|
Drummond Cemetery Association Don
E. Landers, Historian 2133
Castle Drive Clyde, Texas 79510 |
 |
Board
of Directors Jackie
Richards, Pres Paul
Davis, Vice-Pres Henry
Pinkston Janice
Smith Charleen Ashby |
Drummond Cemetery,
Taylor Co., Cemeteries
of Texas
Prepared
by Eve N. Landers, December, 2003 For
Lookups, Contact Eve Landers Put
Drummond Cemetery in Subject Line
In 1879 after the death of her husband in
the suburb of Kingston, Saint Andrew Parish, S. E. Jamaica, Helen Fanny Harris
Drummond sought refuge with her sister, Mary A. Harris Robinson, in Bedford,
England.[1]
After settling personal affairs she immigrated to the United States in
1885.[2]
Helen Fanny Drummond settled in Brazos County, Texas with her five youngest
children.[3]
Later Helen Fanny Drummond moved to Taylor County and purchased
one-hundred acres of land known as the J. M. Saucedo Survey from William Walter
and Mary Alice Hammond on October 19, 1891.[4]
This deed was recorded in Book 1, page 353 of the Deed Records of Taylor
County and was filed on October 23, 1891. Four
years later in about 1895 she donated the original two acres of land for the
Drummond Cemetery. The deed for the
land was not recorded in the Taylor County Courthouse until March 28, 1901. [5]
This deed was recorded in Book 2, page 320, of the Deed Records of Taylor County
by her son, Harry Upward Drummond and filed for record on November 5, 1901 and
was recorded on November 6, 1901. The
original trustees were H. R. Wilson, J. L. Sligh, and J. H. Ashby.
Currently one member of the board of directors for the Drummond Cemetery
Association, Charleen Ashby, is the wife of a descendant of an original trustee.
Jackie Richards, current
President of the Drummond Cemetery Association, is the great-grandson of Helen
Fanny Harris Drummond.
It is reported that the oldest grave in the Drummond Cemetery is dated
about 1892. This grave is believed
to be that of an unknown infant. The
infant’s grave is marked by a small pile of stones and is located in the south
section, row 2, grave 20.[6]
The oldest marked grave in the cemetery is that of an infant boy, the son
of Joseph C. and Nannie Stewart Hammond. This
grave is located in the south section, row 1, grave 8.[7]
This child was born on 11 July 1892 and died 12 July 1892.
This infant was the nephew of William Walter Hammond who was the owner of
the land sold to Helen Fanny Harris Drummond in 1891.
Helen Fanny Harris Drummond was laid to rest in the Drummond Cemetery on
16 June 1896. [8]
Several members of her family are interred in the cemetery.
Early settlers Harry U. Drummond, Joseph C. Hammond, Nannie Stewart
Hammond, William Walter Hammond, and Mary Alice Hammond were also laid to rest
in the Drummond Cemetery.
Two additional tracts of land were purchased on 10 January 1996 to expand
the cemetery on the east and north sides. A
one-acre tract was purchased from Michael F. Welch and Barbara Welch.
This deed was filed in Volume 2134, page 917 of the Deed Records of
Taylor County on the 29th day of January 1996. [9]
A 0.413-acre tract was purchased from Arvil H. Alexander and Dorothy Alexander
on January 10, 1996. This deed was
filed in Volume 2134, page 921, of the Deed Records of Taylor County on 29th
of January 1996.[10]
A site map is on file at the Taylor County Appraisal Office indicating
the location of the 3.42 acre cemetery.[11]
In 1978 Ima Cotten Jennings, prepared an index of the Drummond Cemetery
which has been widely distributed. A
copy of this index is on file in the genealogy reference section of the Abilene
Public Library.[12]
Ima Cotten Jennings was the daughter of Addie E. Faucett and Stonewall
Jackson Cotten. Ima Cotten
Jennings, a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, was laid to rest
in the Drummond Cemetery on December 25, 1991.[13] In
December
1999 Don E. Landers, Historian for the Drummond Cemetery Association
designed and developed a computer database of interments in the cemetery.
This catalog and computer database is continuously maintained by entering
each new interment or upon the identification of an unmarked grave.
Updated records are regularly provided to the Drummond Cemetery
Association. Don E. Landers’ great-grandmother, Maggie A. Lytle Stacy, died in
the View Community on 19 Jun 1916 and was buried in the Drummond Cemetery.
A rectangular, marble marker with only her engraved initials was placed
to mark her grave site. Not wanting
to disturb the sentiment or historical importance of the original marker but
also wanting to have a more informative marker for this lady, her descendants
had a granite marker with her name, year of birth, and date of death placed flat
on the ground just in front of the marble marker.[14] One
of the most notable focal points in the Drummond Cemetery is the grave site of
one of the earliest settlers of the area. In
the 1880 Taylor County Census Martha Heffernan, along with her husband who was a
land owner and shoemaker, William Heffernan, and children lived in Precinct 1
(View), Taylor County.[15]
According to her death certificate she died on 30 October 1918 in
Jonesboro, Coryell County, Texas and her body was taken by train to Merkel,
Taylor County, Texas.[16]
She was then laid to rest in the Drummond Cemetery, and her place of
interment is enclosed within the only iron fence structure in the cemetery.
The medallion on the gate indicates the fence was purchased from the
Stewart Iron Works Company in Cincinnati, Ohio.[17]
For numerous years the Drummond Cemetery had been cared for by those in
the community who held the cemetery in great esteem as a hallowed ground for a
beloved family member. On October
14, 1973 the Drummond Cemetery Association was organized at the View Baptist
Church to maintain the grounds, preserve cemetery records, and conduct business
affairs. With the help of
volunteers and monetary donations the association has been able to maintain the
cemetery, erect markers for unmarked graves, and build a meditation chapel.[18]
Because of personal interests in the cemetery the lives of the
association members and the community are connected through this revered
cemetery. It is the desire of the
association and the community to have the Drummond Cemetery recognized by the
Texas Historical Commission.
[1]
1880 British Census, Bedford St. Paul, Bedford, England, Family History
Library Film 1341387, page 55.
[2]
1930
United States Census, Taylor County, Texas (Roll T626) Enumeration District
22, p. 6-A.
[3]
Abilene Reporter News, Vol. LXXIV, No. 155,
Obituary for H. U. Drummond, Sunday, November 21, 1954.
[4]
Taylor County Deed Record, Book 1, page 353.
[5]
Taylor County Deed Record, Book 2, page 320.
[6]
Drummond Cemetery, photo of oldest grave site.
[7]
Drummond Cemetery, photo of marker for infant son of J. C. & Nannie
Stewart Hammond.
[8]
Drummond Cemetery, photo of Helen Fanny Drummond’s marker.
[9]
Taylor County Deed Records, Book 2134, page 917.