SNYDER CEMETERY

     In 2001 the Texas Historical Commission (THC) recognized the century-old Snyder Cemetery as a Historic Texas Cemetery. This designation is reserved for cemeteries that are at least 50 years old and deemed worthy of preservation for their historic association.

     The designation of Snyder Cemetery as a Historic Texas Cemetery came about through the efforts of the Scurry County Historical Commission (SCHC). The first steps in securing the designation were to prepare a brief history of the cemetery, provide a map of the property, provide photographs made in the cemetery and note some of the pioneer settlers buried there. With these requirements met and the designation approved, the SCHC purchased a medallion and interpretive plaque to be placed in the cemetery. The medallion and plaque were placed near the main entrance to the cemetery and were unveiled in a brief ceremony held on May 17. A 16-page brochure about the cemetery and some of the pioneer settlers buried there was prepared for the event and copies can be secured by sending $1.50 to the SCHC at 2610 36th Street, Snyder TX 79549.

     Historic Markers in Scurry County, published by the Scurry County Historical Survey Committee about 1969, says that Snyder Cemetery was first used in 1891. It also says, "The first burials in the area were on high ground near Deep Creek, a few blocks south of the (courthouse) square. The six or eight bodies were later moved to the graveyard in the east part of Snyder (Avenue E at 25th Street). . . . When Snyder Cemetery was started in 1891 many bodies were reburied in it. . . ." There were no more burials on the old cemetery after 1902.

     Snyder Cemetery is located on 43.99 acres in the northwest quarter of section 124, Block 3, H&GN survey at the intersection of north Avenue E and FM 1673. It is under the oversight of the Snyder Cemetery Association and records show that the first 10 acres of the cemetery were transferred to the association by C. T. Girard and others on April 20, 1892. A block in the fence running west to east on the north side of the northwest corner of section 124 reads "First Addition 1892". On September 20, 1898 Charles T. Girard transferred to the cemetery association 10 acres and on March 14, 1914 S. M. Hill and wife transferred to the association an additional 10 acres.

     The main entrance to the cemetery is on Avenue E, which forms the west boundary of the property. The west boundary is marked by a rock fence which also extends from west to east along a portion of the north boundary. An arch over the main entrance bears the legend "Woman's Culture Club, 1933."  The fence and the arch were constructed by men employed under the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), a federal program set up to create jobs for unemployed men during the Great Depression. An article in The Scurry County Times for April 6, 1933, said 75 men were working on the streets, the cemetery, and the school grounds. Snyder's city council had voted to match each $1.50 from the RFC with 50 cents from its own treasury so more men could be given work. Apparently the woman's club served as sponsor for the cemetery fence and arch.

SOME PIONEER SETTLERS IN SNYDER CEMETERY

   The oldest grave markers in the cemetery show that burials began to be made there in 1891 or before. The monument for Mr. and Mrs. John C. Webb reads, "Pioneers - lst family to settle in Snyder, built the 1st house." Mr. Webb's date of birth is given as 1832 and there is no date of death on the stone. The marker shows that Mrs. Webb (Katherine) was born in 1830 and died in 1890. In the Golden Anniversary edition of The Scurry County Times, published on December 30, 1937, the Webb's daughter, Kate, said the Webb family came to Scurry County in 1876 from Travis County. Kate was born in Brownwood as the family was on the road. Three of Kate's brothers, Jim, Jeff and Ben Webb, had already been to Scurry County and "found virgin land that seemed to extend in every direction." The family lived first in a dugout on Deep Creek belonging to a buffalo hunter. Mr. Webb died the following year, leaving Mrs. Webb and six children. In his book Deep Creek Merchant, Charles Anderson said Mr. Webb was shot by a man who was working for him after they had a disagreement. Before he died from blood poisoning, Mr. Webb told his sons he was as much as fault as the other man. The man left the area and no charges were filed.

   A few months after the Webbs reached Snyder, Kate wrote, cedar posts and slabs cut from roughly hewn cedar were hauled from Double Mountain and a rude house was constructed, covered entirely with buffalo hides, which were sewn together with strings made from the hides. It was located at 25th Street and College Avenue.

   "In 1878 the Webb boys hauled the first lumber ever brought to Snyder from Fort Worth, in government wagons drawn by oxen, and built the first house, placing it on the spot now occupied by the courthouse," Kate said, adding that it took three months for 10 to 12 yoke of oxen to make the round trip to Fort Worth fur supplies and lumber.  The Webb's house was later moved to what the newspaper identified as Tom Nunn's place in southeast Snyder and a picture of it in the 1937 Scurry County Times shows it to be a deteriorating box and strip structure with a single front door reached by three small wooden steps.

   To help support her family, Mrs. Webb took in boarders. These included W. H. (Pete) Snyder, who operated a trading post on Deep Creek before building a store on the south side of the courthouse square at 26th Street and Avenue R. W. W. Nelson said the store was used  as a courthouse before the first courthouse was built in 1886. The town of Snyder took its name from Pete Snyder even though he had moved to Colorado City in 1881 before the first post office was established here in 1885. Mr. Snyder and his wife, Nellie, are buried in the Colorado City cemetery.

   Kate would have been about 14 when her mother died. In 1884 at the age of 18, she married 33-year-old John O. Nelson. He was a traveling salesman. He traveled by horse and buggy to call on customers in the area and sometimes by train to more distant points. Mr. Nelson died in 1915. Kate became Snyder's first female postmaster that same year, serving until 1920.

   Kate was apparently never idle. She taught at the Bookout School (later the Dermott School) in 1895 when she was about 19 and, as her mother had, took in lodgers. One of these was young Olaf P. (Pete) Thrane, who had come to Scurry County in 1903 to work on the Fuller Ranch north of Snyder. Kate and Pete were married in 1917. Mr. Thrane became associated with Snyder National Bank when it was organized in 1905 and remained with the bank until he resigned to become business manager of McMurry College in Abilene in 1936. He became vice president of the college in 1941 and died Jan. 3, 1951. Kate had always kept in touch with her Snyder friends and after her husband's death bought a house at 1913 30th Street, dividing her time between Snyder and Abilene. She died on Oct. 18, 1971 in her Snyder home at the age of 95.

   Mrs. Thrane's obituary said that the Webb family brought the first cattle to Scurry County. The Nunn family also claimed to have brought the first cattle. Two Nunn brothers, John W. and Tom, said they brought about 1,500 head of cattle to the northeast part of the county in 1877. One of the boys cut the date Oct. 30, 1877 in a rock near Camp Springs.  The first large ranch in Scurry County was owned by the Nunn brothers: John W., Tom, Jim, George and Dr. William R. Nunn. It is said that the drift fence they built, one of the first in this part of the country, went to Cedar Lake.

     Tom Nunn and Pete Snyder both claimed the land on which the town of Snyder developed and Gov. John Ireland awarded the land to Nunn after a court battle. In Tom Nunn's obituary in The Scurry County Times on February 1, 1940, it was noted that he had been a contributor of many worthy causes during his lifetime.

     "Philanthropic donations by Mr. Nunn included substantial help to Southwestern University at Georgetown, the ground on which Snyder Schools are now located (at 26th Street and Avenue M), space for the county courthouse, and for the Methodist, First Baptist and First Presbyterian Churches here," it was noted.

     Mr. Nunn was often referred to as Uncle Tommie in the Snyder newspaper and his obituary referred to him as "one of the fathers of Snyder." 

     The Webbs were recognized as the first family to settle in Snyder but J. Wright Mooar holds the honor of being the first settler in Scurry County. Mr. Mooar, a native of Vermont, was a skilled buffalo hunter when he made his first hunting camp in Scurry County on October 7, 1876. Born in Pownal, Vermont, on August 10, 1851, he was only 25 when he reached this area.

     It was on that October day that Mr. Mooar killed a white buffalo on Deep Creek about 10 miles northwest of Snyder. Only seven white buffaloes were known to have been killed in the era when buffalo hunting was an industry. Mr. Mooar's white buffalo hide was shown at the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904 and he refused many offers to sell it. Visitors to the Mooar home remember being allowed to sit on the robe while Mr. Mooar related tales of his adventures. Dr. J. Winfred Hunt's accounts of Mr. Mooar's buffalo hunts were published in the popular Holland's magazine in 1933 where they were read nationwide.

     Mr. Mooar hunted until 1879 and he said he killed about 22,000 buffaloes during his career, a record probably unsurpassed. He and his brother, John, began ranching in 1877, first in Fisher County and bought a Scurry County ranch in 1883. Wright married Mrs. Julia Swartz of Colorado in 1897 and they lived on the Scurry County ranch while John and his family ran their jointly-owned livery business in Colorado City. Mr. Mooar came to be called "Scurry County's No. 1 Citizen" and, with his granddaughter Julia (Judy) McDonnell Hays rode at the head of Snyder's Texas Centennial parade in 1936.

     Mrs. Mooar died in 1921. Mr. Mooar died on May 1, 1940, and The Scurry County Times estimated that 3,000 people came to attend his funeral services at the First Methodist Church.

     W. W. (Uncle Billie) Nelson brought his bride, Nannie Johnson, to live in Snyder in 1883. He had first come to Snyder about 1877 when he was 20 and worked in a hunter's camp skinning buffalo and working as a cowboy on the Nunn. When he brought his new wife to Snyder, he said there were only three families there. They lived in a house which apparently belonged to the Nunns. It was on the courthouse square and Deep Creek provided their water. They were living in a dugout on their land in northeast Scurry County when their daughter, Ida Mae, was born in 1884 and she was said to have been the first white child born in the county.

     Nelson was named the county's first sheriff when the county was organized in 1884. He was authorized to take the lowest bid for the construction of the first jail, a wooden structure 8x10 feet to be located on the courthouse square. It is said that rowdy cowboys locked Nelson in the jail and he soon resigned as sheriff. Ida Mae said he just didn't like arresting his friends. Thomas J. Faught was named sheriff following Nelson's resignation.

     After suffering financial reverses in their ranching operation, the Nelsons moved into Snyder in 1900. Mrs. Nelson died on February 13, 1929. Even though Mr. Nelson was blind by this time, he was elected county treasurer in 1931 and again in 1933. He walked from his home at 27th Street and Avenue U to the courthouse, led by a Collie named Trixie. Before he died on January 30, 1935, he requested that the dog be buried at his feet.     

     An editorial in The Scurry County Times lauded Mr. Nelson in these words: "Uncle Billie Nelson was one of those never-say-die pioneers whose life helped make of Scurry County a richer land of promise and fruitfulness. His rugged stripe cannot be replaced."

     Confederate Capt. Andrew J. Scarborough brought his family to Snyder in 1881 and built Snyder's first hotel on the north side of the courthouse square. His grave marker in Snyder Cemetery notes that he served in Company B of the 4th Texas Cavalry during the Civil War but gives no dates for his birth or death. An obituary for Mrs. Scarborough published in the Snyder Signal on August 22, 1913 says he died in 1904.

     Better remembered than Capt. Scarborough is his son Dr. A. O. Scarborough, born on November 27, 1860 in DeWitt County. Dr. Scarborough married Nancy (Nannie) Goodwin in Snyder on October 26, 1886. She was the granddaughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. C. Cornelius who had come to Snyder in 1877 to be near their sons, Tuck and Gus. Tuck had operated the trading post on Deep Creek that was purchased by Pete Snyder in 1878. Dr. Scarborough began to "read" (medicine) under Dr. Cornelius and in 1889 graduated from the Missouri Medical College in St. Louis. He then returned to Snyder to begin a practice that continued for 66 years, most of that time in Snyder.

   In 1910 Dr. Scarborough built a three-story building at the corner of 26th Street and Avenue R. The first floor housed the Snyder Drug Company while the second and third floors were fitted up as a well-equipped sanitarium. When the sanitarium proved unprofitable, he converted the building and the two adjoining buildings into the Manhattan Hotel which operated through the Snyder's oil boom days. Dr. Scarborough was chief surgeon for the Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific Railroad and was the first public health officer in Scurry County.

   Dr. Scarborough was called the oldest practicing physician between Fort Worth and El Paso in 1937 and continued to practice after that time. He died on October 7, 1952.

    Mrs. Scarborough died on July 5, 1963.

   The lure of free grazing brought young W. A. (Billie) Johnson to Scurry County in 1878.

   He told this story to his grandson, Weldon Johnson:

   "I was  on an easy fox trotting gelding riding point on a mixed herd of South Texas cattle up the trail north and west from Burnet County - we had followed the Colorado River, then cut across the breaks toward Double Mountain - the cattle were in good shape on grass stirrup high, but the day was hot for the middle of May - when I heard the sweet sound of running water as my horse broke stride to jump the creek."

   Johnson cut out a few head of young cows with calves and left them on the creek, then returned home. He returned soon and built a half dugout and rock house. He married Nannie Sims in Burnet County on July 22, 1884 and they returned there to make their first home.

   In 1879, three young men related to Johnson by marriage settled nearby. Thomas J. Faught, who had married Ophelia Sims, settled in the Rough Creek area. O. P. "Pack" Wolfe, whose wife was Mollie Sims, also came. W. D. Sims, a brother, settled near Dripping Springs. He later married Mrs. Cagie I. Grizzle.

   R. T. Mellard and A. E. Cressup, a brother-in-law on the Johnson side, also took up land in the area. In 1881, George W., Jack and Lon Smith, brothers from Burnet County, bought them out. George Smith and Johnson were instrumental in organizing Snyder's First National Bank and built a new bank building at 1825 25th Street. Smith served as bank president until his death in 1902 when Johnson took over and also served as president of the Fluvanna State Bank. Both men also had large land holdings.  Mr. Johnson died in 1931 and Mrs. Johnson in 1938.               

     Faught became Scurry County's second sheriff when W. W. (Billie) Johnson resigned that office. He was later elected to three terms. Faught was a big man who demanded and got respect for law and order during some rowdy times. He never carried a gun. He was a charter member of Snyder's Masonic Lodge and built a two-story building at 1801 25th Street to provide a  meeting place for the lodge. What is now 27th Street was first named Faught Street in his honor. He died on August 2, 1912 at the age of 65. An Official Texas Law Enforcement Grave Marker was placed on his grave in 1968.

     Wolfe generously allowed a neighbor to water his cattle his land on Rough and learned too late that the cattle were infected. He was forced to sell out and moved into Snyder, buying 66 acres along Deep Creek in north Snyder. That land became Wolfe Park and was the site of rodeos, a roller rink, ball games and horse races. In 1917 the second group of Scurry County men drafted for military service in World War I set up a temporary camp in the park. They had expected to go to Camp Travis but due to the large number of smallpox cases were ordered to remain in Snyder briefly. In 1926, The Scurry County Times estimated that between 12,000 and 15,000 people swarmed the park for "the finest Fourth of July that was ever attempted in Snyder."

   Wolfe was appointed Snyder's city marshal in 1906 and served until 1926. During World War I he, along with several other prominent Snyder residents, was signed up as a Loyalty Ranger in the Texas Rangers in the event they were needed for protection on the home front.

   When Wolfe died in September of 1927, the Scurry County Times wrote: "Thus passes another Scurry pioneer whose friends were counted by those whom he knew. A gentlemen - a true, noble pioneer, 'Uncle Pack' Wolfe leaves a sweet memory to those who knew him best." An Official Texas Law Enforcement Grave Marker was placed on his grave in 1967. Mrs. Wolfe died in 1937.

   Sims was a rancher and business man and at one time a vice president of the First   National Bank. He died in April, 1937. Mrs. Sims died in 1931.

   C. R. Buchanan, who has been called "The Father of Scurry County," was born October 3, 1869 in Smyth County, Va. His family moved to Scurry County in 1893 and Mr. Buchanan attended Baylor University and the University of Texas. He married Karen Almarine (Alma) Wright on May 21, 1901. Mrs. Buchanan and Mrs. J. T. Whitmore, wife of a Snyder doctor, were the first women to be appointed to the Snyder school board. In 1902 Mr. Buchanan was elected Scurry County clerk. In 1906 he was elected county judge and served two terms before leaving office to form a private law practice. He was elected county judge again in 1912 and then served two terms as state representative. In 1930, he was named to the county judge's office once more and died in office on September 15, 1931. Mrs. Buchanan owned and operated the Scurry County Abstract Office for many years. She died in Austin on September 12, 1964.

   Charley Lockhart, born in Dallas County, came to Snyder in 1898 and was elected county treasurer in 1900.

   "The courthouse at that time stood on the northeast corner of the square," Lockhart told the Scurry County Times in 1937. "My office and the county attorney's office adjoined the jail and I roomed in my office and had my meals in a hotel next to a livery stable."

     Lockhart was re-elected to the county office eight times. In 1919 he went to Austin to work with the sergeant-at-arms of the house of representatives. In 1930 he was elected state treasurer. In 1931, Ripley's Believe It Or Not newspaper feature featured a drawing of Lockhart under the caption "Texas, the largest state in the Union, has the smallest treasurer, Charley Lockhart, 45 inches tall."

     The Houston Post interviewed Lockhart when he entered the race for the state treasurer's office.

     "I want you to make it perfectly clear that I am fighting this battle on manhood alone," he said. "I don't want the votes that are given me through a feeling that life has not handed me a square deal. Life has been good to me. I have filled public office, earned the confidence and friendship of my fellows and educated my children. . . . I'm simply a little man with big ideas and sufficient experience and ability to carry my ideas out..."

     Mr. Lockhart died in 1954. 

     Cullen Higgins was born in 1876, the same year that Scurry County was created by the Texas legislature, and came to Scurry County in 1899 to practice law. His father, John Calhoun Pinkney (Pink) Higgins, a well-known figure in the Higgins-Horrell feud in Lampasas County, had moved to Kent County in 1898.

     Cullen was elected district attorney in 1902 and district judge in 1906. He and his wife, Olive, were active members of the Methodist Church and she was also active in women's clubs. Mr. Higgins left office in 1910 to devote his time to his private law practice. On Sunday, March 17, 1918 he had gone to Clairemont to attend court the following day and, after attending evening church services, had returned to his hotel. He was shot through a window of the hotel and died two days later in a hospital in Spur. The Masonic lodge of Spur formed a procession to escort the body 20 miles out of their town as the funeral party started toward Snyder.

     The Methodist Church was filled to overflowing when funeral services for Mr. Higgins were held there. Three men were indicted in connection with the incident but there was no trial. In 1920, The Snyder Signal reported that R. I. Goodall, Kent County sheriff at the time of the shooting, was entitled to the reward of $500 offered by the state for the arrest and conviction of the guilty person.

     "Goodall arrested a man named (Sy) Bostick in Garza county and delivered the prisoner to two Rangers, who placed him in jail in Sweetwater," the newspaper article said. "It is stated in the opinion that Bostick confessed to the two Rangers. Subsequently Bostick committed suicide and there never was a conviction."