Discovery of William F. Malone Cemetery
west of Willis, Texas
Larry Foerster
 

TO OUR COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION FRIENDS:

I want to thank Travis Pavlock for his outstanding work in locating and promoting the preservation of what was believed to be a lost historical cemetery of William F. Malone and family west of Willis.  Malone’s tombstone is located there in the dense underbrush along with what appears to be tombstones of his daughters and others. 

William F. Malone served as a member of the Danville Mounted Riflemen during the Civil War and later enlisted in other Confederate companies from Montgomery County.  He also served Montgomery County in the Texas House of Representatives in 1891-1892.  He died in 1907 and it was thought that this cemetery was later covered with water from the Lewis Creek Reservoir.   William Malone’s  biography is found at 
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
~barrettbranches/Researchers/Karen20Hett/biographies/
wfmalone.html

Travis Pavlock lives in a gated subdivision west of  Willis off of FM 1097, and he stumbled upon the gravestones when he was walking through the woods near his house a couple of  weeks ago. Travis took photos of the three prominent tombstones and immediately  contacted the Texas Historical  Commission.  I in turn was contacted. 
 

Photo by Travis Pavlock

Photo by Travis Pavlock
 

Photo by Travis Pavlock

Last Monday Travis and I along with his young daughter pushed our way through the undergrowth to the cemetery site.  There are at least 5 tombstones encircled by a concrete border. Noted Confederate historian Frank Johnson believes there may be more in the immediate vicinity.  Travis promptly filed a Notice of Existence of Cemetery at the county courthouse, and delivered a copy of the notice to the sales office in the subdivision since we fear that there are plans to expand the subdivision which could destroy these monuments. 

The Texas Historical Commission and the Montgomery County Historical Commission rely on citizens like Travis Pavlock to help us preserve our local heritage. Travis has gone beyond what is normally expected of our citizens, and we thank him for his commitment to the preservation of Montgomery County history. I personally feel like I have made a life-long friend.

Larry L. Foerster,  Chairman

MONTGOMERY  COUNTY HISTORICAL  COMMISSION

414 West Phillips, Suite 100

Conroe, Texas 77301

936-756-3337 (Office)

936-756-2606 (Fax)

936-756-1416 (Home)

Epilogue

Larry Foerster:
Interesting email below from my contact through
Find A Grave

Apparently someone went to the trouble of placing a memorial to William Malone and family in the Willis Cemetery. See attached links to the Willis Cemetery Find A Grave. I can't be sure how this happened, but perhaps it was done after  descendants had assumed the cemetery had been engulfed with water from the new Lewis  Creek Reservoir, and decided to place markers next to Mrs. Willie Malone's grave in the Willis  Cemetery.

Frank Johnson:
The markers in Willis Cemetery are correct.
 

The markers in Willis Cemetery are correct. There are 9 Malones buried there. The Willie Malone at Willis is William's wife who died in 1933. She is buried next to her daughter Emma Malone Martin who died in 1913. The Willie Malone that is buried in the newly discovered cemetery is the daughter who died as a young girl.

The military marker in the Willis Cemetery for William was placed there about 7 years ago as a memorial marker because we (Sons of Confederate Veterans) believed that he was buried beneath the Lewis Creek reservoir.

William had 2 brothers. One was believed to have been William's twins. They were confederate veterans also but I have not been able to locate their graves. They might be buried in the same cemetery. They died fairly young. Henderson F. Malone died in Montgomery County in 1870 and Thomas Monroe Malone died in Montgomery County in 1886.

There are any numbers of reasons why the rest of the family of is buried in Willis but those all of those markers are probably correct.

I am still of the opinion that there are more graves in the new cemetery than we have discovered.

At some point, I will probably move Williams memorial marker to the new location.
 

Sandra Meier
This is great news - I love cemeteries and their discovery.

Please take a look at Find A Grave and you will find memorials for all these Malone members with markers.  The markers are located in Willis Cemetery.  I guess at one time the family must have believed the older stones to be lost and placed new markers in the Willis Cemetery.

Willis cemetery Find A Grave  numbers are:
William Malone - 56844566
Willie A. Caperton Malone - 65750635
Emma Malone - 65750615

Maybe we can get the original location filed with Find A Grave  also and cross reference the two cemeteries and memorials.  I will be glad to help with this if you want.