Historical Marker

Lockett Cemetery

Historical marker location:
Jefferson, Texas
( 6.3 mi. N of Jefferson on US 59; 1.2 mi. E on Dreesen Rd.)
Marker installed: 1999

Royal and Martha (Smith) Lockett came to Texas from Georgia between 1856 and 1858 with their eleven surviving children and the family's slaves. Seven of their eight living sons survived in the Confederate Army. The earliest marked grave on this site is that of Walter R. McGarity (1853-1862) son of James H. and Marie Antoinette (Lockett) McGarity and grandson of Royal and Martha Lockett. Six generations of Lockett descendants are interred here. according to family oral history, a Union solider who died on the Lockett Plantation also is buried in the graveyard. Of the more than 45 interred here by 1999, two were verterans of the Confederate Army and three were veterans of World War ll. The Lockett Cemetery continues as a chronicle of Marion County history. (1999).