Old Powder Mill Cemetery

BlackPast's biography of David Abner Sr. (1826-1902) says he was born enslaved in Selma, Alabama, was brought to Texas in 1843, moved to Marshall in 1866 and later bought a farm and was elected county treasurer. He served in the legislature in 1874 and 1875 and is buried here. The Handbook of Texas says H. B. Pemberton Sr., who founded Marshall's first Black public school, also lies in Powder Mill Cemetery. BlackPast adds that David Abner Jr. was one of seven children from Abner Sr.'s earlier marriage.

What the plaque says

Old Powder Mill Cemetery Located on part of a site once occupied by a Confederate gun powder factory, this cemetery originated with the burial of slaves on the Powder Mill acreage. After the factory was destroyed in 1865 with the collapse of the Confederacy, the acreage fell into private ownership. One of the landowners, mortician M. M. Rains, began recording the burials here in 1880; however, the earliest known marked grave, that of Millie Abner, is dated 1878. Her husband, David Abner, a former Harrison County Treasurer and member of the 14th Texas Legislature, is also buried here. Old Powder Mill Cemetery is important to the history of Harrison County as the burial ground of many of the leaders of Marshall's Black community who played important roles in local religious, social, business, and political affairs. among those interred here are educators H.B. Pemberton, J.R.E. Lee, and Frederick William Gross; war veterans; businessmen and women; and professionals. Also located in Old Powder Mill Cemetery are the graves of many former members and founders of the Colored (now Bethesda) Baptist Church, including William Massey, a Confederate soldier who served as first pastor. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas and Pacific Railway Depot and Museum — 1.2 mi
  The only surviving building of the Texas and Pacific shops at Marshall, a 1912 Mission Revival depot saved from demolition in the 1990s, still an Amtrak stop, with a railway museum and a Mikado locomotive.
• Harrison County Historical Museum — 1.7 mi
  Galleries in Marshall's 1901 courthouse that run from the Caddo to the present, with Wiley College, Lady Bird Johnson's inaugural gown and a military gallery across the square in Memorial City Hall.
• Starr Family Home State Historic Site — 1.8 mi
  Maplecroft, the 1871 Greek Revival house Frank Starr built in Marshall, with Ruth Starr Blake's glass and china, an 1880s kitchen restored in 2019 and a retirement home built for a formerly enslaved person.
• Jefferson Historical Museum — 13 mi
  A four-floor museum in Jefferson's 1888-90 federal post office and courthouse, with rooms for African-American history, Jewish heritage, the Caddo and Diamond Bessie, bought by the historical society in 1965 for $8,100.

More markers nearby

• Marshall Powder Mill — 0.4 mi
• Van Zandt Hill — 0.8 mi
• East Texas Baptist University — 0.8 mi
• Matthew Duncan Ector — 0.9 mi