Teague

Latest Update on cemetery work- 2004

(New Headstone found!!! See #29 in table below!!)

Here are a few photos from today where there was more work going on at Teague. The stump grinder was rented and David Wilson used it for several hours today. Stumps were ground along the fence rows today to prepare for digging holes for the fence posts. Dale Ellison worked today probing for more possible headstones/markers. You will notice the trees that have been cut by Dale in the background of some of these photos. He has marked off areas and is probing to see if more buried stones can be found.

Thanks for all the help!

Pictures below:
Picture of Dale Ellison with dead tree he cut down in the background. You can see a great view of the very back (east side) of the cemetery near the dirt road/creek as it looks today - cleared out!!! We found several buried rocks/markers that we think are graves since they are near the old live oaks that had previously been cut down.

Stump grinder in action! David Wilson using the stump grinder today near the northwest corner of the cemetery. It will look so much better and easier to maintain with those stumps gone!

Stumps that were ground near the Huff graves. There were some real big trees in front of the Huff graves and this will be where the front of the new fence will go so these stumps needed to be ground!

Clean-up December 2004

Our brush pile outside of Teague Cemetery is really GROWING! Take a look at the pictures (at bottom of page) taken by Dale Ellison this past weekend. Dale Ellison and Don Dye came out to the Teague Cemetery on Saturday and really worked hard!! We cleared out more of the area back behind the cemetery between the back fence and the dirt road near the creek. It was so thick with trees and what Dale calls green barb wire (the green stickery briar that grows thick in trees! yuk!) Dale Ellison came out by himself on Sunday and cleared out more trees in this same area and it looks so nice now! We left all the live oaks that were there and the old stumps of the big live oaks that were once there. We left some of the Osage Orange Tree (Bois d' Arc Trees) that Mrs. Pegues says in her Newark book that the Indians were afraid of since they thought they have evil spirits. This back area is now completely cleared out and it looks so nice now! It is really beginning to take shape and you can see great potential. I think a uniform fence will make all the difference in the world.

An employee of Devon Energy met me at the cemetery on Friday and they will deliver for us or I can pick up the pipe for the fence. I really appreciate this donation of pipe! I am excited about getting a good fence back up to protect the markers and headstones. I am applying for a new historic plague for this cemetery with the Texas Historical Commission. I could use some help with this if anyone is interested.

We will be doing more work at the cemetery between Christmas (after Christmas) and New Year's Day. I would like to get the fence up as soon as possible and then begin trying to restore what is left of any markers and some of the headstones that need repair and then paint the fence one uniform color.

I would like to put in some benches and make the cemetery look nice!! Eventually, I would like to put ONE NICE HEADSTONE with everyone's name on it that is buried in the cemetery with dates possibly. I may ask for donations to try to get this done. There are so many unmarked graves and graves that just have a rock (or crumbled rock) that I think it would be very nice to have one real nice marker in the cemetery with everyone's name on it.

I really feel this is a worthwhile project for all of us and I would like to contact more families of those buried in Teague and let them know what we are doing. I feel that these pioneers of Wise County now buried in Teague Cemetery deserve our efforts to preserve this beautiful setting that is now their place of rest.

Let me know if you would like to help.

Tammy Wilson

2813 Rosecliff Terrace

Grapevine, TX 76051

817-903-1044 Cell

descendant of Helm/Oates family buried in Teague Cemetery

Email Tammy - [email protected]

Here are some areas where we could use some help:

HELP IS NEEDED WITH THE FOLLOWING IF ANYONE CAN HELP OR HAS A SUGGESTION:

1. NEED STUMP GRINDER (I CAN RENT ONE) OR SOMEONE TO HELP ME GET THIS DONE.

2. NEED WELDERS FOR PIPE FENCE OR THOSE WILLING TO LEARN!!

3. HEADSTONE RESTORATION HELP!!!!

4. DONATION OF QUIKCRETE FOR SETTING POSTS FOR NEW FENCE.

5. I NEED LOTS OF HELP RAKING THE CEMETERY!!! WE NEED TO FIND THE HIDDEN AND BROKEN HEADSTONES AND THE ONLY WAY TO DO THIS IS TO RAKE THE CEMETERY VERY GOOD.

6. HELP FINDING MORE RELATIVES OF THOSE BURIED IN TEAGUE. MR. PEGUES TELLS ME THERE ARE A LOT OF RELATIVES FOR NICHOLAS DAWSON AND JACOB MOFFET. IF YOU ARE SOMEONE THAT WOULD LIKE TO HELP WITH RESEARCHING THIS, LET ME KNOW!!! THIS WOULD REALLY HELP!!!

7. TRACTOR THAT CAN DIG HOLES FOR THE POSTS FOR THE FENCE.

8. NEED A CONTACT SIGN SHOWING THE WEBSITE AND MY CONTACT INFORMATION FOR POSSIBLE INTEREST IN THE CEMETERY/RESTORATION.

9. HELP MAPPING OUT THE CEMETERY.

10. HELP SECURING CONTINUAL CARE TO THE CEMETERY SO THAT IT WILL NEVER GET IN THIS KIND OF SHAPE AGAIN. I WOULD LIKE TO ASK DIDO CEMETERY IF THEY COULD HELP.

I HAD A WELDER BUT HE WENT TO WORK FOR A COMPANY AND WILL LET US USE ALL OF HIS EQUIPMENT. I HAVE SOME OTHER PROSPECTS BUT IF YOU ARE OR KNOW OF A WELDER IT WOULD REALLY HELP OTHERWISE I MAY HAVE TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO PAY ONE.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN HELP IN ANY OF THESE AREAS. I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE ANY HELP/SUGGESTIONS!!!

Teague Cemetery
(1/4 Mile E)

Named for John Teague, a veteran of the war with Mexico (1846-48) who came from Missouri with his family in 1858 and settled this land. Teague also served on the frontier during the Civil War. Teague�s mother, or a son, was possibly the first burial here. The earliest gravestone is that of the Rev. Jacob Moffett, who was killed by Indians on Sept 5, 1865. The cemetery contains about 30 graves, of which only 12 have inscribed tombstones. In 1885, Teague moved to Foard County, and the cemetery was no longer used, as other burial plots were opened in the area.

Headstone #29 uncovered in 2004

Etta Pegues' poem about Jacob Moffett :

THE BIBLE AND THE ARROW

(Ballad of Parson Jacob Moffett)

The sky was blue that Sunday morning,

As Newark skies are bright

When air hangs feather-light with promise

With not a cloud in sight.

Parson Moffett rode alone,

His Bible for a mate,

As step by step he traveled west

To meet a dreadful fate.

The oriflame of ministry

Was borne with joy and pride

As he spread glad tiding of good news

Around the countryside.

He reached the Trinity Rivier

And stopped to rest a spell,

While he reviewed his sermon theme,

A test on grace and hell.

Comanches swooped down unaware

With murder in their heart,

They poised the bow and took their aim,

Let go to the poisoned dart.

His head was severed from his neck,

His scalp became their own...

No friend was there to weep for him

Or hear his dying groan.

The people on the hilltop heard

And were paralyzed with fear,

As hour by hour the terror grew,

So no one ventured near.

Until Sam Hyas, a friend indeed

Who raised a lustrous dome,

Though not alone, God went with him,

To haul the body home.

His wife placed a sapling at his grave

To form a canopy

Like a parson bowing long in prayer

In its lonely liturgy.

More than a century has passed

Since all the Indian raids,

But the tree still stands steadfast and strong

As the man whose grave it shades.

They searched the site where Jacob died

And froze at what they found:

An arrow pierced the sacred Book

And pinned it to the ground.

His congregation waits for him

In the regions of the sky,

Where murders will never ride

And arrows never fly.

It comes from the History of Wise County Volume II.....

I really think it fits this cemetery of very early pioneers of Wise County.

Etta Pegues may have put this in the History of Wise County.

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:

Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours,

and their works do follow them.

Revelation 14:13

[17]	Boyd	John G., Sr.	no dates
15	Craig	Jacob		Dec 10, 1871	TX PVT 1 Frontier District Confederate States Army (Husband of Miranda H. Huff, daughter of Nathan)
10	Dawson	Nicholas H.		July 12, 1870	Aged 32 yrs, 6 mos, 9 dys - Killed and scalped by Indians - Headstone repaired by Ray & Freeda Ford Harlow Dec 21, 1970
[18]	Dawson	Mother	no dates
[19]	Dawson	Sr.	no dates
[20]	Hays	Infant	no dates
[21]	Hays	Martha Pachel		1875
[22]	Hays	Mary	no dates
[23]	Hays	Samuel	no dates
2	Helm	Margaret E.		Mar 2, 1875	Aged 22 yrs. - Headstone with Cyntha J. Mullis and W.S., Mary A. & Lucy L. Oates
7	Helm	Curtis	no dates
12	Huff	Nathan	Apr 19, 1804	Jan 25, 1877	(Picture taken in 1991 and sent in by Benny & Linda Huff) (3 of his daughters were married to Civil War Veterans) (3 of his sons, Charles R., Joshua F. & Samuel M., were Civil War Veterans - Samuel was killed in the war)
13	Huff	Rachel		Jan 24, 1874	Aged 67 yrs 15 dys - Wife of Nathan - (Picture taken in 1991 and sent in by Benny & Linda Huff)
14	Huff	James N.	Dec 30, 1876	Sept 11, 1877	Son of N.H. & M.L. - (Info. Submitted by Benny Huff:) (Son of Nathan H. & Mary Lucetta Whitten Huff) ( Nathan H. Huff died Jan 26, 1918 in Boyd) (Grandson of Nathan P. & Rachel Radcliff Huff)
[24]	Huff	Andrew	no dates		Grandson of Nathan
29	McCraw	T.E.	Mar 1?, 1846	Aug 29, ?	Stone uncovered and picture taken by Dale Ellison & Darrell Minter- Dec 2004
9	Moffett	Infant	Feb 25, 1876	Feb 25, 1876	Infant of J.C. & J.
11	Moffett	Jacob		Sept 4, 1865	Aged 44 yrs, 4 dys - Killed by Indians
3	Mullis	Cyntha J.		Apr 12, 1866	Aged 18 yrs. - Headstone with Margaret E. Helm and W.S., Mary A. & Lucy L. Oates
8	Mullis	Infant	no dates		Infant of J. & C.J.
[25]	Nichols	Ira	no dates
[26]	Nichols	Exay	no dates
1	Oates	Mary Maude		May 27, 1883	Aged 9 mos. - Infant of M.T. & M.E.
4	Oates	W.S.		Mar 10, 1864	Aged 44 yrs. - Died at Buffalo Hospital I.T. - Headstone with Margaret E. Helm, Cyntha J. Mullis and Mary A. & Lucy L. Oates
5	Oates	Mary A.		May 16, 1873	Aged 46 yrs. - Wife of W.S. - Headstone with Margaret E. Helm, Cyntha J. Mullis and W.S. & Lucy L. Oates
6	Oates	Lucy L.		June 16, 1869	Aged 18 yrs. - Headstone with Margaret E. Helm, Cyntha J. Mullis and W.S. & Mary A. Oates
16	Smith	Elizabeth H.	1829	1871	(Found in Dec 2000 by Homer Hodges, but not seen in Aug 2001)(New picture after clean-up, 2004)
[27]	Teague	Sarah Killian	no dates
[28]	Teague	Infant	no dates		Son of Mary J.