McDonald Cemetery 
New Summerfield, Cherokee County, Texas
Cemeteries of Texas Coordinator: Dolores I. Bishop

Information provided by the State of Texas Atlas Site

Location: 
1 mi. south New Summerfield 

Marker : 
Located on the original homestead of William and Clarissa 
Johnson and their family, this community cemetery began in the 
1850s. Although there may have been earlier interments (possibly 
including William Johnson) the earliest documented burials, those 
of two young daughters of Dr. and Mrs. J. C. Privett, took place in 1856.
Dr. Privett died in 1857 and was buried next to his daughters. After Clarissa 
Johnson married Thomas McDonald in 1858, her homestead became known 
as the McDonald Farm. By 1870 the small graveyard on Clarissa's farm had
become a community burial ground known as McDonald Cemetery, although 
it was not formally designated as such in deed records until 1930. Among 
those buried in the McDonald Cemetery are members of the Johnson and 
McDonald families. There are over 550 documented burials, as well as a 
number of unmarked graves. The original one-acre plot of land set aside for 
the graveyard was enlarged in later years by additional land acquisitions. For
well over a century, the McDonald Cemetery has served as a reminder of Cherokee
County's pioneer heritage. It remains one of the area's important cultural resources.