With 50 marked graves, and an unknown number unmarked, or those marked only with stones, Merrill Cemetery in Slabtown is a wealth of history, but has been in disrepair for years. Difficult to even locate, much less visit a family member who has passed on, the cemetery has slowly been disappearing due to the ravages of time and nature.
Located off Slabtown road, on the right just past the Big Piney bridge, Merrell Cemetery has recently received a facelift, thanks to the Northwest Texas County Lions Club. Undertaken as a local project with community involvement, Lions Club members have labored hundreds of hours to restore the cemetery. Aided in their efforts by members of the community, including soldiers and their children from Fort Leonard Wood, the Lions are nearing completion of the project.
Through the volunteer efforts of several work crews of two-six people, the renovation of Merrell Cemetery involved at least 85 hours hand-trimming the overgrown brush, finding head stones and flagging them, removing old fence, cutting and removing old trees and brush, and installing new fences and gates.
More than 30 hours were clocked on Allan Majorowicz’s skidsteer, nine hours with a farm tractor with rock rake, five hours of brush cleaning, and 15 hours grinding stumps and chain saw work. Chris Moyle of Great Views Brush Clearing in Lebanon (gvbrush.com) generously donated a full day’s use (including operator) of a forestry mower, an expensive piece of equipment with a mulching head, capable of grinding vegetation and tree shoots up to six inches in diameter.
Among the names of families interred at Merrell Cemetery are Kinworthy, Bates, Beard, Blankenship, Hudgens, Jackson, Jeffries, Merrell and Rigsby. The earliest stone recovered was marked simply “Dishroom, 1819.” In the next oldest marked plot, Mary Ann Bradford Bates was laid to rest in 1864.
One grave discovered by the team created a great deal of discussion. The stone appeared to say “Donnie Kinworthy – Pvt. 1967.” A search of death records revealed the grave belongs to Lonnie Clarence Kinworthy, (Sept. 2, 1918-April 20, 1967). It is presumed he served in the Vietnam War, and is surely deserving of recognition.
Lion Andrew Clark, who has property adjoining the land, has agreed to serve as caretaker for the cemetery, greeting visitors, and providing maintenance until the establishment of a board and a perpetual fund to ensure ongoing preservation. After the final painting of gates and corner posts, posting of signs and notification of contactable family members, the Lions will hold a ribbon-cutting for Merrell Cemetery. Details will announce later.
For more information, contact NWTC Lions Club President Tom Steinbach at 417-217-0583.