Hawkins Cemetery
Named for Harvey Hawkins (1804-1869), a pioneer settler who came to Texas from
Tennessee and first settled in Rusk County, the Hawkins Cemetery is the final
resting place for families of the Tate Springs community. In 1848, Hawkins
married Mary Ann Elizabeth (Elliott) Hitt Turner (1817-1868) and they later
traveled by wagon to what would beocme Tarrant County. A preemptive land grand
was issued to Hawkins for 160 acres in Tarrant County by Sam Houston, governor
of the State of Texas, in January 1860.
The cemetery began as a family plot located in the center of the property where
the Hawkins couple and their children are buried. According to legend, a slave
named Poly Penn was the first burial. No gravestone has been found but the
location was marked on an early map. The earliest marked gravesite is that of
Mary Hawkins in 1868. Rebekah Hawkins, Mary's daughter, married Jason Bryant
Little before moving with her family to Tarrant County and settled near the
Hawkins family. After Jason returned from fighting in the Civil War, they
opened an elementary school. Their home was used as a stage coach stop on the
Star Mail Route from Johnson Station, Texas to Fort Worth. A large arched
monument stands at the north end of the cemetery, marking the gravesites of
Rebekah, Jason and their families.
In 1890, property owner George W. Kee sold the cemetery grounds to the
community for use as a public burial ground. The Kee family is buried on the
norther section of the cemetery. Additional acreage was acquired in 1919 from
the Edwards and Tunnell families. Members of the community established a
Cemetery Association in 1949 to maintain the cemetery and its records. Hawkins
Cemetery chronicles the pioneer families that settled the area in the
mid-1800s.
Historic Texas Cemetery - 2015.