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Among the earliest settlers of this area were J.E. & Mary Jane Blevins and their children. Arriving in 1902, they were soon involved in the organization of a community school, post office, and church. J.E. & Mary Jane Blevins donated land for each of those endeavors, as well as for a community cemetery. The Quail Cemetery was created in 1904, shortly after the death of the Blevins' infant son. The grieving parents donated land for a cemetery, and their son was the first to be buried here. There was no fence around the burial ground. Townspeople chose grave sites in which to bury members of their families. Though most graves are marked, some have plain stones, and the cemetery does contain some unmarked graves. Many of the burials are those of infants and young children, a testament to the hardships of life and rudimentary medical care in early Collingsworth County. Area pioneers buried in the Quail Cemetery include: J.E. Blevins (1860-1956), Mary Jane Blevins (1868-1926), Lydia Rose Atkinson (d. 1908), W.M. Barton (d. 1932), Lee Jeffres (d. 1932), W.I. Atkinson (d. 1940), J.A. White (d. 1915). Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986 |
