Newspaper Article - Smith Cemetary, Lewisville, Texas

This article by Jeff Fielder, Staff Writer for the Lewisville News,
was published on Friday, June 16, 2000.

Every afternoon, Linda Smith likes to leave her job at the Post Office for a quiet place to read, reflect and relax.

Her favorite spot is a little unusual at first glance.

"I have a whole different view of this cemetery since I have been taking care of it", the president of Smith Cemetery said Monday. "You can tell that a lot of people planted a lot of love up here."

When her father, Fred Thacker, died April 18, 1999, she decided she wanted to bury him in Lewisville so she could be close to him. When she found Smith Cemetery, she says she knew she'd discovered a hidden jewel among Lewisville' rich history.

Locked beneath years of overgrown thistle brushes, trees and shrubs, lay headstones dating back to the mid 1800's. Buried in small plots, usually marked by hand-etched headstones, barely legible through years of weathering, rest former slaves, confederate solders, war veterans, babies, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters signifying days long gone by.

These headstones side by side mark the final resting places of three newborn babies. Near them, their mother and father have similar markings. At the bottom of the main hill in the center of the burial grounds, nestled at the end of a dirt road in Lewisville's Old Town District, a small headstone sits by itself, far away from the obvious plots.

Linda Smith believes this headstone has washed away from it's original spot, but there's no way of knowing without a professional survey of the 138 year old site.

"Some of these headstones are not in the right places anymore", Smith said. "A lot of families have died off and we may never really know all the people buried up here."

But Smith, who claims no relation to the original family who deeded the property to the Masonic Lodge for $25.00 in 1882, says she doesn't want to see any more vandalism or lose the fading history in the 4.5 acre cemetery.

And for the past four months, she and her husband, Richard, along with their son-in-law, Glen Mills, have been spending every weekend pulling weeds, planting flowers, removing bushes and shrubs, trimming trees and mowing the grass.

That's not to say that the burial grounds has been neglected. For the past 10 years, Bob Gifford of Lewisville has been the secretary treasurer of the Smith Cemetery Association. He comes out on weekends and cuts the grass and takes donations, but he says Smith has been a breath of life into the graveyard.

"The Lord works in mysterious ways." Gifford said Wednesday. "It was a blessing that Linda (Smith) came along".

Gifford and Jere Freeman, the former president of the Smith Cemetery Association, say Smith has provided an energy to the cemetery they haven't seen in years.

Ken Bourland of Plano, who's aunt was a member of the Smith family, is one of the few surviving of the Bourland family in this area. At least 10, maybe more, of his family members are buried in the Smith cemetery.

"It was really depressing for a long time because so many relatives were up there and we were so far away," Bourland said from his home Tuesday. "Linda (Smith) and her friends have done so much work up there and it's done a 180 degree turn around. It's really a place to be proud of now."

The beginnings of Smith Cemetery are somewhat clouded by historical fact and historical fiction. It is believed that Overton Littleton Hamilton, the owner of the Lewisville Enterprise, Lewisville's first newspaper, had a daughter named Verga. She married Guy Bourland and they had several children, all of which died.

I must have a very dull interviewee for Jeff to think that ALL of my Mother and Father's children had died. (K. Bourland, June 2004).

Correction: It was Freda Alice (Hamilton) Temple who married Donald Ross Temple who's children all died.

Guy and Verga Bourland had Six children, all but one lived to be adults

The Smith family owned a farm in what is now an industrial section off of Kealy Street. The Bourland's, the Hamilton's and the Freeman's were all friends with the Smith family and they used a small section on the farm as a community grave site. As more and more people passed away, the Smith's decided to deed the property to the Masonic Lodge in 1882.

On August 27, 1950, the Smith Cemetery Association was created, and in a quick deed the title was turned over to the association for $1. Since that time, the land has remained in control of the association. And every few years, someone comes along who shows promise as the next person to really care for the land.

For 10 years it has been Bob Gifford. Today it is Linda Smith.

Along with the help of council member Dean Ueckert, Waster Management, Inc., Jackson Realty, Lewisville Rental, 1st International Bank Loan Production Office and Metro Cutting and Sealing, Linda Smith and TXU Gas and Electric are planning a clean-up day project starting at 8 a.m., Saturday. This TXU's annual community project, and more than 35 employees are expected to attend the clean-up effort.

Lunch is being provided by 1st International Bank and is being catered by the Mill Street Cafe.

"This will probably be a life-long project for us," Linda Smith said. "It's been a real blessing and a real challenge."