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TEXAS...

Learn more at the Atoka Cemetery website at AtokaCemetery.org.

• Atoka Cemetery isa Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.

Historical Marker #232

Marker Title: Atoka Cemetery

City: Novice

Year Marker Erected: 1996

Marker Location:

From Novice take FM 1770 3 miles west.

Turn north onto county road and continue about 1 mile to cemetery

on the left fork of the road.

Marker Text: "Settlement of this area began in the 1850s with the establishment of Camp Colorado, a United States cavalry

outpost. At the outbreak of the Civil War the camp was occupied by Texas State Troops and Texas Ranger units. The

existence of the camp spurred permanent settlement in the area, and many families moved here from the southern United

States after the Civil War. The settlers established farms and ranches, and the Atoka community included a general store

operated by D.A. Parker and S.N. Edenborough, a combination church/school building, and a cotton gin built by D.A. Parker.

This cemetery was established in 1880 on land deeded by C.E. Bush. Among the early pioneers buried here are the Rev.

Hugh Martin Childress, Sr., a former Texas Ranger and Republic of Texas soldier; his son, Elisha Childress, who served as

the first Coleman County sheriff; veterans of the Civil War; and several workers killed in an explosion that occurred during the

construction of a Santa Fe Railroad bridge across Jim Ned Creek in 1910. The cemetery, which is maintained by an

association of descendants of those buried here, is one of the few physical reminders of the Atoka community and its pioneer

settlers. (1996)"

Texas Historical Commission

Texas Historic Sites Atlas

Historical Markers