St. Mary Cemetery WEST and St. Mary Cemetery EAST, are located on what is now called Hughes Cemetery Road near the towns of Avalon, Forreston, and Italy, Texas. The cemetery dates as far back as the 1860s when the St. Mary Community was established in the area recorded on the United States Federal Census under Ellis County, Texas,"Chambers Creek Post Office". The St. Mary Community, an African-American settlement, was located on land adjacent to the old Tarrant Plantation and is drawn as one of two Hughes Cemeteries (White and Black) on an old Tarrant Plantation map dated 1861. Houses, a church, and a school were a part of this area known mainly for a series of farms. As late as 1940, census reports show the St. Mary Community (District 70-10, Precinct 1) having a school with a teacher in residence nearby. As further verification, a photograph from the 1930s of a group of students with their teacher in front of the school building exists. The last residents left the St. Mary Community in the early 1960s (at that time the community was at least 100 years old) and burials at St. Mary Cemetery ceased around the end of the 20th century.

NOTE: There are two (2) cemeteries--referred to as St. Mary (old) and St. Mary (new). St. Mary Cemetery (old) is located to the WEST and St. Mary Cemetery (new) is located to the EAST of Hughes Cemetery Road. On this website, graves in ST. MARY CEMETERY (both east and west) may also be included under HUGHES CEMETERY. As you search, check under both Hughes Cemetery and St. Mary Cemetery.