James Russel Washington - Fairview Cemetery - Gainesville, TX
N 33° 38.001 W 097° 07.592
14S E 673762 N 3723077
James Russel Washington, Jr. is buried with his family in historic Fairview Cemetery, and the headstone on the 10' marble obelisk marking his final resting place indicates that he was murdered in 1892.
Waymark Code: WM124T3
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/27/2020
Views: 0
Other than a well-faded criss-cross pattern with floral or leaf detail around the top of the obelisk, it's void of any type of decoration. The family name, "Washington", is barely legible on the plinth, and the inscription above it reads:
James Russel
Son of
Mr. & Mrs. J.R. Washington
Born
Aug. 8, 1870,
Murdered
Jan. 8, 1892.
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Peace and rest to our
darling son
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Ron Melugin's "Heroes, Scoundrels and Angels" is a wonderful guide to some of the more notable -- for a variety of reasons -- burials in Fairview Cemetery. On page 224, he notes that Mr. Washington was murdered by his brother, John, out in the Dexter area in some kind of dispute over a fence, and the lone witness, Jake Brazelton, escaped simply because John's gun was empty. John Washington was able to live a good long life, having escaped justice, although the biographical information on his Findagrave page isn't quite the "lived in obscurity in New Mexico Territory" that Professor Melugin mentions.
James R. Washington, Sr. was a prominent landowner in Cooke County, and his ranch house is still standing northeast of here, just a little bit north of where you'll find one or two pieces of what was once Dexter, TX.