Dozier Cemetery
Samnorwood, Texas
Dozier Cemetery is located 8 miles straight west of the intersection of US 83 and FM 1036, on west through the town of Samnorwood. The last mile is unpaved to the cemetery gate, but is in good condition. The road through the cemetery divides it into North and South sections. Dozier Cemetery covers a space of about four acres of land. Since part of it came off of Section 30, Block 16, and the remainder off of Section 31, Block 16, it actually sits in the middle of a road. According to Miss Pearl Strong, a man named Howe, one of her relatives, gave the first acre of land off of Section 30 for a free cemetery, and the owner of Section 31 gave one acre at about the same time--1893. That year Mr. Clemn was buried there. The Collingsworth county records show that Mr. and Mrs. Sam Norwood gave another acre in October of 1908 and also deeded it to the County Judge for a free cemetery.
According to Mrs. Sarah Leon Coleman, the Dozier Cemetery was started about 1893. The first person to be buried there was a man named Elam, who died with T.B. The second man who was buried there was murdered. His name was Wallace. There was a line rider from the Rowe Ranch that seemed to dislike Wallace after they had some kind of fuss. Wallace was sitting on a horse talking with a neighbor when the line rider rode up behind him and grabbed him from the back and began to slash him with a knife. Wallace gradually worked his Winchester under his shoulder and let the line rider have it in the face. Wallace sat on his horse and shot the line rider several more times after he was already dead. Later, Wallace himself was murdered in a quarrel with a man who owed him money for a pasture lease. Wallace was the second person to be buried in the Dozier Cemetery.
In the 1950s the people of the community contributed sufficient funds to build a chain-link fence around the cemetery. At that time, Mr. Frank DeBois, son-in-law of Mr. Norwood and the then owner of Section 30, gave another acre of land. The Dozier Cemetery Association meets each Memorial Day to do repairs and make donations for its upkeep during the coming year, since burial lots cannot be sold. Anyone is welcome to attend. Today, Mrs. Douglas Coleman is keeping the cemetery records. Each section of the cemetery was recorded by beginning at its northeast corner and listing the names by north-to-south rows.
Photos by Darrell Colson
Dozier Survey (PDF)
DOZIER CEMETERY INDEX Adcock......................3 Amerson.....................2 Baker.......................7,8 Barker......................8 Beale......................14 Beasley....................14 Bell.......................14 Bentley.....................9 Bergman.....................8 Blandford..................12 Blanford....................7 Boulware....................9 Bradley.....................5 Bradstreet..................5 Breeding....................2 Brown......................11,12,14 Butler.....................10 Caperton....................3,6,9 Carter......................8 Cheatwood...................8 Childers....................4,5 Claunch....................13 Coleman.....................3,4,15 Corzine....................10 Crooks......................9Darrow......................2,13 Davis.......................7 Dees........................8 Donnell.....................4 Dorman......................6 Elam........................6 Fisher......................7 Frances....................12 Francis.....................6 Franklin....................7 Gardner.....................8 Gilley.....................13 Graham......................4 Granger....................13 Green.......................2 Greg........................7 Groves.....................11,12 Guynes......................7 Harding.....................9 Harvey......................5,7 Henry.......................3 Hiett.......................1 Hill........................5 Hoffman.....................9 Hurt........................6
Johnson.....................4,6 Jones.......................8,9 Kellogg.....................9 Kerns.......................9 Kincannon...................2 King.......................10,11,13 Kinnikin....................6 Kirklin....................10 Lacock......................5,12 Lane.......................14 Laycock.....................5,6,7,12,13 Laue........................8 Lenox.......................5 Liles......................12,13 Lockhart...................10 Martindale..................1 Massey.....................11 Mayberry...................13 McDonald....................3 McKinney....................9 Mercer......................8 Montgomery.................14 Moss.......................11,12 Murry.......................1,5 Muse........................4 Musgraves..................13 Newsom......................1 Neece.......................5,14 Nixon......................14 Norwood.....................9 Oldham......................6 Pankonin....................5 Payne.......................4 Phillips....................3 Pool.......................10 Poteet.....................12 Ray.........................2,14 Riley......................11 Rogers.....................10,11,14 Rolls.......................4 Rushing.....................6 Scruggs.....................3 Seago.......................8,15 Sechrist...................13 Sewell.....................13 Shaw........................4 Shields.....................9,14 Sides.......................8 Simmons.....................4 Slaton.....................10 Sloan.......................2 Smith.......................1,3,13 Sparkman....................4,5.6 Stembridge.................14 Stice......................12 Sublett.....................2 Swink.......................4 Tate........................1 Taylor......................7,9,14 Tenison....................12 Throckmorton...............11,14 Trusty......................1 Tucker......................9 Voyles......................1,2,3 Wall........................5 Wallace.....................5 Wallas.....................10 Westbrook...................6,11 White......................13 Wilkerson..................11 Wilkinson..................14 Willowby...................14 Wilson......................1 Wischkaemper................3,14 Wolford.....................7 Wood........................1,2,4,9