Proffitt Cemetery

Members of the Robert Smith Proffitt family came to this area about 1862 and established homes. A son, John Proffitt (1846-1925), amassed large land-holdings and built a gin and other businesses. The developing community was named Proffitt. At its height it boasted homes, a post office, school, retail businesses, a Methodist church, and Baptist church. On July 17, 1867, three young men were killed in an Indian raid near this site. They were buried in a common grave on John Proffitt's land about one mile south of town. Theirs was the first burial in the community graveyard which became know as the Proffitt Cemetery. The cemetery contains both marked and unmarked graves of area pioneers. The numerous interments of infants and children illustrate the often harsh conditions of frontier life. The largest number of burials occurred in the years between 1910 and 1920, and include many victims of the World War I-era influenza epidemic. Also buried here are veterans of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Maintained by a cemetery association, this historic graveyard stands as memorial to Young County pioneers.

Proffitt Cemetery is a historical marker in Newcastle, Young County, dedicated in 1990. It is one of 43 historical markers documented in Young County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 49 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 33.1820, -98.8640 near Newcastle. The nearest cataloged historic site is Common Grave (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Indian Raid on Elm Creek, CSA, Two Miles Southwest to Fort Belknap, and Military Road (Ft. Belknap-Ft Phantom Hill).

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5503004131. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.