Thurmond-Fairview Cemetery

Home Grave Location Complete Info.
Click on the buttons above for grave location and information.

Click on the following link for this cemetery's 'Association Web Page'
 http://www.thurmondfairview.org/ 

(Click Here to go to All Headstone Pictures Online)

   Thurmond-Fairview Cemetery is located north of Rhome.
    From Hwy 287, about 2 miles north of Rhome, turn east on Fm Rd 407. The Cemetery is on the north side of the road just past the intersection with Fm Rd 2264.
    In August 2001 we took pictures of 577 headstones.

    There is a Historical Marker at the east gate on the road. The text is as follows:

 

Thurmond – Fairview Cemetery

This community was called "Illinois Settlement" by the early families who immigrated here. Later, it became known as "Fairview". J.F. Thurmond (1852-1945) and his wife Amanda Elizabeth Merrifield arrived in 1880 from Dallas County, Texas. In 1883, when an infant daughter died, Thurmond asked his brother Fred and neighbors to select a tract for a burial ground. They chose this spot next the land Thurmond had given for a church and schoolhouse. Including the graveyard, Thurmond had donated six acres to the community. Until the Fairview Baptist Church organized in 1895, prayer meetings were held in homes and then in the schoolhouse by visiting ministers.

In 1913 Fairview Cemetery Association organized. After the school consolidated in 1950, the structure was deeded to the cemetery association. The Fairview Baptist Church leased the building and remodeled it for the youth department and community center.

In 1951 this plot became the "Thurmond – Fairview Cemetery". Still in use, the site has over 400 graves. Perpetual care is funded by: an endowment left by Fred Thurmond, the proceeds from the sale of 27 acres given by J.M. McKinnon, revenue from a gas well, the sale of lots, and individual gifts.