Lipan Cemetery
aka Pettus Cemetery
west side of Pettus
Anyone with any knowledge of this cemetery, please contact the CC of this website.
This was a Lipan Apache Cemetery
This cemetery is even older than what is called the Old Pettus Cemetery; it is lost and was located on the west side of town in what is now called Mineral Heights. It has had a road built through it and housing was later built over it. [Will Beauchamp]
I was born in Pettus in 39 of Apache/Mexican descent and remember the stories about some Apache people related to the Castro family were buried there. Modesto Castro used to hold ceremony on the site. He would sing and pray in Apache in this cemetery. Most people thought nothing of it. He would do this at nite. he said that some of the old apache were buried on this site. In the 40's he lived across Bert Copeland's house. Copeland's house was not there yet. He lived in a small shack by the creek. He hunted and sold pelts to sustain his family. His sister was my grandmother, who is buried in the Pettus cemetery on farm road 117. There are many other Apaches buried in the Pettus cemetery. According to oral history our people (Apache) camped around the Pettus Creek in the late 1800's. I believe there is a historical marker on 181 that attests to the presence of Indians being in this area. I hope this helps [Ringo Castro Carrillo; Lipan Apache Elder]