Woods Prairie Cemetery, West Point, Fayette, Texas, United States of America

Notes:
The information on this site is taken from the
book"Woods Prairie Cemetery".

The history of Woods Prairie Cemetery goes back
to the very beginning of the settlement of Texas.
Zadock Woods came to Texas in 1823 and went
back to Tray Missouri in 1824 and brought his
family back to what would become Fayette
County, Texas.

He was married to Minerva Cottle and they had 5
children who came to Texas with them. Minerva,
Montreville, Norman B., Henry Gonzales and
Leander.

He built a fort at Woods Prairie in 1828 on his son
Montrevilles land. It was the settlers protection
against the still marauding Indians.

The last Indian threat was the Battle of Plum
Creek in 1840.
The next threat was from Mexico. Many of the
men from Woods Prairie joined a company to fight
the Mexicans had invaded Texas.

Zadock Woods was an old man but joined
anyway.He and 35 others were killed in the
Dawson Creek Massacre. They were later buried
on Monument Hill.

TEXT OF THE DAWSON MASSACRE
Occurred in this vicinity on September 18, 1842
when Captain Nicholas Mosey Dawson and 53
men from La Grange, in attempting to join Captain
Matthew Caldwell (Old Paint) and his company of
Texas Volunteers during the Battle of Salado, were
surrounded by Mexican Forces and 36 slain, 15
were taken prisoner, only 3 escaped.

The site of the fort is marked with a granite
monument. It is about a quarter of a mile north of
the Woods Prairie Cemetery.
TEXT OF THE MONUMENT AT WOODS
FORT.
Site of Woods' Fort
Used by colonist of this vicinity as a protection
against Indian attacks 1828-1842
Fortified residence of Zadock Woods
Veteran of the War of 1812
One of the Old "Three Hundred"
of Austin's Colonists.
Oldest man killed in the "Dawson Massacre"
September 18, 1842

Another early settler was James and Azabuh
(Cottle) Robinson. They lived about two tenths of a
mile west of Woods Prairie Cemetery. Joseph
Robinson lived there too. There is a granite marker
at Robinson's Park, the first roadside park in
Texas, a half mile west of Woods Prairie Cemetery
Lane.

An unknown man who worked for Joseph
Robinson died and was the first grave opened in
the shade of a giant oak tree, in what is now the
northwest corner of the cemetery.

The next graves were probably James and Azabuh
Robinson, sites 35 & 36. The oldest tombstone is
for Minerva Cottle Woods who died in 1839.

In the southwest corner are several graves of
Chinese and convict labors who probably died of
yellow fever while they were working on the
railroad.

The Cemetery became official in October 1875
when I.P.B. Faison sold the land for fifty gold
dollars.