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The Black Jack Springs Community, now called O'Quinn, was established by a group of Anglo and German families who settled near the headwaters of the Black Jack Branch of Buckner's Creek by 1840. Pioneer Charles Luck provided land for the burial of his brother-in-law, Thomas H. Oeding (d. 1867). Oeding's is the first marked grave in this cemetery, which probably first served the Luck-Oeding family. The second known burial is that of Johann Wilhelm (Wil) Loessin (d. 1869), who volunteered with his three brothers as U.S. cavalrymen in the Civil War. Wil died from an illness contracted while held as a prisoner of war at Camp Groce, Liendo Plantation, near Hempstead. Adjoining the cemetery, residents built Trinitatis Lutheran Church in 1871 on land formally deeded by N.W. Faison. Charles Luck donated tracts of land, including the original graveyard, and heirs of Johanetta Luck Froelich Schwartz gave additional land to what became the Black Jack Springs Cemetery. Buried here are soldiers, homesteaders, carpenter craftsmen, and the renown German-Texas poet Johannes C.N. Romberg. The many names found among the stones in the cemetery chronicle the lives of early county settlers and their descendants. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2002 |
