Thompson Cemetery 
Forest Cherokee County, Texas
Cemeteries of Texas Coordinator: Dolores I. Bishop

Information provided by the State of Texas Atlas Site 

Location: 
About ½ mile from Forest at the south end of CR 2754. 

Marker : 
Thompson Cemetery Wiley (1799-1866) and Cynthia Ann Suttle 
(1811-1884) Thompson brought their eight children and a number 
of slaves to this area from Alabama in 1847. They purchased a 636-acre
tract of land along Larrison Creek where they built a log home on a hill 
overlooking the creek bottomland. The community that developed nearby 
became known as Forest and included a store, saloon, mills and cotton 
gin owned by the family. Four more offspring were born here to the Thompsons, 
but around 1850, two of their children died and the family reportedly buried them 
in the corner of the yard where the house once stood. These first burials that 
began this cemetery are now among the more than thirty that are unmarked; 
the earliest dated grave is that of Mrs. L.N. Williams, who died in 1863. Those 
laid to rest here include veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea 
and Vietnam. Descendants of the Thompsons and families of the forest community 
continue to contribute to the care and upkeep of this burial ground. The original 
Thompson home and other early structures are gone, but this cemetery remains 
as a chronicle of the pioneers and generations who settled and developed this area 
of Cherokee County. Historic Texas Cemetery-2002