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The old city cemetery is located on land once owned by George Washington Wright (1809-1877), founder of the city of Paris. The oldest grave here is said to be that of a free black man who worked for Wright. Although the stone is illegible, the date is thought to be 1845. The oldest legible stone marks the grave of Thomas Wortham (1776-1846). Site of the primary burial ground for Paris between 1845-1865, the plot was also referred to as Wright's Cemetery. In 1866 the Evergreen Cemetery was begun, called the New Cemetery, and many graves were exhumed and moved there. George W. Wright was buried in the Old Cemetery in 1877. A cemetery association was formed in 1879, and in 1885 Wright heirs deeded the land to its trustees. In 1922 the cemetery was deeded to the city of Paris and a standpipe was located there for the new Lake Crook Waterworks. The cemetery contains approximately 325 graves. About one hundred markers are intact, and show the majority of burials to have taken place between 1870-1910. Many early community leaders are buried here, and a granite marker honors members of the 9th Texas Infantry, C. S. A., who died in a measles epidemic in 1862. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986 |
