| Marker Text |
Originally known as Winchester Colored Cemetery, Shiloh Cemetery has served the black community of Winchester and its vicinity since they bought it in 1890 during the town’s boom period. Its 3.6 acres abuts the east boundary of the Winchester Public Cemetery (white). A potter’s field is in the back and to its east is an area said to be for WWI soldiers. The first known burials are of newborns Hattie and Royston Penn in December 1890. The only cemetery access is a dirt drive made on adjacent property after the original access road in the white cemetery was fenced off post-WWII. To resolve the resulting problems visitors had finding the cemetery, its name was changed in the 1980s to Shiloh – for the Baptist and Methodist churches that used it. Most graves were marked with unusual rocks, tree plantings, homemade cement markers and (mid-1900s) small metal frames with plastic cards. Finer granite headstones were added in recent decades. As the population declined, so did Shiloh. It was saved by Shiloh Baptist Church, who in 2007, for its own 140th anniversary, held a ceremony here to honor black veterans who were denied military honors at their burials. A flag pole was added for the occasion. Among the burials, interred here are ex-slaves; early Shiloh Baptist members Willis and Louvina Taylor; Edward D. Threadgill, Gov. J. Hogg co-appointee; Emil Ware, Sr., father of Lt. William D. Ware (Distinguished Service Cross, Korea); Arizona Armstrong, mother of PFC. Willie Lee Page (Silver Star, Iwo Jima); Revs. Noyal Moore and Dorothy Finch, Shiloh Methodist Church; and Leon Beasley, caretaker and authority on Shiloh Cemetery. Designated Historic Texas Cemetery in 2008. |
