Correspondence Regarding the Cemetery of the JOHNSON County Poor Farm
Monday, March 18, 2002

I am attaching a copy of my great-grand-aunt, Lincha Ann Stone's death certificate.  I hope it will help establish the fact that a poor farm did exist in Johnson Co., Texas.

 
After I found Lincha Ann's marriage record to Mr. Stone, one of my cohorts began working with me, trying to learn what happened to her.  She obtained the death certificate then called someone at City Hall in Cleburne to try to get information about the poor farm.  All these things occurred in 1993.  She was told that all the bodies in the County Farm cemetery were dug up and re-interred in Rose Hill and Cleburne Memorial cemeteries when they were building Pat Cleburne Lake.  She then wrote to The City of Cleburne (302 West Henderson Street - P.O. Box 657 - Cleburne, TX 76033-0657) in an effort to learn where Lincha Ann had been re-interred.  Following is an extraction of the letter she received from a Mr. Charles Estell, Cemetery Supt, in response to her query:

 

I received your letter on your request for information pertaining to Lincha Ann Allison Stone.
 
I have checked our records on the County Farm People who were moved to Rosehill Cemetery in 1963.  As I told you during our telephone conversation, we have very few names of those people who were moved during that time.  I did not find Mrs. Stone's name among those listed.
 
I am enclosing a map of the area where the graves are located in.
 
If I can be of further assistance, please contact me.
 

It is my understanding that no cemetery record was kept for the County Farm Cemetery, so only those graves containing a marker were marked when the bodies were moved.  The map enclosed in Mr. Estell's letter shows that County Farm people were re-interred in section eighty-seven in Rose Hill Cemetery.  I do not know where the ones in Cleburne Memorial Cemetery are located.

 
My cohort and I did some of our communication by telephone, and I am trying to remember what she told me about Cleburne Memorial Cemetery.  From the dark recesses of my memory, it seems like she said the bodies were spread throughout that cemetery.
 
I appreciate the information you sent saying that placement in a poor farm did not always mean the person had been abandoned by their family and friends.  It does relieve my mind about this relative.
 
I look forward to hearing what you are able to learn about the Johnson County Farm.
 
Betty Hollie
bettyhol@flash.net

Return to TEXAS        HOME