, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Walking from the Wilks Site out towards what will be the basin of the lake, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Looking to the future, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

The re-interment of the recovered remains will not begin for some months - not until the scientific work back in the lab is complete. So we leave our friends in Dr. Whitley’s capable hands with a whispered blessing. We will remember.

Wilks Cemetery as we knew it, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Bonham Family Cemetery, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Story by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

The Disinterment of the Graves, Part II

On December 6, 2018, Jeff McKito arranges another visit to the Wilks Cemetery disinterment. In the weeks since we were last on site in October, the number of unmarked graves has grown from ten to thirteen. There is an unexpected grave in the Cagle family row, and there are two additional burials to the east of the row of unmarked graves previously discovered. These plus the 3 burials between the Wilks & Cagle rows brings the total to thirteen.

In addition to the unmarked graves, there are a couple of other surprises. The grave marked by the Bois d’Arc posts - the grave that we had speculated might be that of Alvie Wilks - was found to be empty. I asked Cody if it was possible that the remains had decayed to dust and he did not think that likely. The remains of one-day-old, Infant Son Wilks, had been found in excellent condition. If the remains of a newborn buried in 1881 were intact, then any burial in the cemetery should have some discernible remains. He thinks it truly was a false grave. We are left to ponder when the Bois d’Arc markers were added, by whom, and why they believed they were marking a grave. Who did they intend to honor and why had the true location of that person’s burial site been lost?

In the Cagle row, one of the graves marked by a foot stone was also empty, though the total number of graves in the row was one more than expected. This an indication that perhaps the Cagle monument and markers were also added at some later time, as they are out of alignment with the actual burials. 


Second visit to excavation, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Recovery team at work, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Taking measurements, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

At this point the layout of the cemetery precedes from east to west in five irregular rows. At the extreme east are two graves, followed to the west by a row of seven graves. Then we have the row of marked and unmarked Cagle graves, eight in total. Wedged between the Cagle row and the Wilks row, the westernmost, are three graves, all of children or babies. The Wilks row contains fourteen graves as expected, all marked, making a total of 34 graves at the Wilks Cemetery site.

For illustrative purposes only.

The easternmost graves are thought to be the oldest burials. Moving from east to west the burials are more decadent - fancier caskets and coffins, more buttons, etc. Coffin and casket screws, found in abundance, and very identifiable right down to the manufacturer, will provide important details about the approximate timing of the unexpected burials once the team is back in the lab and can analyze them. The timing of the burials will be a critically important clue when forming hypotheses about who these people might be and how their story fits into the overall picture. Imagine - something as humble as the screw that affixed the lid may hold an answer to some of the mysteries here. The idea fills me with a sense of wonder and irony.

Other details serve to bring into focus the living people who were resting here. One of the children from the Cagle row shows severe remodeling of the bones, indicating a serious, long-term infection. One of the adults from the Wilks row suffered from gall stones. Thomas Wilks had broken his leg at some point well before his death, and most probably walked with a limp, one leg being noticeably shorter than the other. The hair of Margaret Wilks and of an adult female in the Cagle row were dressed with hair pins. Florence Wilks’ hair was arranged with a decorative comb. One of the coffins showed clear traces of white paint. But the most heart breaking of all the grave artifacts is the little red pocket knife in the shape of a dog buried with 8-year-old Charles Jefferson Wilks. It so embodies the love and the grief with which his parents laid him to rest and reminds us all of our common humanity.

Though there is some scraping still to do to the south and west, we are told that the pattern of graves found so far makes it unlikely that more graves will be found at the Wilks site. Furthermore, no graves have been found outside the fenced area of the Cemetery. Strangely enough, before the disinterment began, that was precisely where we thought we might find unmarked graves.

Detail of scraping, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Sections cleared, section remaining, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

As we are preparing to leave, Cody gives us an update on the Bonham site. The work there has not yet begun. With reassurance from Jeff that he will keep us posted, we drag ourselves away.

Story by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

The Disinterment Of The Graves, Part I

On September, 12, 2018, Jeff McKito, Public Relations Specialist for North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) invited Ginger & I, along with Larry Standlee, representing the Fannin County Historical Commission, to visit the Wilks Cemetery site. We were escorted by Fain Butler, Assistant Construction Manager, NTMWD. The detailed mapping of the cemetery had been completed, and the tombstones were scheduled to be removed the next day in preparation for the beginning of the disinterment. This would be our goodbye visit.

The disinterment would involve a number of steps, moving from the use of chainsaws and tractors to painstaking work done with gentle brushes. The first step would be to cut all vegetation at ground level and remove it in a perimeter extending 25 feet from the line of the existing fence in all directions. Then, section by section, the earth within that cleared area would be removed in progressive layers using heavy equipment to scrape off a few inches at a time. During this scraping process, the team would be watching for telltale changes in the color of the earth indicating a grave shaft. Once one or more grave shafts in an area were found, the scraping would stop. All grave shafts identified would be flagged and covered by a plastic tarp, to be addressed one by one. As each grave became the target of work, a sheltering pavilion would be erected over the area, the shaft carefully measured, and the soil slowly removed by shovel. Once coffin wood was struck, the work would shift again - to finer tools and yet more careful processes of slowly working deeper into the grave using archeological recovery methods. As the work progressed, all coffin hardware, coffin wood, artifacts such as buttons, fragments of clothing, jewelry, etc, and skeletal remains would be painstakingly documented, gently removed, and carefully stored. Even burial dirt would be saved to be reinterred.

As we stood in the cemetery, cleared of all small vegetation and peppered with pink flags, the realization that this really was the beginning of the end pressed in on me. The reality of this transition had been sinking in by degrees for weeks, and now the day had finally come.

Graves surveyed and marked in advance of removal of the stones, photo by Ginger Sisco Cook.

Our last view of the Wilks Cemetery intact, photo by Ginger Sisco Cook.

In mid-October, we received the news that, though the scraping was not yet complete at the Wilks Cemetery site, ten unexpected and unmarked graves had already been discovered. This was our first indication that so much of what we thought we knew about the Cemetery was about to be turned on its ear. On October, 23, Jeff invited us back out to the Cemetery to visit the disinterment in progress. Mitch Harrison, Senior Construction Inspector, NTMWD, is our guide for this visit and we pile into his pickup for the drive from the Foremen’s barn to the site. It has been raining incessantly, and there is standing water in the bottom. The fields are wet and we almost get stuck in one place. Then suddenly we are there. The Cemetery is an exposed spot now - not a hidden glade - and I don’t realize just how close we are until we are on top of it. 


First glimpse of the disinterment, photo by Ginger Sisco Cook.

A pit encompasses the northeast section of the cemetery. Around its edge are heaps of excavated dirt and heavy equipment. In the pit, there are canopies covering work areas and plastic sheeting covering exposed grave shafts yet to be worked. My first reaction is shock and I find myself near tears, but as I walk up to the edge of the excavation, sadness gives way to scientific wonder.

The initial excavation, photo by Ginger Sisco Cook.

The pit itself is terraced somewhat due to there being grave shafts discovered at differing depths.


Detail of terraces, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Cody Davis, Project Manager and Principal Investigator, AR Consultants, who is responsible for the cemetery removal and relocation effort, greets us as we approach and leads us into the pit. Under the canopies two graves are being painstakingly emptied by teams with hand tools. Another grave is being reduced by thin shovelfuls of dirt from exposed grave shaft to burial site. The graves being emptied are those of Mary Wilks (d. 1932) and Margaret Wilks (d. 1869). Charles Jefferson Wilks (d. 1896) has already been removed and his grave shaft is now a shallow, rectangular indentation in the ground. Cody tells me that his body was very well preserved, that the clay soil enhances preservation. The bodies of Mary and Margaret are also in exceptionally good shape. Mary was buried with her glasses on her face and they are in perfect condition. The shell buttons from Mary’s dress are visible as scattered points of white against the dark earth.

Recovery team at work, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Recovery team at work, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Recovery team at work, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

The empty grave of Charles Jefferson Wilks, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

Outline of grave identified, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

The ten unexpected graves found so far are in two rows. The graves of three children lie between the Cagle family row and the Wilks family row. Seven graves lie in a row to the east of the Cagle family row. Are these additional families? Are they additional members of the Wilks and Cagle families that our research has not revealed? Dr. Catrina Whitley, a bio-archaeologist from Southern Methodist University, is the leader of the team removing the remains. In addition to the disinterment, Dr. Whitley's team will be doing the scientific analysis and DNA work on the remains found here. The value of that work has taken on a whole new significance with the presence of the unmarked graves. With luck she will be able to pinpoint gender, age at time of death, cause of death, when the burial occurred, and family affiliation.

The work is fascinating and the care with which it is being done reassuring. As we walk around and talk to the team members, it is abundantly clear that everyone on the site is engaged in a labor of love and deeply respects the nature of the work they are doing. Despite the cold, wet conditions they have been working in almost from the beginning, everyone is cheerful, friendly, and eager to share their findings. We leave with a tentative plan to be back before Thanksgiving, weather and schedules permitting.

Story by Wanda Holmes Oliver.

The Land that Became the Cemetery

The story of the Wilks Cemetery is a story of the Kerr, Cagle, and Wilks families.  It begins in the earliest days of the Republic of Texas with the arrival of Robert Kerr.

On the basis of his 2nd Class headright, Robert Kerr arrived in Texas with his family between March 3, 1836 and September 30, 1837.  The family included three sons that would claim their own grants.  Yelverton (b. 1814) and Levi (b.1815) were in their early twenties in 1837, and each received 2nd Class land grants themselves as single men.  The grants to Robert, Yelverton, and Levi are recorded in Abstracts #609 (1280 acres), #610 (640 acres), and #606 (640 acres), respectively.  The three tracts are located north of an imaginary line from Ivanhoe to Telephone.  Yelverton’s and Levi’s tracts are adjacent to one another, and Robert’s is a bit to the north.

Son, James (b.1821), would have turned 16 at some point during 1837 - too young to meet the requirement to file as a single man for a 2nd class grant. His is a 3rd class grant issued to single men, 17 years or older, who resided in the Republic of Texas prior to January 1, 1840.  That he claimed his land rights later is also reflected in the fact that the land he gained title to is in multiple parcels, both miles distant from the lands of his father and brothers. James was issued Conditional Certificate #142 on January 2,1840.  Under this certificate, he was entitled to 320 acres of public land in Fannin County.  Conditional certificates were not issued for particular tracts of land, were not negotiable or transferrable, and were predicated on the grantee demonstrating three years of responsible citizenship before applying for the Unconditional Certificate that freed them from all restrictions on ownership.  The grantee had to locate the land he wanted to claim and have it surveyed himself.   Apparently he could stake his claim and exercise all ordinary rights of ownership during the three year conditional period.  As a 3rd Class Grantee, he could also just hold onto the right without having identified or invested in any particular piece of land (4th Class grants required that at least 10 acres of the claimed land be cultivated).

We don’t know when James identified the land he would claim, but he received Unconditional Certificate #150 on May 5, 1845, some five years after receiving his Conditional Certificate.  Under Certificate #150, he was granted patents (title) to two tracts of land at two different times, the first title not being granted until some months after he received his Unconditional Certificate.  It is easy to read into the delay of the Conditional Certificate, and the further delay between it and the first patent, the behavior of a young man growing into adult responsibilities.  But it is equally possible that he had actively claimed and worked his land  from the date of the Unconditional Certificate in 1840.

James’ first patent was to 106 acres located six miles southwest of Bonham.  James received patent to this tract on November 9, 1845. It is recorded in the County records as Abstract #613.  Patent was granted to the remaining 214 acres he was due on February 9, 1846 under Abstract #614.  The Wilks Cemetery is located on this tract, and using the abstract number and the tax rolls, it is possible to trace the ownership of the land that would eventually contain the cemetery as it changed hands over the years. 

Abstract data overlaid on Google Earth image, abstract data from EarthPoint.

James Kerr first appears on the tax rolls of Fannin County in 1843 when he was assessed a poll tax.  In 1845 he was taxed for 320 acres of land and two head of cattle.  He disappears from the rolls in 1846.  His 106 acre tract is, in 1846, in the possession of his brother, Yelverton.  Martin Gaines Cagle is assessed the taxes in 1846 for the 214 acre tract originally patented to James.   I haven’t been able to determine what happened to James after 1846.  While his father and brothers continue to figure prominently in the records of Fannin County, there is no record of him marrying, establishing a family, or owning other property in the county.  He was a young man of 25 - he might have simply sold out and moved on in a quest for greater opportunities. 

The 214 acre tract which now holds the Wilks Cemetery continues to appear on the tax rolls under Martin Cagle’s name for the next several years, passing to Susan Cagle after Martin’s death in 1852.  Though Susan died in 1861, the land is still on the tax rolls under Susan’s name in 1864, with a note that it is registered by her son-in-law, Thomas C. Hale (husband of daughter Frances) as administrator of her estate.  In 1865, the land is listed under the name, Thomas C. Hale, without any additional notes referencing Susan. Susan and Martin Cagle’s sons disappear from the records during the years of the Civil War. Perhaps in 1864 there was still some hope of at least one of them coming home to claim his inheritance. By 1865, the estate had apparently been settled in favor of Frances and her husband.

There is then a gap in the records.  The 1866 tax roll is silent for Abstract #614 and the records for 1867-1876 have not been available for search.  The tract reappears in the rolls for 1877-1879, registered to Matt Wilks and brothers, Newton and Milton Wilks.  This leads to conjecture that the land was sold by Thomas Hale to Thomas Wilks when the Wilks arrived in the area in 1865-866, Thomas’ sons inheriting it from him when he died in 1871.  In the 1880 tax roll, the three brothers are listed as tax payers, but with no land.  Tax is assessed to them based on personal property, horses and cattle.  In 1885, Newton owns a tract out of the M. J. Evans Survey to the southwest of the Wilks Cemetery site.  By 1894, all three brothers own small tracts in that area.  

The next steps in this process are to 1) address the gap mentioned above to confirm the transfer of the land to the Wilks, and 2) to identify who purchased the land from the Wilks. Addressing the gap is going to take some extended legwork. Then there is the 1880 tax roll to search. It comprises some 400+ pages, and the search by abstract number is one I have to do with my eyes, so it must wait for another day as well.  In any case, by 1880, the Cemetery was a well-established burial ground so the specific land ownership is perhaps less informative.  From the point of government owned wilderness to cemetery, the tale of the land is the tale of the Kerrs, the Cagles, and the Wilks.

Story by Wanda Holmes Oliver.