CEMETERY PRESERVATION UNDERWAY FOR TERRELL STATE HOSPITAL
Brenda Kellow
April 1, 2012
There are 81 burials of Collin County people who are buried in this cemetery. After their deaths, they were buried with nothing but a numbered block placed at their heads. The paperwork linking the number to the person remained under lock and key.
Several years ago, I tried to research a person I suspected was buried in the cemetery. I contacted everyone with the ability to answer my question as to whether or not the deceased person was buried there. They would not cooperate with me at all. Now, the Volunteer Council for Terrell State Hospital is changing this for the better. The Volunteer Council for the mental hospital, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, is working on providing a fence and grave markers for those patients who died at the hospital and buried in the Wildwood Cemetery.
The hospital established a cemetery soon after it opened in 1885, with the first burial on October 22, 1885. The approximate 3,000 individuals that are buried in the Wildwood Cemetery came to Texas from all over the world. Numbered concrete blocks originally marked their graves. Wildwood Cemetery researches spent over 20 years matching medical records to the numbered graves. “The Restoring dignity, from numbers to names” project places markers with names, dates of birth and death is now two-thirds complete. They encourage you to contact them if you believe your loved one is buried there.
The installation of a decorative wrought iron fence around the perimeter of the Wildwood Cemetery began in 2008. Approximately 335 panels are needed to complete the project. Each panel costs $375. The panels may be installed with or without a name.
“The markers are so special to me because we are now recognizing, showing honor and love to the people who felt so unloved for probably most of their lives. And, in death, they were only recognized with a number and now we are proud to recognize them as a living part of a family. Hopefully, now we can help families looking for lost relatives find their loved ones,” said Wildwood Cemetery Association Chairperson Janie Bishop.
If you would like to support those once forgotten, mail your donations, in any denomination, to The Volunteer Council for Terrell State Hospital, P. O. Box 70, Terrell, Texas 75160-0070. Your donation will give a name to those 81 souls from Collin County buried there.
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VIRGINIANS OF AFRICAN DESCENT: You can now access the Virginia Historical Society’s database related to Virginians of African descent. The database is from their collection of unpublished manuscripts, a collection that now numbers more than eight million items. Access Unknown No Longer at http://unknownnolonger.vahistorical.org/ and begin to search or just watch the video.
ENTER SOUTH DAKOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY DIGITAL ARCHIVES: Some of my readers are going to love this bit of news. Access the site at http://sddigitalarchives.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm.
ADD YOUR STORIES ABOUT 1940: Ancestry.com wants you to help build a 1940 time capsule. They ask that you send your photos, memories and stories “about 1940 (give or take 10 years) to [email protected].” They are inviting everyone to add their stories to the capsule. They ask you include your name, email, photo and story details of names of people, location, year, etc. If selected you will not win any money but you just might be picked to display in their capsule.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunion announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to: [email protected].