| Marker Text |
Located on a tributary of the Navasota River known as Running Branch, this cemetery has been in use since the days of Reconstruction in Texas. Soon after the end of the Civil War, a group of settlers, including Dr. J. L. Sansom, P. K. Mckenzie, and Allen Goodwin, came to this area from Mississippi and built a church and school. The community came to be called Mount Joy. Dr. Sansom donated two acres of his land for this cemetery about 1870. By 1877, Sansom had sold part of his acreage to H. Wageman (later spelled Wedgman). Land for a right-of-way and cemetery parking was deeded from Wageman's land in 1929. The oldest marked graves in the cemetery are dated 1873. Dr. Sansom is buried here, as is J. W. Seale, who served as postmaster of the nearby settlement of Seale. Tombstones bear the names of many other area pioneers and several Confederate veterans. The number of infants buried here during the latter years of the nineteenth century reflects the hardship of pioneer life. Although most of the early settlements are gone, the Sansom/Wedgman Cemetery remains in use and is cared for by descendants of the pioneers. 1985 |
