Segrest Cemetery, Tyler Couty, Texas

Mike Harris has been kind enough to also offer his pictures of the Segrest Cemetery. He visited that location in January of 2015. The cemetery is located about two miles east of the Cruse Cemetery. The graves of William Cruse, son of Squire Cruse and Piety Pruitt, and his wife, Hester Ann Segrest, are here, as well as the second husband of Hester, George Rich.

The son of the woman who currently owns the land which the cemetery lies upon maintains it by regular mowing. There are, sadly, a number of broken headstone in the cemetery from vandalization by kids about fifteen years ago. There has been no trouble recently. 

Wide Shot of Segrest Cemetery

William Cruse was born on 22 January 1835 in Jasper County, Texas, the first child born to Piety and Squire after the fateful drowning of five of their children in the Mississippi River on the way to Texas. (That event is detailed in Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants.) William married Hester Segrest, but at the young age of 24 he died from a severe case of big red measles. He and Hester had one daughter, Marinda Cruse, who was the second great grandmother of Mike Harris. 

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Grave of William Cruse
Tombstone inscription:
He that followeth after righteousness, and
mercy find life, righteousness, and honor.

Grave of Hester Ann Segrest
wife of 1) William Cruse and 2) George Rich

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Cruse Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas, Part 5

There are several headstones in the Cruse Cemetery whose connections to the family are unknown.

The first is the headstone of Lona Cruse. The inscription, which is difficult to read, seems to indicate she was a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse. However, she is not found on my information.

The second is the headstone of Walker Johnston.

The third is the headstone of Ida Belle Jernigan.

The fourth is the headstone of Jessie Walker.

Cruse Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas Part 4

There are three more graves in the Cruse Cemetery with connections to the Cruse Family.

The first is Clementine "Clem" Cruse. She was was born on 15 May 1837 in Jasper County, Texas, to Squire and Piety (Pruitt) Cruse. She married William "Uncle Billy" Clark. William was born on 8 January 1820. He died at the age of 46, on 30 July 1866, of blood poisoning, not long after the Civil War. He was sitting with his family by the fireside one night. An open penknife was accidentally knocked from the fireplace mantle. It fell and cut his knee. He died a few months later of blood poisoning. Clementine outlived him by 27 years, passing from this life on 13 September 1893.

Josephine Collier was the first wife of Henry A. Cruse, who was the son of John and Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse. She died in 1891 and Henry remarried Ada F. Bean, daughter of John Thomas "Jack" Bean and Narcissa Jane Fulghum. Both Henry and Ada were great-great grandchildren of David Crews and Annie Magee.

tombstone of Henry's first wife,
Josephine "Joe" Collier

Mattie Luciel Runnels was the daughter of Mary Ellender "Ella" Cruse and Jesse F Runnels, and the granddaughter of John and Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse. She was born 2 September 1898 in Tyler County, Texas. At the age of four she became afflicted with intestinal complications and subsequently died on 16 September 1902.

Cruse Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas, Part 3

Usually family cemeteries are not confined to just family members. The Cruse Cemetery is no exception.

Buried alongside the John and Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse family are her parents, Robert Barclay and Sarah McKinsey.

Robert Barclay was the oldest son of Walter Barclay and Elizabeth McQueen. Robert was born on 12 November 1804 in Madison County, Kentucky. His paternal grandparents were Robert and Leah Barkley of Rowan County, North Carolina. His maternal grandparents were John and Nancy (Crews) McQueen. When he was about two years old, his parents left Kentucky for Tennessee, following the McQueens.

Sarah McKinsey was the daughter of Lacy McKinsey. She was born in 23 December 1808 in Kentucky. Her parents moved to Union County, Arkansas at an early date. Robert left Kentucky as a young man, met Sarah there, and married her.

About 1840 Robert and Sarah moved to Texas where he died in 1845. Sarah remained a widow, running their farm on her own with her slaves and her sons, until 1854 when she married widower Milton McQueen. Sarah is a controversial figure in McQueen-Barclay history. Beloved by some, she was hated by others. She was sued for slander by Narcissa Jane Fulghum (later wife of John Thomas "Jack" Bean) before the Civil War, accused of poisoning Milton McQueen, and was estranged from several of her sons in her later years.

Milton died in December of 1864 at the end of the Civil War. Sarah died on 11 October 1892 and was buried by her first husband in the Cruse Cemetery.

Tombstone of Robert Barclay

Tombstone of Sarah (McKinsey) Barclay - McQueen

Tombstone of Sarah (McKinsey) Barclay - McQueen

Cruse Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas, Part 2

I have been deep in the throes of the last editing for my novel, Breaking Promises, so it has been difficult to get to genealogy for the moment. Hopefully, things will slow down here shortly and I can get back to posting on here.

I will continue posting pictures from Michael Harris that he took recently at the Cruse Cemetery. The pictures below are the tombstones of the family of John "Jack" Cruse, son of Squire Cruse and Piety Pruitt. He was the oldest child born to Squire and Piety, and the only child to survive the breaking apart of the Cruses' raft on the Mississippi River on the way to Texas. (He lost five younger brothers and sisters.)

John was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee on 30 August 1820 and came to Texas with his parents when he was thirteen years old.

John married Elizabeth Barclay, daughter of Robert Barclay and Sarah McKinsey on 8 July 1847 in Tyler County, Texas. Elizabeth was the great-granddaughter of John McQueen and Nancy Crews, and a great-great granddaughter of David Crews and Annie Magee. John Cruse's grandfather, Elijah Crews, was the brother of Nancy Crews, so he was the 3rd great grandson of David and Annie. Elizabeth's parents are also buried in the Cruse Cemetery (their pictures in the next posting).

Elizabeth was born 1 April 1829 in Arkansas. She came to Texas with her parents as a small child, but her father died not too long after their arrival. Her mother, Sarah, remarried to widower Milton McQueen in 1854.

There is a separate headstone in the Cruse Cemetery for Elizabeth, but at some point a large monument was erected directly behind hers that includes both Elizabeth and John. Elizabeth died in 1878, while John lived another 29 years, not passing from this life until 1907. It is likely the larger memorial was erected sometime after his death.

At least 3 of John & Elizabeth's children are buried in the Cruse Cemetery, all under the age of 9 at the time of their deaths.

Below you will find the pictures of the headstones of not only John and Elizabeth, but several of their children. Their daughter Clementine, however, will be in a separate posting.

This memorial for John Cruse and Elizabeth Barclay.  

Headstone for Elizabeth Barclay Cruse, wife of John "Jack" Cruse

Elias Cruse, son of John & Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse, born 22 April 1863 and died 25 Aug 1863.
Elias was born during the Civil War and lived only four months. 

Elzira Cruse, daughter of John & Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse, born 26 January 1856
and died at the age of 2 1/2 years on 29 Aug 1859.

 

Lacy M. (probably Milton) Cruse son of John & Elizabeth, born 8 Oct 1851
and died 2 Jan 1862 just as the Civil War started. He was 9 years old. 

Cruse Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas, Part 1

One of the neat things about getting the book on David Crews into a second edition is the finding of new cousins. Michael Harris, a descendant of David Crews through his son Elijah and grandson Squire recently contacted me. He is the only descendant thus far from this line that I have been in contact with. He has been doing research on this family and last year took a trip to the Cruse and Segriest Cemeteries in Tyler County. It will take me several postings to relay the pictures Mr. Harris has so graciously allowed me to post here. 

According to Mr. Harris, both cemeteries are maintained. I had lamented in my 2nd edition that that last time I was at the Cruse Cemetery nearly twenty years ago the path to it was not being maintained, nor was the cemetery. It is nice to hear someone is taking care of it. 

Squire Cruse was the son of Elijah Crews and Susannah Dozier and the grandson of David Milton Crews and Annie Magee. Squire married Piety Pruitt, daughter of Matthias Pruitt and Polly Hoover. He was one of the first settlers to acquire a land grant within the present limits of Tyler County, Texas. Five of his children drowned on the Mississppi River while en route to Texas. I have an extensive chapter on him in Metes & Bounds II: David Milton Crews, Ancestors & Descendants, and will not relay that information here. 

Acceess Point from the Road

Wide shot of Cruse / Methodist Cemetery in Tyler County, Texas

Original Headstone of Squire Cruse

Original Headstone of Piety Pruitt Cruse

Squire Cruse footstone erected by the State of Texas 1962

Newer Headstone

Mary F. Newland and John Graves

One of the frustrating things about publishing a genealogy book, especially one the size of Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants, is the fact that new information is being discovered all the time, and cousins are always around the next corner. These new cousins almost always know something I don't. I will likely never get to doing a 3^rd edition of the Crews book, but I will be posting information on this blog that “updates” the Crews family.

Graves of John E. Graves and Mary F. (Newland) Graves
Donnelton Cemetery, Hunt Co., TX
courtesy of Mary La Rue, El Paso, TX 2015

I received an email this week from Mary La Rue of El Paso, Texas. Mary is a descendant of David Crews and Annie Magee through their daughter Mary Crews Newland. She informed me that Mary F. Newland, daughter of William W. Newland and Arthusa Bascom Randall, married John E. Graves. On page 179 of my 2^nd edition, I indicate the last name of Mary’s husband to be “Graves,” but I had no record regarding his first name. Mary F. Newland was the great-great-great granddaughter of David Crews & Annie Magee.

William and Arthusa (Randall) came to Texas not in 1848, as I stated in my 2^nd edition, but sometime between 1850 and 1860. In 1850, they are in the Jessamine County, Kentucky, census, but by 1860 they were in the Kaufman County, Texas census. 

Grave of Sarah Elizabeth "Lizzie" Newland - Smith
courtesy of Mary L Rue 2015

Mary F. Newland was born in 1843 while the family was still in Kentucky. She would have been a little girl when her parents moved from Kentucky to Texas. She died in 1924. John was born in 1833 in Georgia and died in 1901. They are both buried in the Donnelton Cemetery in Hunt County, Texas. John and Mary were married on August 9, 1859 in Henderson County, Texas. 

John and Mary (Newland) Graves’ daughter, Sarah Elizabeth “Lizzie” Graves, was the maternal great-grandmother of Mary La Rue. Mrs. La Rue is also a descendant of William Hoy and Sarah Callaway, early settlers of Boonesborough, Kentucky, and contemporaries of both the Crews and McQueen families. In fact, Hoy’s Station was 400 yards southwest of David Crews Station on the dividing line between Otter and Tates Creeks in Madison County.

Lizzie was born in 1866, at the very end of the Civil War, and died in 1901. She married John R. Smith. John was born in 1862 and died in 1942. Lizzie and J.R. married on April 10, 1882 in Hunt County, Texas. The picture below is of Lizzie and J.R. and their family and Mrs. La Rue believes it was taken in or near Brownwood, Texas around 1897, not long before Lizzie's death. 

Family of John R. "J. R." and Sarah Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Graves) Smith about 1897.
Children pictured are Lula, Behula, Thomas, William, and Legal  who is on Lizzie's lap.
(Legal was Mary La Rue's grandmother.) 

NOTE: All information and pictures used with permission of Mary La Rue in an email dated to blog owner February 2015.