Narrative History of McCombs Cemetery
Submitted for
Official Texas Historical Marker Consideration
The McCombs Cemetery dedicated perhaps as early as 1855--one year before Denton was selected as county seat---is among the oldest in Denton County. The individuals interred are early settlers who are highly representative of the pioneer history of Denton County. Groups of rugged individuals made their way in ox-drawn wagons from Tennessee to Texas and settled on adjoining land for protection from Indians and marauders. Some infants and young men and women died from the elements and likely disease. There were early widows who buried their loved ones on farmland, gave birth to first generation Texans and remained to work the land far from the life they had known.
The McCombs Cemetery is a reminder of the pioneers who participated in the settlement initially of Lewisville-Flower Mound, an economic crossroads encroaching upon the cemetery today. Moreover, their several hundred direct descendants, by making significant contributions and careers in fields of agriculture, banking, education, government, law and law enforcement, industry, research and medicine, in turn led in the development of Denton and surrounding areas. Indeed, the McCombs Cemetery "holds clues to the beginnings of civilization north of Dallas." The following is a narrative history of the McCombs Cemetery.
In 1855 after a seven-month trek, Nehemiah Wade Boyd (1823-1856), wife Susan McCombs Boyd (1824-1917), their six children, Susan's widowed mother Mary Nowlin McCombs (1803-1867) and various members of the Nowlin, Sigler and Rivers families of Chattanooga Tennessee settled in Denton County near Round Grove community in an area which eventually became Lewisville-Flower Mound.
According to family history, Nehemiah Wade Boyd was in the process of building a log house in 1856 for his family south of Timber Creek on what used to be known as Boyd's Hill when he was chilled by a blue norther. He subsequently died of pneumonia and left behind his large family and a child on the way, George Taylor Boyd (1856-1933). The story of this settlement, his untimely death and the perseverance of his widow who outlived him by sixty-two years was presented in Denton Texas by the Texana Living History Association on County Seat Saturday, September 14, 1996.8 Susan, incidentally was recognized as the oldest resident of Denton County shortly before her death.
Nehemiah Wade Boyd's burial in land donated by a neighboring McCombs relative was thought to be the first in what has since been called McCombs Cemetery,until descendants of George Taylor Boyd unearthed a headstone bearing the date 1855 and initial J during renovation of the cemetery property July 6, 1996. Land for he cemetery is believed to have been donated by John Mathis McCombs (1825-1864), one of Susan's brothers. Deed research conducted in 1990 by Joyce Hardin Cavett, a descendant of John Mathis McCombs, revealed records of purchases of adjacent land by John Mathis McCombs in 1854 and Nehemiah Wade Boyd and Mary Nowlin McCombs, separately in 1856.
The cemetery, located on unpaved Wager Road off of Bellaire Boulevard and Garden Ridge Road in Flower Mound, served as burial ground until the late 1800s, primarily for members of McCombs and Sigler families. For example, there are markers for Sarah Sigler ( - 1873), Winnie Sigler (1833 - ) and David Jackson McCombs (1838-1874). Typically, bodies were entombed with native sandstone rocks and "bricks . . . made by a technology prevalent ca. 18701890.-1 Mary Nowlin McCombs was buried under cover of darkness in an unmarked and camouflaged grave to avoid detection by Indians. By contrast, Civil War Patriot David Jackson McCombs was given a masonic headstone.
Evidence suggests the cemetery may have been used by the community at large and for a longer period of time. For instance, some recovered stones bear initials E.M.T. and M.L.E. (the latter also discovered July 6, 1996) which do not correspond to family names Boyd, McCombs, Nowlin, Sigler and Rivers. A marker for an infant (1875) also exists. According to archaeologists Bob D. Skiles of Nacogdoches Texas and David H. Jurney of Waxahachie Texas, "[a]lthough several families used this cemetery, it should be classified as a community cemetery, used from the 1850s to the 1890s . . . ... Additionally, Skiles and Jurney conservatively estimated that one hundred individuals could be buried in the 0.425 acre cemetery. To date, only about thirteen markers have been recovered or documented since roaming cattle in the 1970s, vandals in the late 1980s and a bulldozer in February 1993 destroyed much of the artifacts.
Restoring and protecting the cemetery has been a decades-long dream of Mollie Bernice Boyd Mitchell, great-granddaughter of Susan McCombs Boyd and Nehemiah Wade Boyd. Bernice's earliest recollections are of the funeral Susan who was interred at Flower Mound Cemetery in 1917 and of her wondering why Susan and Nehemiah were not buried beside each other. Bernice persisted with questions and learned from her father Dixie Boyd (1886-1980), eldest son of George Taylor Boyd and Mollie A. Lott (1866-1900), that Nehemiah had been buried on farmland of a neighboring brother-in-law. Later, this contention was supported by research of Joyce Cavett. Of course, at the time of Nehemiah's death there were few actual cemeteries, and ". . . many early settlers were buried on allotted plots on relatives [sic] or neighbors [sic] farms.' Susan's death occurred some decades after the McCombs Cemetery ceased to be used and when Flower Mound Cemetery was well established.
Bernice's efforts to find and preserve the cemetery were frustrated for years. The cemetery was "lost to [her father's] generation when fences were built around those farms as settlers came into the County" and property encompassing the cemetery was sold a number of times to non-family. Deed records which might have identified and protected the cemetery presumably were lost when the Denton County courthouse burned in 1875 allegedly due to the Sam Bass outlaws.
Long-time Lewisville resident Stella Brooks Hyder (1883-1975) pointed out the area to Bernice in the early 1970s, but both were blocked from gaining access to the area by the landowner. Sulton J. Boyd (1905-1980) and wife Elena B. Boyd (1913-1973) took Bernice to the cemetery and located a number of headstones including the commercial marker Sulton and his father George Taylor Boyd had set for Nehemiah Wade Boyd with financial assistance from Dixie Boyd and his cousin Jeff Boyd (1898-1968). When desecration of the cemetery was apparent due to the destructive nature of grazing cattle, Bernice asked permission to fence the area. The owner refused. After the vandalism in the late 1980s, Bernice was able to marshal the legal talents of Dan S. Boyd and Randall S. Boyd, great-great-grandsons of Susan and Nehemiah Boyd.
The Boyds learned from thorough study of Texas law that no one can own land which has been dedicated as a cemetery. Further, "dedication" does not imply necessarily the existence of court records, rather human burial must be involved. Hence, "prior 'owners' of the property who attempted to deny access to [Boyd] family members appear to have been acting beyond their rights." The McCombs Cemetery Association was established in 1990 28 by the Boyds who made plans to protect and restore the cemetery.
Before actions could be taken by the Association, individuals bulldozed the area in 1993 in preparation for a house. Incidentally, the only visible marker left after the destruction was that of the 1875 infant. The McCombs Cemetery Association immediately brought a lawsuit against these persons. Essentially, the Association was required to prove existence of the cemetery with aid of archaeologists. The lawsuit was settled in December 1993 with an agreement in which the McCombs Cemetery Association was designated manager of the cemetery which was concurrently officially recognized as "[b]eing - 0.425 acre tract of land situated in the M. J. Owen Survey, Abstract Number 981, Denton County, Texas and being a part of a called 2.394 acre tract of land as described in a deed recorded in Volume 678, Page 296 of the Deed Records of Denton County, Texas........-- The referenced deed is a quitclaim deed from the defendants, filed on behalf of the McCombs Cemetery Association.
In sharp contrast to the people who displayed such disregard for the cemetery, there were individuals who demonstrated great concern. For instance, when installation of a windshear detection device near the McCombs Cemetery was being considered at the U. S. Department of Aviation in 1991, resident Mrs. Waters "alerted the officials to the fact that there was a cemetery in the area and that it should not be disturbed." Her quick action lead to an archaeological investigation of the cemetery by Bob Skiles for the federal government; he subsequently volunteered his services to the McCombs Cemetery Association during the 1993 lawsuit. Also important to recognize is resident Jeff Ferguson who went twice to Flower Mound City Hall to stop the bulldozing. Officials reported they could find no record of a cemetery. Eventually through the power of networking, the cemetery was linked to the Boyd family in Denton.
Ironically, publicity from the destruction enabled distant cousins in Borger and Andrews Texas and Cheyenne Oklahoma to end finally their search for the burial site of their ancestors. Donations were made with gratitude to the McCombs Cemetery Association to help proceed with restoration and fencing of the site.
A cedar rail fence is being erected, primarily through the efforts of Douglass Whitcombe Boyd, great-great-grandson of Susan and Nehemiah Wade Boyd, and his friend Mark Jones, chief probation officer of Denton County. In preparation for the fence, the area was cleared of brush and brambles by sixteen probationers making community service restitution through the Denton County Probation Department. Trenches made by the backfilled July 6, 1996 at which time the M.L.E. and 1855 markers mentioned earlier were discovered.
On September 3, 1996 Bernice set a marker at McCombs Cemetery to remember all known to be buried there since so few stones are left intact. Consideration is being given to restoration or preservation and presentation of the broken stones, however. As work to fence the 1 year old McCombs Cemetery nears completion, the McCombs Cemetery Association seeks an Official Texas Historical Marker to help identify the cemetery for individuals still searching for ancestral burial grounds, to commemorate a site where north Texas civilization began and to recognize and honor efforts of pioneers and descendants who helped transform wilderness into a thriving center of commerce.
November 27, 1996.
Compiled by Kathleen Stapler Adler, PhD., great-great-granddaughter of Susan McCombs and Nehemiah Wade Boyd.