Dozier and Augusta Thornton
In the fall of 1906 her parents, Dozier and Augusta Thornton and their five young children moved from Wheeler to Dawson County, settling about eight miles south of Lamesa in the Five Mile School District. Dozier bought 160 acres of land. The family first lived in a tent until a half-dugout could be built. Memories of these times remained with these children for the rest of their lives (hail storms, prairie fires, tornadoes) but none so vivid as the death of their baby sister, Mary Lee Thornton.Born February 17, 1909, she died two weeks later (March 1) of whooping cough. All of the children witnessed her passing--and it had a profound effect on them. In later years, none could recount the event without tears.
Isolated as they were, my grandmother washed and prepared the body for burial. My grandfather made a little pine coffin, and she was buried in the Five Mile Cemetery.
After a couple of years, the family moved to McCulloch County and eventually to Limestone County. The children grew up, married, moved away, had children, grandchildren. Hard times, war years, little or no transportation, took their toll. Eventually the exact location of these long ago events faded. Only the oldest son, Lodes Thornton, who lived in Lamesa for awhile, remembered the name of the cemetery. He left a brief memoir. In reading it again yesterday, and finding Five Mile Cemetery, a web search brought me to you and the photograph of Mary L. Thornton's gravestone by Jason Madison.
Dear Peggy: I'd like to send a personal word of appreciation to both you and Jason Madison for info about and the photos of gravestones in Five Mile Cemetery in Dawson County, Texas. This place became almost mythical in my mother's family. Please pass on my grateful thanks to him! Sincerely, Wanda Willard Smith.