The Lev Old Cemetery was named for the earlier land owner who granted it as a cemetery before the Civil War. Therefore, many slaves were buried there. Until recently, the land was in the possession of the Old family, but was sold to AEP/SWEPCO for use in the creation of the Welsh Reservoir and power generating plant.
The Lev Old Cemetery is a large cemetery with no public access. Access must be granted by the land owner of the surrounding property. On David Horton's previous survey in March, 2002 the cemetery appeared not to have been maintained in several years. The cemetery had deteriorated greatly with fallen trees, limbs, and underbrush effectively covering some graves. Many monuments had been broken by the environment with a significant loss of historical data inscribed on them. Monuments lying on the ground were suffering erosion by the elements.
Every attempt was made to read and record the existing monuments, but there is no estimating how many have been covered by the incursion of mulch and soil. In addition to graves marked by monuments, seven were marked by unreadable funeral home markers, thirty by native rocks (one appears to have been inscribed at one time), a convex shaped marble slab with no inscription, and numerous depressions that mark other grave sites.
When TCS surveyed the cemetery on December 16, 2006 we found that AEP/SWEPCO had cut away the fallen trees and limbs and piled them up in one corner of the cemetery. They also removed some trees that would cause later problems and cleared away underbrush. They have cleaned the cemetery and it is now in good condition, other than monuments that were damaged before they cleaned it up. Titus Cemetery Search thanks and congratulates AEP/SWEPCO for their efforts in preserving this endangered cemetery!
DRIVING DIRECTIONS FROM THE TITUS COUNTY COURTHOUSE:
Travel 0.3 miles south on Madison Street to Ferguson Road. Turn left (east) on Ferguson Road (which becomes Texas Highway 49) and travel 3.8 miles on Highway 49 to the intersection of Texas FM 1735 (Chapel Hill Road).
Turn right onto FM 1735 and continue for 6.1 miles to the intersection (from the left) with County Road 4865. Turn left onto CR 4865 and proceed 0.5 miles.
You will see a pipe gate on the left that is the entrance to the land owner's estate. The cemetery lies 0.7 miles down the drive and through the woods on the left. You must pass through a wire gap 0.3 mile from County Road 4865.
Lev Old Cemetery is located far in the woods on a point on Lake Welch
GPS COORDINATES: 33°04.012' N 094°50.374' W
DECORATION DAY: None
MARKED BURIALS INDEXED IN TCS DATABASE: 29 (2008-04-01)
FREE BURIAL INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE FOR THIS CEMETERY.
SEE "HOW TO REQUEST BURIAL INFORMATION" PAGE FOR DETAILS.
(NOTE: This cemetery contains un-named burials marked by irregular makers like natural stones and other methods that could not be included in the Titus Cemetery Search database.)
LAST TCS PHYSICAL SURVEY: 2006-12-17
Historical information for this cemetery was provided by and used with the permission of David Horton, and was compiled from Mr. Horton's work and the earlier work of Lynch Harper. Map provided courtesy of Ark-La-Tex Council of Governments GIS department. Please forward any mapping questions to http://www.atcog.org/gis_mapping.htm.
