Tarrant County TXGenWeb - Ayres Cemetery

Tarrant County, TXGenWeb

Ayres Cemetery

Inventoried February 2002
Contributed by Rob Yoder

Ayres Cemetery is located in east Fort Worth in the 2500 block of Scott Street one block west of Beach Street and a block south of Interstate 30. Today it is in the middle of a motel parking lot. Only an area approximately 100 ft. by 100 ft. survived the paving. The remainder of the original two acres is covered, along with an unknown number of graves. The present day cemetery is divided into three adjoining fenced areas.

Headstone photographs are located in the Photo Gallery.

The first area appears to contain only three individually marked graves.

Jno. R. CUSHMAN, 1870 - 1903
Footstone reads J.R.C.

Mary Ayres CUSHMAN, Dec. 22, 1874 - Aug. 23, 1952

Ida Frances AYRES, Mar. 26, 1870 - Jan 26, 1955

The second area contains four marked graves. A field stone appears to mark one other.

Jas. H. AYRES, 1832 - 1885
Footstone reads J.H.A.

Louise AYRES, 1836 - 1887
[on the same tall monument with Jas. H.]

Joseph, Son of J.H. and L. AYRES, Aged 13 Dys.

William, Son of J.H. and L. AYRES, Aged 10 Mos.

The third area contains five marked graves while field stones mark five other apparent burials.

B. P. AYRES, Died June 1862, Aged 61 Years
Footstone reads B.P.A.

Emily AYRES, Died Mar. 1863, Aged 52 Years
Footstone reads E.A. [on the same tall monument with B.P.]

W. A. [no other information]

Isabella F. SANDERSON, Oct. 10, 1830 - [no death date], Mother

William A. SANDERSON, Sept. 11, 1819 - May 28, 1904, Father
[on the same large monument with Isabella]

A medallion on William A. Sanderson's grave identifies him as a Citizen of the Republic of Texas. There is also a historical marker at the base of his monument. The text from that marker is found later on this page.

Weldon Hudson copied the cemetery in 1996 and provided an inventory which was printed in the November 1996 issue of Footprints, the quarterly publication of the Fort Worth Genealogical Society. The inventory included the following paragraph which is reprinted here with permission.

In 1862 Benjamin Patton Ayers (ca 1801-1862) and his wife Emily Cozart (ca 1811-1863) bought a 320 acre farm and set aside two acres on this hillside as a family cemetery. Ayers, who served as the second County Clerk and helped organize Fort Worth Christian Church, was the first to be buried here. An unknown number of graves, which lie outside the fenced family plot, include victims of spring fever and the Trinity River floods. None of their fieldstones have survived. William Alfred Sanderson, a native of England, came to Texas in 1841 and settled in Tarrant County with his wife Isabella Frances Ayers. A farmer and stock raiser, he was a charter member of the First Christian Church of Fort Worth, and served as a Justice of the Peace.

Historical Markers Located There:

Ayres Cemetery

In 1861 Benjamin Patton Ayres (ca. 1801-62) and his wife, Emily (Cozart) (ca. 1811-63), bought a 320-acre farm and set aside two acres on this hillside as a family cemetery. Ayres, who had served as the second Tarrant County clerk and who helped organize the Fort Worth First Christian Church, was the first buried here. An unknown number of graves, which lie outside the fenced family plot, include victims of spring fevers and Trinity River floods. None of their headstones have survived, but the Ayres Cemetery remains as a symbol of the area's early settlers.

(1984)

William Alfred Sanderson

A native of England, William Sanderson came to Texas in 1841. He obtained a Republic of Texas land grant and in 1847 settled in Tarrant County with his wife, Isabella Francis (Ayres). Sanderson soon established himself as a farmer and stock raiser. A charter member of the First Christian Church of Fort Worth, he also was appointed Justice of the Peace and was involved in the relocation of the county seat from Birdville to Fort Worth.

This page was last modified 25 Feb 2002.