HIBDON CEMETERY
The Hibdon Cemetery is located across the
Leon River south of the Bulman Cemetery. To get there go north from Hwy 36
at
Whiteway on CR 303 into a private ranch. Hibdon Cemetery is on
the south side of the Leon River and is also south of the Bulman Cemetery
which is on the north side of the Leon River. "From
James A. Wright:
"When I was there about 3 years ago we found a grave marker for Ophelia
Jane
"Hitt" Hull. (Sister to Austin Marion Hitt) She was buried May
18, 1876.
"I was in high school when my great grandmother Polly [Mary
Frances "Polly" (Griffith)(Pruitt) Hitt] died & I helped
dig the
grave. The only grave digging I ever took part in. My grandfather, Will
Frank [William Franklin "Will Frank" White], picked out the spot from instructions by Grandmother Mary.
Grandmother wanted Polly buried by Pruitt but without proper markers we
dug
the grave in the wrong place and a few weeks later, at grandmother's
instances, Polly was moved.
There is no way to determine where any of these people are buried today.
"I am sure some of the Griffith are also buried here but I have no way of
knowing."
Incomplete
Listing:
Corrections and additions
are welcome and may be sent to Elreeta Weathers:
NAME
|
BORN
|
DIED
|
OTHER
|
GRIFFITH, JESSE JONES,
ELDER |
. |
02/10/1860 |
*Arrived in 1855 in area
which became Hamilton County in 1858
*First treasurer (appointed by Sam Houston, Jan.,
1858) of Hamilton County
*August 2, 1858, elected 1st treasurer of Hamilton
County
*First Primitive Baptist Preacher in Hamilton
County
*Established in his home the 3rd school of
record in Hamilton County
*Killed by Indians
|
HITT, AUSTIN MARION |
. |
1916 |
No Marker |
HITT, MARY FRANCES
"POLLY" (GRIFFITH) (PRUITT) |
. |
1946 |
Husband #1:
Thomas S. Pruitt
Husband #2: Austin
Marion Hitt
Married: 1883,
Hamilton County, TX
Parents: Jesse
Griffith & Violet Hendrix |
HULL, OPHELIA JANE (HITT) |
. |
05/18/1876 |
Marker |
PRUITT, THOMAS S.
|
.
|
1881
|
Wife: Mary
Frances "Polly" Griffith
No Marker
|
ELDER JESSE J. GRIFFITH
In 1855, Jesse J. Griffith arrived in the area that would become
Hamilton County. When the first Hamilton County officials were elected, on
August 2, 1858, the 80 qualified voters in the county chose Griffith to be
the first County Treasurer. In 1860, Griffith started a private school,
the 3rd school on record in the county, in his home on the banks of the
Leon River, east of the town of Hamilton. The school was in existence only
a very short time because Elder Griffith was killed not long after he
established the facility.
Griffith may have been the first Primitive Baptist preacher in Hamilton
County. The book "The
History of the Primitive Baptists in Texas, Oklahoma, and Indian Territory",
by J. S. Newman, contains the following account of Griffith's death from
an Indian attack.
"Elder J.C. White, who was known in his day as Uncle Jackie, left
Alabama October 11, 1856, and landed in Coryell County January the second
1860. At this time the county was sparsely settled and of course our
people were few and widely scattered. A short while after Elder White
settled in Coryell County he heard of an Old Baptist preacher by the name
of Griffith that lived over in Hamilton County on the Leon River, so Elder
White started to hunt Elder Griffith and as there were Indians in the
county at that time. Elder White buckled his six-shooter around him and
his gun to the horn of his saddle with his old saddle bags containing a
hymn book and Bible, so when Elder White found Elder Griffith he was soon
informed that there was a Primitive Baptist Church over in the northeast
corner of Coryell County by the name of Rainey's Creek. Arrangements
were soon made and the two Old Baptist preachers were on their way to said
church, and near where Turnersville now is, the Indians came upon them
wounding both of them, Elder Griffith died nine days after he was wounded.
Elder White's wounds were so severe that life was despaired of by his
family and his brethren. For seven weeks he was turned on a sheet in his
bed. He finally survived, his wounds got well. He died at Lampasas on
February 13, 1884. Thus passed away one of the best pioneer preachers of
Texas. Peace be to his ashes."
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