Lyday Cemetery

Submitted by Susan Hawkins hawkins@texoma.net

Cemeteries of Texas Coordinator: Dolores I. Bishop

For questions concerning Fannin County contact Susan Hawkins, CC Fannin County.

Lyday Cemetery is located on HWY 904 on the east side of the road about one and a half miles south of the intersection of 904 and 1550. This is one of the early cemeteries and has many unmarked graves. Both slaves and settlers are buried there. It was near what was called Lyday’s Fort, a settler’s fort and the only bridge around these parts at that time was Lyday’s crossing (of the Sulphur River) was nearby.

Fort Lyday Historical Marker

Early Texas pioneer Isaac Lyday built a fort in this area soon after settling here in 1836. The compound consisted of living quarters, storerooms, and a large community well. As many as eighty families gathered inside the fort during Indian attacks. Due to an increase in Indian raids, the settlement was almost abandoned until Texas Ranger Captain William B. Stout came in 1838 to organize a Ranger force. Lyday was elected captain of the company and served until 1839. Fort Lyday continued to shelter settlers until Indian trouble subsided after the Civil War.

Last Name	First Name	Birth	Death	Comments
Babel **	Buck	-	Mar –- 1918	Unmarked Grave
Lyday	David E.	Feb 01 1856	Sep 15 1857	-
Lyday	Infant		Feb 22 1871	Age: 3 weeks S/o S.S. & M.J.
Lyday	Isaac F.	Dec 26 1808	Aug 20 1852	S/o T. & L.J.
Lyday	Lad J.	Aug 15 1813	Nov 08 1859	-

Buck Babel died in Erath County, Texas. He was brought back and buried in "Old Ft. Lyday Cemetery". This information from Fannin County paper obituary.