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Chapter
History
The John
Abston Chapter was organized 17 October 1975 with a
membership of twenty. Mrs. Sterling Bailey was
Organizing Regent.
About John
Abston and the Abston Cemetery
John Abston (1761-1856), a Soldier in the American Revolution, was a
native of Virginia. In the 1830s, Abston and his family moved to Missouri. In 1853 he moved to Collin County, Texas, with the family of his son, Jesse.
Following Jesse's
death that year, the family moved farther south in the
county. John Abston and Jesse Abston's widow, Sarah, purchased land
about a mile north of Lavon, Texas in 1854. A small plot of land was set aside as a family
burial ground. John Abston's burial here in 1856 was the first in the
cemetery.
There are thirty-seven marked graves, including those of several generations of the Abston and related families. All but one of the stones bear
19th-century death dates.
According to family tradition, Sarah Abston, at one time, gave a small house and a parcel of land to a
former slave, Elias Bellew, with the agreement that he would maintain the
cemetery. As a result, the graveyard has also been referred to as the Old Bellew Cemetery. Descendants of those interred in this
cemetery still reside in Collin County. The graveyard stands as a reminder of the
area's heritage. (1988)
Compiled
from the Historical Marker found at the Abston Cemetery
Chapter
Officers:
2009-2011
| Regent |
Victoria Day |
| Vice Regent |
Christy Owen |
| Chaplain |
Marilyn Layher |
| Recording
Secretary |
Linda Wilcox |
| Corresponding
Secretary |
Jennifer Dumin |
| Treasurer |
Margaret Bush |
| Registrar |
Carol
Tatum |
| Historian/Curator |
Kathleen Thompson |
| Librarian |
Meghan Harrison |
Meetings:
We meet at
10:00 a.m. on the second Saturday of the month in
McKinney,
Texas
For
information and membership queries, please
e-mail.
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