Winnsboro, Wood County
This open landscape cemetery, one of the oldest burial grounds in Wood County, first served pioneer settlers of the Shady Grove community. One of the earliest area settlers was Reuben Elledge, who brought his family here c. 1845. Elledge figured prominently in the development of Wood County as a commissioner and chief justice (county judge). In 1850, he donated land to the community for a school and Methodist Episcopal Church, South. One acre of the Elledge land was later set aside for this cemetery. The earliest known gravesite, unmarked except for a tree for many years, was for young Bobby Scoggins, who drowned in 1855. Also buried here are Elledge, three-term county sheriff John Boyd and veterans of military conflicts dating to the Civil War. Expanded through the years, Shady Grove Cemetery is a reminder of early settlement in the area. Features include rock cairns, decorative fencing, ornate stone carvings, curbed plots, obelisks and Woodmen of the World monuments. The Methodist church disbanded in 1993, and its chapel is now used for funerals and for annual memorial events. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003