Kirbyville, Jasper County
Originally known as Pinetucky, this community was first settled by Alexander and Sherod Wright, two brothers who arrived about 1824. The settlement was renamed Magnolia Springs when the post office opened in 1850. The earliest known interment in this community burial ground is that of Sherod Wright's wife Anna, who died on July 25, 1858, at the age of 60. In 1860 Fellowship Baptist Church purchased 12 acres of land for a church and cemetery. For a number of years, the local Baptist and Methodist congregations shared a frame church building located north of the cemetery property. The graveyard was enlarged in 1902, when the black congregation of Springhill Church bought 4.2 acres adjoining the south side for burial purposes. Many early leaders of the community are buried here, including the Rev. John Bean (1792-1871), a Baptist preacher; Nathan Corley (d. 1871), one of the founders of the Masonic Lodge that bears his name; Aurin G. Horn (1793-1858), a wealthy plantation owner; and Dr. Ransom P. Sholars (b. 1812), the area's first physician. Magnolia Springs Cemetery contains over 900 marked and unmarked graves.