Shanks Cemetery

Contributed by:  Bobby Sharp

Directions: 3 miles south of Kirvin, on 950 just east of FM 80.

Historical Marker: Matthews and Robert Shanks of Alabama settled here with their families in 1859. A small farming community developed, and in 1870 a school was built on a one-acre site donated by R. C. Murray. Land beside the schoolyard became a public burial ground, known as Shanks Cemetery after Shanks Post Office opened in 1896. the earliest recorded burial was Burgess A. Whatley (1854-1892). In 1893 G. W. Bell deeded another half acre east of the graveyard. The school building was torn down in 1917. Shanks Cemetery Association has maintained the site since 1935.

The following information was submitted by This is not a complete listing for this cemetery.

Simmons, Andrew H.
     hus of Fannie
  1940
Simmons, Fannie
     wife of Andrew Simmons
  1935
Jett, Marshall I.
     hus of Lucy C. Simmons b. July 1, 1882
Dec 1878 Jan 1944
Jett, Robert J. Feb 14, 1904 Nov 23, 1962
Day, Wiley Warren
     hus of Ola E. Simmon
Jan 18, 1884 Feb 28, 1972
Day, Ola E. (Simmon)
     wife of Wiley Warren
May 30, 1888 Sept 23, 1968
Day, John Mitchel
     hus of Mattie (Whitten) Day
June 10, 1848 Jan 10, 1940
Day, Mattie (Whitten)
     wife of John Mitchel Day
Dec 19, 1852 Feb 10, 1920
Sharp, Joe Lincoln Feb 6, 1906 Dec 13, 1982
King, Robert 1883 1951
Dickens, N. E.
     buried with Honors from the Veteran's Administration
  June 4, 1986
Quarles, John T. 1851 1912
Quarles, Martha E. 1855 1940
Rouse, John I. June 24, 1909  
Rouse, Grace H. Oct 13, 1913 Feb 14, 1994
Sharp, Claude B. Aug 30, 1904 Nov 1, 1980
Sharp, Alma I. Mar 5. 1909 Jan 6, 1981
Sharp, Haroldean
     Son of Claude B. & Alma I. Sharp
Feb 8, 1929 Sept 18, 2000
Sharp, Shirley J. Oct 9, 1935 Jan 26, 1982
Sharp, Benjamin F. Sept 13, 1860 May 13, 1940
Sharp, Loucinda C. Mar 10, 1873 Jan 24, 1912
Sharp, Velma May 25, 1903 Sept 25, 1903
Sharp, Fred Jan 20, 1908 Feb 9, 1908
Sharp, Henrietta Nov 12, 1864 June 7, 1899
Powell, Dora Day Oct 1862 Mar 17, 1958
Keys, James Henry
     Contributed by Janie Moncrief Blevins
Jan 9, 1879 Apr 11, 1945
Foote, Cora Edna
     Contributed by Janie Moncrief Blevins
Feb 5, 1881 May 16, 1957
Emmons, Richard Raymond, Sr.
     hus of Mary Zue (Keys) Emmons
     Contributed by Janie Moncrief Blevins
July 22, 1909 Jan 22, 2003
Emmons, Mary Zue (Keys)
     wife of Richard Raymond Emmons, Sr.
     Contributed by Janie Moncrief Blevins
June 21, 1911 Sept 16, 1959
Weaver, Walter R.
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1869 1941
Weaver, Henryetta
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1873 1966
Weaver, Walter J.
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1901 1943
Clark, Vernon
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1904 1989
Clark, Ophelia J.
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1909 1999
Weaver, William E.
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1912 1997
Weaver, Elizabeth
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1912 1998
Weaver, Elmer L.
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1937 1937
Weaver, Walter E.
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1939 1956
Pierce, John W.
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1864 1942
Roy, Helen V.
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1880 1964
Pierce, William M.
     Contributed by JoAnn McBride
1902 1975
Goolsby, James Bird
     born in Campbell Co.,  GA, died in Kirvin, Freestone Co., TX
     Contributed by Carl, Hawthorne FL
     There may be other goolsby buried here but this is the only one
     that I am sure of.  *
Mar 31, 1858 Sept 5, 1948
FREEMAN, Thomas Charles "Jake", Sr.
     hus of Cora Bell Freeman
     son of Joseph Earl & Nina Ruth (Goolsby) Freeman
Mar 19, 1925 Feb 4, 2008

* Sources for James Bird Goolsby

  1. Fina Allen (Newsome) Slack, my grandmother and J. B. Goolsbys neice, attended the funeral.
  2. "The Goolsby/Conley Connection" by Mack Mullins @1980