(I.T.) Haston Cemetery – Cummingsville, TN – Daniel Haston Family Association

Isaac T. & Elizabeth Sparkman Haston Family Cemetery

Cummingsville of Van Buren County, Tennessee

History of the Haston Cemetery

Isaac T. Haston was the next-to-the-youngest son of David and Peggy Roddy Haston. Although he was a grandson of Daniel Haston, Isaac T. was born (March 28, 1827) about a year after his grandfather died so he would never have seen and known Daniel. On April 28, 1853, Isaac T. purchased “215 acres” adjacent (on the east side) to his father, David. The tract was very irregular in shape. It bordered on Cane Creek on the northeast side and on the Haston Big Branch on the northwest side. It spanned the “Big Road” (probably roughly the same path as the current Route 285).

1853-1854 Land Purchase

Approximately 22 1/2 years after purchasing the “215 acres,” Isaac T. Haston died and he (or the family) chose to bury him on his farm. His wife Elizabeth died about seven years later and was buried near him. Whether or not Isaac T.’s family had plans for an expanding cemetery there, we will probably never know. But eight others–mostly infants or children–were buried in the cemetery later in the 1800s.

Isaac T. (Sr.) & Elizabeth Sparkman Haston

Survey of Haston Cemetery

Isaac T. and Elizabeth Sparkman Haston Family

The Haston Cemetery was established on land owned, at the time, by Isaac T. and Elizabeth Haston. Membership in the organization is limited to descendants of Isaac T. and Elizabeth–an extensive branch of the David Haston family.

Cemetery Burials Plot Map

Created by Ruth Haston Spakes

The Haston Cemetery Trust Fund

Apparently there is no record as to when annual decoration days were observed at the cemetery. But on the August 13, 1963 “Haston Cemetery Decoration Day,” Dave [David Rhea] Haston “made a report on the progress made as to setting up a Trust Fund for the Cemetery.” Thomas Smit read a proposed set of by-laws for the Trust Fund, and after having heard them read a motion was made by J.D. Haston and seconded by R.L. Haston that the by-laws be adopted and the motion carried. The following day, the Trust Fund was opened at the City Bank and Trust Company in McMinnville, TN with an initial deposit of $528.00. A transfer from a checking account and $11.00 from the previous day’s collection made the total savings deposit $570.57.