Coontown Cemetery, Fannin County
Also known as Caney Creek Cemetery or Caney Cemetery
Written by Carolyn Gibson Sparks

 Coontown Cemetery, dating back at least until 1856 (the oldest surviving headstone), is almost all that remains of a community, Coontown, near Savoy, between Bonham and Sherman. Churches, a school, and a blacksmith shop are now only distant memories. Thomas and Owen Coonrod were two brothers from Illinois, who settled two miles southeast of Savoy in 1847.  A small community, named after the family sprang up. Several people buried at Coontown/Caney Cemetery were active in one of the community’s churches. Caney Church was organized Saturday, the third Sunday in March 1848 by Elders James Savage and Gabriel Fitzhugh, with the following members: Joseph Fowler, Charley Lee Huggins, Mary Coonrod, Huldah Lee, Elizabeth Coonrod, Lucy Fowler and Lydia Hutchins.  A permanent meeting place for the church was arranged with the purchase of land from Owen and Mary Coonrod March 13, 1854.
 Prominent figures buried at Coontown Cemetery might include: six known veterans of the Civil War, a veteran of the Cherokee Indian Wars, a Native American,  a Mason,  at least three preachers, a preacher’s wife, and a writer. The Civil War Veterans include: G.H. Dorsey , Robert Deatherage,  Finis E. Horne,  Lewis Hutchins,  Smith Isaac Massegee,    and Jesse Wrenn.  Randolph Gibson served in the Tennessee militia during the Cherokee Wars.  Preachers were extremely important to the early settlers. James Wilson Ray was a dedicated Primitive Baptist preacher, who officiated the wedding ceremony for the founder of Savoy, Col. William Savoy.    Reverend William Horne’s wife is buried at Coontown Cemetery and Reverend James Hunt also served the community as a Baptist preacher.


  Hodge, Floy Crandall. A History of Fannin County Featuring Pioneer Families, Pioneer Publishers, Hereford, Texas, p. 165.
  Primitive Baptist history website http://www.primitive baptist.org/J….istory/pilot_grove_association.html
  Fannin County Deed Records. Book H, Fannin County, Texas, pages 167-168.
  Choctaw Nation. Choctaw Roll. No. 15685 Crawford Marlow, son of Margaret Patterson Marlow (1/2 Choctaw)
  Headstone of F. Hodges bears a Masonic Emblem, indicating a member in good standing.
  Testimony of JoeAnn McIver, descendant of G.H. Dorsey, email message dated April 20, 2002, that G.H. Dorsey served in the Civil War in 33rd Mississippi Infantry, Company F, Leake Rebels from Leake Co., Mississippi.
  Rev. J.E. Deatherage. Deatherage Diary, March 27, 1865 entry and Deatherage United Daughters of the Confederacy Records. Website address – http://www.rootsweb.com/~txfannin/csadeatherage.html
  Fannin County, Biographical Souvenir, Publisher: F.A. Battey & Company, 1889, pages 411-412 published online http://www.rootsweb.com~txfannin
  Texas Military Records. Muster roll of L. Hutchens. Pvt. In Company H, 9th Regiment Texas Infantry Oct. 1861 through October 1963.
  Testimomy of Dawn Brittain. Smith Isaac Massegee enlisted in CSA on August 9, 1962, serial number 44802425. Massegee showed up on the muster roll of Company A, Crawford’s Battalion, Arkansas Calvary, March 1863; oath of amnesty in Fannin County, Texas on Oct. 12, 1865..
  Robert Riley (Bob) Massegee. A History and Genealogy of the Masse(a)gee and Associated Families. Published by Historical Publications (1905 S. Laguna Vista Drive, Orem, Utah 84058, Copyright 1985 (Library of Congress Calalog card Number 85-80857.
  Missouri Military Records. Muster roll of Jesse Wrenn. Pvt. In Company 6, 3rd Regiment Missouri Cavalry, October 1862 through February 1864.
  Tennessee Military Records. Muster roll of Randolph Gibson. Pvt. In Capt. Vernon’s Company, 1st Regiment (Smith’s), 2nd Brigade Tennessee Mounted Infantry, June 1836 through April 1837.
  Fannin County, Fannin County Folks and Facts. A Collection of Historical Sketches and Family Histories. Written by the families and friends of Fannin County, page 298.
  Fannin County Marriage Records. Marriage of William Savoy and Julia Davis, March 5, 1874.
  Fannin County. Fannin County Folks and Facts, James M. Hunt, page 220.
  Headstone of Elizabeth Horne indicates she was the wife of Reverend William Horne (likely buried at Coontown)

John English Deatherage was not only a preacher, but a fairly prolific writer as well. His diary records his trip from Tennessee to Texas in 1851,  but one of the most moving of his known writings is a poem Deatherage wrote and set to music following the death of his son, Robert Allen, from Civil War battlefield wounds. An excerpt from the poem and the pen of Reverend J.E. Deatherage, seems a fitting epitaph to the souls buried at Coontown/Caney Cemetery:

Have mercy O my father God
And take me to thy blest abode
Take me from this poor world below
Nor leave me here alone in war….

Fast to the fold of suffering saints
And tell them all your sad complaints
Yet tell them what your friend has done
And saved your soul when hope was gone.
 

Coontown Cemetery Association, a nonprofit organization, was formed in June 2000 for the purpose of preserving, restoring and protecting Coontown Cemetery. Since its formation, a mountain of garbage piled next to headstones has been removed; terracing of the low-lying cemetery site has been arranged; and a pipe and wire fence with gated entrance erected.  One headstone at the cemetery bears the inscription, "Gone but not forgotten."
The criteria for designation as a historic Texas cemetery are that the cemetery be at least 50 years old and have historic associations. Coontown/Caney Cemetery is 150 years old and is all that remains of a community known as Coontown. In addition, people buried in the cemetery contributed greatly to early Texas settlement and military support. Rev. Deatherage may have been one of the first Fannin County, Texas historians. Deatherage is said to have written Conditions and Life in Fannin and Grayson Counties 1852 to 1870.
  Deatherage, John English. Diary. Transcript located at University of Texas at Austin. The Center for American History. Original manuscript is in the hands of a descendant, Judy Watson of Oregon, Diary dated 1851+.
  Deatherage, John English. Excerpt from "Scene at Home" or "King Terror," ca. 1866.
  Internal Revenue Service. Department of the Treasury. Letter Granting 501(a) status, December 4, 2000.
  Coontown Cemetery Headstones.
  The Deatherage Genealogy Society. The Official Newsletter, Vol. I, No. IV, July 1993. Published on website – http://www.geocities.com/heartland/7013/dgs/v4pl.html