The family of Thomas and Frances Maria Drake Flewellen came to Texas from Georgia an Arkansas in the 1850s. In 1859, Thomas Flewellen purchased 1,426 acres of rich farmland on which he established his home and a large farm. When Frances Maria died in 1861 she was buried near the family home, the first burial in what became the Flewellen-Thweatt cemetery.
Three of the Flewellens nine surviving children married members of the Thweatt family. The Flewellens and the Thweatts engaged in farming activities, using slaves and their descendants are buried in the nearby Fluellen- Flewellen cemetery.
The Flewellen-Thweatt Cemetery is a reminder of the hardships faced in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as 20 of the burials are for children and women under 40 years of age. Others buried here include Thomas Flewellen (D. 1889) and other members of his extended family. In 1919 Thomas and Frances Maria's daughter, Mary Margaret Flewellen Hill, deeded this property as a cemetery for the lineal descendants of Thomas Flewellen, and it continues in use for that purpose.
As the resting place for members of two prominent pioneer families, who were joined through marriage and are representative if Smith County's plantation culture, the Flewellen-Thweatt Cemetery is a physical reminder of this part of Smith County's history.
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