Foster & Gourley Cemeteries

All information on these two cemeteries follows on this page

Foster Cemetery

   Foster Cemetery is northeast of Decatur in the Sycamore Community area. From Decatur go north on Fm Rd 51 and turn left on CR 2535. In about a mile you will pass the Sycamore Church on the left. Continue on 2535 for 1.5 miles until the road makes a sharp left turn. Just past the turn there is a cattle guard gate that has an oil lease sign saying "May Griffeth". Go through this cattle guard and take the pasture road to the right. You will go through 2 large double-hung pasture gates and see some cattle pens on the left. Just past these pens turn left in the pasture and go up the hill. The cemetery is at the top of the hill to the left.
   Thank you to Eddie Griffeth for telling us about this cemetery and to Nolen Griffeth for taking us to it.
   In March 2002 we accompanied Rosalie Gregg and Carla Womack to the cemetery. A pipe fence enclosed the 15 headstones and the brush was cleared.
   We were told that the little girl, Tressie Lee Edge, died on a wagon train going through the area, and she was buried in this cemetery.

Gourley or Lewis Cemetery

    Gourley Cemetery is located in the woods, just south of Hwy 380, about a quarter of a mile from the Denton-Wise County line. As you head toward Denton from Decatur on Hwy 380, look for the second gate on the right side of the road after you pass Denton Creek.
    Go through this gate on the highway. Go to the right side, and then straight ahead on the pasture road. When you come to a pasture gate look to the left and you will see some old cattle pens. The cemetery is in the woods behind these pens. An easier way to get into the cemetery is to go on through the gate and enter the cemetery from the woods on the south.

    With the help of Rosalie Gregg, I found this cemetery in March 2002. It was hard to see back in the thick woods, but I noticed all the iris plants that cover nearly an acre. It was very grown-up in brush and briars with several fallen trees. There was an old fence, but cattle are able to get in to the remaining headstones.
   I was able to take pictures of, and get information from 21 headstones, but most of them were broken and many are only engraving scratched on sandstone.
   There’s a Historical Marker on Hwy 380 in front of this place to the east of the gate. See text on right.
   We think that "Gourley" may have been a settlement with at least a store and school at one time. We have no records to tell if Susan Chisholm, buried here, was related to Jesse Chisholm.

    The information in the table below came from headstone pictures taken in March of 2002.
   Information in parenthesis ( ) came from the cemetery listings done in January 1967 by Mr. & Mrs. Homer L. Roper and Mr. & Mrs. Cletus Johnston. They were able to read some dates that I could not, and they found 5 headstones that I did not find [# is in brackets]. I found 6 headstones that they did not find.
    The information about Anderson Lewis was sent in by Chinka Pace.