Classical Childrens Books

Bobbitt Cemetery

The Bobbitt Cemetery in San Augustine County is located on FM 1751. It started with the death of Alfonso Iza Bobbitt in 1866 and is a Texas State Historical Site. It is the setting of the book about the Bobbitt family "In The Shadow of the Pines."

Shadow of the Pines Cover Grave of Alfonzo and Esper Bobbitt

Bobbitt Family Cemetery In San Augustine County

The Bobbitt Family Cemetery is located 5 miles south of Highway 103 on Farm to Market Road 1751.

An aerial map of the cemetery can be viewed at Panorami View of Bobbitt Cemetery. Click the link "Panoramio views of the local area" beneath the feature information.

Online Photos of the Bobbitt Cemetery

Max Lincoln Bobbitt has compiled The Bobbitt Cemeteries Book as an online resource of 9 different Bobbitt Cemeteries. Chapter 8 is the Bobbitt's Family Cemetery in San Augustine, Texas.

Photo above and links below are from Max Lincoln Bobbitt's web page.

The Bobbitt Family Cemetery is a Texas State Historical Site. It is one of the few remaining sites of early white settlers in East Texas. The founding of the cemetery is also discussed in the story "In the Shadow of the Pines."

Cemetery History

The Mexican government deeded the land that the cemetery is on to Joses and Lizette Hobdy (1797-1853 and 1789-1852 respectively) in 1835 as part of the Zavalla Colony. Part of that land was inherited by their daughter Martha Hobdy who married ATL Bobbitt, Sr. It became the Bobbitt Farm. The cemetery started when the son of Martha and ATL died in 1866. Though the Bobbitt Farm has passed down for six generations and is smaller, the cemetery is still in use.

In The Cemetery

In The Shadow of the Pines - pg 149-150

"This cemetery is a place of life, not death," his grandfather had told him many years before. "Here is the story of the family you come from."

"My family," Alfred mumbled quietly.

Every tombstone told just a little piece of the story that had been lived. Joy and pain were woven through those stories.

But it was more than just the story of one family. Here was history. The names on these gravestones might not make it into the history books, but these were the people who had lived it. Here were the tradesmen who had built their communities. Here were the farmers who had fed Texas. Here were the soldiers who had fought the battles of their nation. These were the men and women and children who had subdued the land and loved it.

Characters buried in the Bobbitt Cemetery

Many of the characters from the book In The Shadow of the Pines are buried in the cemetery.

The tombstone of Alfonzo Iza Bobbitt (1899 - 1955) and Mary Esper Robbins Bobbitt (1905-1936) is in the photo above. They were the sharecropping parents of the six children during the Great Depression. Esper is buried with baby Joseph in her arms. The tombstone pictured at the top of this page was erected by her children several decades after her death.

Augustus Tentamus LaFamous Bobbitt Jr. (1861 - 1945) was Grandpa Bud. He was sometimes referred to as Argus Bobbitt, possibly to prevent confusion with his father who had the same name. He was born and died on the Bobbitt Homestead. He is buried with his first wife Elizabeth Synthia Dickerson Bobbitt (1861-1919.) His second wife Anne Brown Bobbitt (Miss Annie in the story) is buried at his feet.

Augustus Tentamus LaFamous Bobbitt Sr. (1826 - 1909) was the founder of the cemetery and the family patriarch. He served in the Texas State Militia and the Confederate States Army during the Civl War. He was married to Martha Hobdy Bobbitt, who inherited the land from her parents in 1853.

Other photos of characters mentioned in the book whose graves are photographed in Max Lincoln Bobbitt's book include Elmer Bobbitt (1922-1924), Esper's first child.

Elijah Edmond Bobbitt (1903-1906), Bud's son, who died in a wasp fight.

Two of Esper's sons, Kenneth Ray (1930-2005) and Billy Ray (1934-1989) are buried in the cemetery. A memorial plaque for Alfred Bobbitt has been placed in the Bobbitt Cemetery in recognition of the work he did in recording the family history.