Historical Marker
Bascom Cemetery
Historical marker location:
Tyler, Texas
( from Loop 323 in Tyler go 3.1 mi. east on SH 64, then 1.85 mi. south on FM 848 to cemetery)
Marker installed: 1994
Bascom was settled in the mid-1840s and named for a Tennessee Methodist bishop by early settler Lazariah Smith. Burials took place just north of this site until 1857 when one acre west of the Tyler to Henderson Road (present-day FM 848) and two acres east of the road were set aside for cemetery purposes. Graves from the early site were reinterred in Bascom Cemetery. The first recorded burial was that of John Pinkerton in 1851. Included among the more than 2,000 interments are those of the area's earliest settlers and their descendants and at least one veteran of the War of 1812.