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Dido
Cemetery
Photo courtesy Sam Maddox, 2006 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Founded around 1848 - Dido was once a thriving community named for a mythical
Queen of Carthage. The town had its own post office, stores and a promising future
until it was bypassed by the railroad
in the 1890s.
The most obvious reminder of the former town is the 1,000-grave
Dido Cemetery.
In 1887, land was donated for a school, church and cemetery.
Additional land was donated in 1894 by Dr. Isaac Van Zandt, son of Isaac L. Van
Zandt - the namesake of Van Zandt County.
(See letter below.)
The earliest grave
in the Dido cemetery is that of one-year-old infant Amanda Thurmond (1878-1879)
granddaughter of an early settler. |
Dido, Texas Today“At
the north end of Eagle Mountain lies a town that is forgotten but not lost. We
found the slab of the post office at the corner of Peden Road and FM 1220. The
growth of Fort Worth is moving
north and the growth of Alliance Airport is moving south. Right in the middle
of both of those growth booms lies Dido, Texas.
The oldest church in Tarrant
County sits here, the Dido Methodist Church. The Dido Women’s Club are the caretakers
of the community center and the Dido announcements sign. Anchoring the town is
Blue Bayou.
It is a ghost town in all its character and charm. All it needs
is a mayor and a post office box and it will be back to its glory days. [It is]
still rich in the historical sense, as well as the ghostly. Rumors are the bridge
at Indian Creek is where Cullen Davis threw his earthly goods into the lake. Dido
dogs still roam but are eerily quiet for they never seem to bark. There are many
parts of the town where the noise of parties can be heard, but there are no houses
or inhabitants on those spots.
It’s the most well-kept secret in all of
Texas.” - Dennis Heerwagen, August 26, 2010
Not any more. - Ed |
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Dido
Cemetery marker
Photo courtesy Sam Maddox, 2006 |
Historical
Marker TextDido
CemeteryThe earliest
marked grave in this cemetery is that of Amanda Thurmond (1878-1879), granddaughter
of Dave Thurmond, who in 1848 first settled this area. Dempsey S. Holt donated
three acres in 1887 for a school, church and cemetery. Dr. Isaac L. Van Zandt,
a pioneer physician and Confederate veteran, deeded additional land in 1894.
The Village of Dido was named for the mythological Queen of Carthage. A thriving
community with a post office and stores, Dido declined after the railroad bypassed
it in the 1890s. Among the 1,000 graves here are those of many pioneer families.
(1977) |
Dido
Cemetery gate
Photo courtesy Sam Maddox, 2006 |
Dido,
Texas Forum
The Smith
Family Chronicles: Two Routes from Virginia and A Reunion in Texas
Dear TE, I descend from Phereby Turner & John Smith. John Smith's will was dated
in 1805 Anson County NC. I have traced [the family] back to Sir William Harris
who married Alyce Smythe/Smith, the sister of Sir Thomas Smythe who was the Treasurer
of the Virgina company and was appointed by the King to settled Jamestown after
the first two failed attempts. He was also Ambassador to Russia, Governor of the
East India Company, and held other other notable positions. His father [also]
Sir Thomas Smythe, was wealthy enough to donate sums to Queen Elizabeth I so that
England could arm against and defeat the Spanish Armada. I believe this is the
reason my Smith got the abundant land grants from the King of England. England
owed them a debt for helping save the country. The Smiths that migrated westward
were so prominent and respected that other families gave their children the first
name of Smith. Texas' Smith County had many Smiths settle there.
In Texas
the name Throckmorton is both a county and city
as well as the name of a street in downtown Fort Worth. Sir Throckmorton was a
protégé of Sir Thomas Smythe in England in the 1500's. Prior to
changing the name from Smythe to Smith they were Carringtons. The Carringtons
were an order of the Knights Templar who escaped England. When the Templars were
rounded up, they returned as Smythe's. Between the years 1750 and 1790 in Anson
Co NC the name John Smith is mentioned most often in local land transactions.
The Smiths came out of VA in two directions. One South through NC and SC with
the children going westward through GA, MS, AL, and Texas. The other went directly
westward through KY, TN, AL and connected in the 1800's with the families who
had taken the southern route. My research shows these families started in VA together
and 400 years later met at Dido and the surrounding area where I live today. The
census records from 1850 to the present and the family wills prior to those dates
confirm this. The burial plots at Dido have the families together in the 1800's
as they were in the 1600's. Much of this is in history books and others [are family
histories]. I have cousins all over the country who are assisting me but the more
I have become involved in this, the larger the story grows. The Dido cemetery
will link to Davy Crockett, Thomas Jefferson, Lyndon B Johnson, George Washington
and others. The Smith Family descendants buried at Dido go back to the founding
of this country. - Bob Thomas, Saginaw, Texas, August 29, 2007
Subject:
Dido Cemetery
Dear TE, I am a retired Finance Director and now do part time consulting and serve
as an expert witness for law firms nationally. Most of my time is spent doing
genealogy. Both my mother and fathers lines document to the Royal families of
Europe. While tracing the migration on my fathers side I found that a Hankins
(my grandmother was Mary Jane Hankins) was buried at Dido cemetery. I live in
Saginaw Texas which is 15 minutes from there. I went there Thursday afternoon
and was totally stunned. Not only were there 5 Hankins graves, there were many
surnames that connect to my family on both sides that document back to Jamestown
Society ancestors as well as Halifax North Carolina founders and a heavy dose
of names out of Isle of Wight Virginia and other Virginia counties. Here are at
least three confirmed burial sites of Blue Blood (now Blue Bones I guess) but
with what I am finding it could be one of the largest [groupings] in one cemetery
in Texas. I was back out there today for four hours and it will take weeks to
catalog exact positions of all the grave sites that are linked. This was another
colony as they moved west and I have traced these carefully. I need additional
help with this as the other genealogist and family members are scattered over
the country. It seems these families (MY families) were close in their migrations,
seldom marrying outside the inner circle. - Bob Thomas, Saginaw, Texas, August
18, 2007
Subject:
Dido Days every year on the last Sunday in April
My name is Barbie Williams and I'm on the Dido Cemetery Board of Directors. We
still have "Dido Days" every year on the last Sunday in April. This year it will
be on April 30th at 12:30 PM. We still have a picnic, and a business meeting there
at the cemetery. Weird as it may seem, a picnic at the cemetery is really pretty
neat. At least it is at Dido. I believe it is one of the most beautiful and well
kept cemeteries there is. One gentleman has been coming to Dido Days for nearly
90 years. He said he remembers coming for the "yearly cemetery clean-up" in a
covered wagon with his parents. Nowadays Dido is maintained year round so we mainly
just meet to conduct business and have food and fellowship.
I just learned
that famous Texas song writer, Townes Van Zandt, is buried there (well, some of
his ashes). He was Isaac L.Van Zandt's great grandson. Townes wrote the song "Pancho
and Lefty" sung by Willie Nelson. Lots of neat history in Dido. - Barbie Williams,
April 19, 2006
Subject:
Dido Texas
I
can't believe you have a website. I used to come with my grandparents, Ruby Caldwell
Hill and George Earnest Hill to the "reunion" at Dido in April in the 60's. They
used to meet in the spring to clean the cemetery, but when we went, it was mainly
a get- together with lots of good food. Amanda "Mandy" Thurmond, the first person
buried there was my granddaddy's (G.E. Hill) aunt, the twin sister to his mother,
Mary Thurmond. Mary and Amanda's parents, Jim and Rebecca Thurmond lived in Dido.
Mary Thurmond married Allen Hill.
According to my mother, Mary Sue Hill
Ingram, her grandfather, "Daddy" Allen was a boisterous, "good will" man, a town
organizer. He had a chair on his front porch and would "holler" greetings to the
townsfolk as they passed by. She said he was pall bearer at everyone's funeral,
probably due to his size. Anytime he met someone who was hungry, he would invite
them to his house to eat. His wife, Mary, was a small woman, evidently a very
good cook. She also visited the neighbors every day and was quite a talker. My
grandaddy said she visited the neighbors because Daddy Allen never let her get
a word in at home. The best story Mother told me was of Daddy Allen selling watermelons
to raise money for the Dido cemetery. She said he had the watermelons iced down
in big barrels and was slicing and selling them with a flourish. What a picture!
I don't know how many descendents I have in Dido from the Thurmond and Hill families,
but my grandparents and my Daddy, Frank Douglas Ingram, are buried there. It's
a beautiful place with lots of trees and a view of Eagle Mt. Lake. I have very
fond memories of my time with my grandparents there.
If anyone has info
on when Dido Day is this year, please email me at cityama@mac.com - Diana Lane,
April 04, 2006
Subject: A Dido Correction
On your website, you state that: "In 1887, land was donated for a school, church
and cemetery. Additional land was donated in 1894 by Confederate veteran Dr. Isaac
L. Van Zandt - the namesake of Van Zandt County."
It's a common
error, one that started decades ago and is still being repeated. The first problem
is the Van Zandts - there are three prominent members of the family; Isaac Van
Zandt, the father of Dr. Isaac Van Zandt and Major K.M. Van Zandt. It was the
elder Van Zandt for whom Van Zandt County, Texas was named. He also helped frame
the Texas Constitution and served in Washington representing Texas. It was his
son, the Doctor, who lived in Dido. His brother, K.M. Van Zandt was prominent
in early Fort Worth (1865) and also had land and a home in Saginaw. Even the family
gets them confused. I'm trying to get this thing untangled - one piece at a time.
Thanks, Art Jones, Lake Worth, Texas, March 28, 2006
I
live down the road from Dido (in Saginaw, Texas) and my buddies and I go out there
all the time (there's a couple of bars, along with the cemetery). Its certainly
not a "ghost town", though. Indian Creek has maybe 30 people there plus a new
housing division ("the Resort") being built. But, Dido itself has hundreds of
people living there; they just don't live right off of Morris-Dido road. Yeah,
the railroad did by-pass Dido way-back-when (for Saginaw), and the town no longer
has a post office (hence, it isn't a "real" town), but its still alive and well.
The foundation of the old post office is at the split in the road, and there's
also a few old buggy wheels there, too. Anyway-Dido's faded, but not gone. - S.
Williams, November 12, 2002
I
live in Dido. Although it is not considered a town anymore, it is still a very
large community. In addition to the cemetery, we also have a community center,
a church and a volunteer fire deparment, hidden off of Bud Cross Drive on McRee
Street. Several of the old-timer's could tell you a lot about the community once
known as the town of Dido. Everyone knows everyone here in Dido. - Terry Lee--Dido
Resident since 1977, October 29, 2002
I
just moved to Ft.Worth, TX. area and saw that Dido Texas was in your ghost town
list, so I thought that I would take a drive and see if I could find it. Well
after about 30 minutes of looking at a map and and driving in the new area of
Ft.Worth, I came across an old auto repair shop and ask the man working there
if he could tell me where Dido was. He gave me the directions that I needed and
then told me that there isn't really much left out there, but if I wanted to see
it then that was my business. I did find the town of Dido which is pronounced
with a long I sound, and There is a little bit of new construction going on there,
with a new subdivision being built right by the cemetery. There are still a bunch
of old houses and a couple of abandoned shacks out there, but there are still
people living out there. ..... The town is very small, which is why it's not on
a map, but it does still exist. - Dan Shea, May 08, 2002
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