Location: Abston Cemetery is 8.5 miles south of Farmersville, Texas on Hwy 78 at Lavon, Texas. The cemetery is on the west side of the road at Mallard Park.

Historical Marker  photo by Charlotte Bartek

Abston Cemetery. John Abston (1761-1856), a soldier in the American Revolution, was a native of Virginia. In the 1830's 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 Abston 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. (1988)

The cemetery is located at Mallard Park on Hwy.78 between Lavon and Farmersville. A historical marker was placed at the cemetery gate in 1988. The eastern half of the cemetery is full of white, wooden crosses with "Only God Knows" painted on them; most stand at places where the ground has sunk, clearly indicated a grave. There are several piles of broken tombstone pieces in the cemetery.
For purposes of transcription, the cemetery gate is used as the dividing point of the cemetery into east and west halves. Since there are so few marked graves in the cemetery and a tombstone would be fairly easy to find, the names are listed in alphabetical order. The names and dates are transcribed exactly as written on the old stones.

East Section                            West Section

Transcription & Marker photos by Elaine Nall Bay & Patricia Nall

Surveyed December 11, 2005

East section