New Salem Cemetery gets its first association

By John Henderson
The Paris News

Published November 27, 2002

SELFS — The people lying under the ground in New Salem Cemetery might just be resting a little easier.

The cemetery, founded by pioneer families who settled in Fannin County in the 1840s, around the time Texas became a state, has been given a facelift by a new association of volunteers dedicated to its preservation.

Those in the association are kin to the 200 or so people thought to be buried at the cemetery, member Sammy Dobbs said.

“The more digging around we do, the more excited we get,” he said. “I don’t know why, but we do.”

New Salem Cemetery is located eight miles north of Honey Grove on Texas 100 and just northeast of the Selfs Community. Larry Dobbs, Sammy’s brother and another member of the association, has researched the cemetery’s history but has yet to find out why it was named New Salem, though it’s been guessed one or more of the early settlers came from an eastern city called Salem.

The plot had been mowed regularly by Billy and Wanda Tolliver, who live in Paris, for nearly 15 years, but more work needed to be done, Corrinne Roddy Wolfe, association secretary-treasurer, said.

The ground was uneven, the barbed-wire fence surrounding most of the plot couldn’t keep stray cattle from wandering in, and several stones had been knocked over, broken or vandalized. Trees and scrub brush were also overgrown.

“I’ve been over there when weeds were near chest high,” Dean Newhouse, association president, said.

The cemetery began with the people that settled in or near Selfs, notably the family of Melchizedek Self and his son Abraham, Larry Dobbs said. Besides the Self family name, that of Shipman, Pitts, Gilbert, Newberry, Jones, Williams, Craddock, Elam, Holt, Sherwood, Wilkins, Cower and Dobbs are all common to New Salem markers, he said. Some of the markers were just stone slabs with rounded tops, but there are some larger monuments in the cemetery. Some wooden markers, decades old and weathered, still stand.

Death in the area of New Salem was typical of the time, Larry Dobbs said. Many young mothers died in childbirth, and were buried next to their babies. Many babies, born while their families were passing through the area, were also buried there, often in unmarked graves, he said.

“Virtually no doctors around,” he said. “Just pioneer life.”

Larry Dobbs’ knowledge of the cemetery came from research at the Sam Rayburn Memorial Library and Bonham Public Library, as well as the book, “Fannin County Folks and Facts,” published in 1976 by the Bonham library.

In all that time, the cemetery’s upkeep was left to those living in the area. Sammy Dobbs said his family used to help keep it up from time to time when they lived closer, but an overhaul would need more hands.

Sammy Dobbs invited interested people from the area to his home on April 20, 2002 to discuss what could be done. Letters and phone calls were made to those of known relation, and the association was established.

Newhouse, who is distantly related to the Pittses buried at New Salem and has experience as president of the association for Shiloh Cemetery, in nearby Delta County, was named president. Wolfe, who lives in Midlothian but is related to the Broadfoots, was named secretary-treasurer. The Tollivers and Bob Wilkins were also named to the core group.

The barbed wire on three sides has since been replaced. A new metal fence and matching main gate was also pieced together by a local welder who donated his time, and painted a brilliant white. Brush was cleared, and several dead trees, including one struck by lightning, were removed.

Most of the broken headstones were put together “like puzzles,” Wolfe said. U-shaped channel irons were set into the ground and made to prop up the broken slab markers.

“They should last a while,” she said.

A little less than one acre, there isn’t much space left for new burial plots, though a few burials have been made there in recent years, Sammy Dobbs said. Word has spread about the cemetery’s new look, Newhouse said, and people have begun asking about arranging burials there.

Those decisions will have to be made carefully, Newhouse said. With only a rough map and many unmarked graves, more work will need to be done to find out what space is already occupied, he said.

Newhouse said he’d like to arrange a homecoming event at the cemetery, but the association has yet to discuss the issue. Sammy Dobbs said there’s still work to be done restoring the cemetery, but with winter coming, he doesn’t think it’ll start again until the spring.

Wolfe said she’s happy for the sake of her family history that volunteers came together to restore the cemetery.

“Their hearts are so big,” Wolfe said.

For more information about New Salem Cemetery, Newhouse can be reached at 903-378-7237, Sammy Dobbs at 903-378-7051 and Larry Dobbs at 903-378-2760.