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To help recognize its African American heritage, Tyler County resident John Cruse donated two acres here in 1906 to the Moss Hill community for church and cemetery purposes. According to local tradition the cemetery was established in the early 1900s because of the rising number of deaths within the membership of Moss Hill's Baptist Church. Although evidence of several unmarked grave sites suggests prior burials, the first documented interment was that of Lane Siggers in 1907. Other early burials include those of Harriet Barlow in 1913, Ellis Gilder in 1916, Lottie Blackmon in 1917, Willie Blackmon in 1918, David Rigsby in 1922, J. C. McCartney in 1926, and Lizziebeth Cluff in 1926. The cemetery contains the grave sites of many of this area's most prominent civic and religious leaders. In the early 1980s a group of local citizens formed the Moss Hill Cemetery Committee to help maintain the cemetery grounds. The committee sponsored garage and bake sales and other projects which raised sufficient funds to purchase and install a fence. Members of the community established a tradition of meeting during the fall of each year for a cemetery homecoming and grounds maintenance. |
