St. Mary Cemetery

Jul 16

Site Brief:

Founded: 1855

Location: Italy, TX

Additional name(s): Saint Mary Cemetery

Affiliate group(s): N/A

History:

St. Mary Cemetery (established circa 1855), located in what was once a Texas Freedom Community bearing the same name in South Ellis County, Texas, is the burial place of those enslaved by General Edward H. Tarrant and their descendants. In addition to Tarrant graves, burials include the surnames: Graves, Hardeman, Hawkins, Herron, Hines, Myers, Payne, Rankin, Richardson, Sims, Standifer, Sweatt and Watson, formerly enslaved individuals and their descendants from nearby smaller plantations and farms whose descriptions can be found on both the Texas Slave Schedules of 1850 and 1860, and the United States Census in Ellis County, Texas, 1870 through 1940.

Willoughby Rankin can be traced to Stephen F. Austin's Old 300 Texas Colonists. He entered Texas from the state of Alabama as the property of Frederick Harrison Rankin. For 120 years, St. Mary Cemetery was the usual burial place for African Americans who lived in nearby communities in South Ellis County including, Italy, Avalon, and Forreston, Texas. The last burial (cremated ) was interred in 2000.