Someone on Find-a-Grave had put out a request for a photo of the grave of "Infant Son Robertson," 8 May 1929- 11 May 1929.
He was buried in a small cemetery at the locality of Sardis, which is just a few miles west of Roby, among the gently rolling cotton fields of Fisher County, Texas. The death certificate simply listed the cause of death as "Premature birth." The doctor, a W.L. Allen, noted on the form that he had last seen the baby alive on the 8th -- probably upon having helped deliver him to his mother Minnie and her husband Homer.
Seeing that the cemetery was about 28 miles from my home in Sweetwater, I hopped in the truck and headed north to the burying ground, just north of Highway 180 a mile or less and not far from the Rolling Hills Quail Research Foundation whose work I am fond of.
At 3:30 on this sunny afternoon of the last day of summer, I was well aware of the 98-degree heat, but it seemed to lack the punishing conviction of so many previous days this past couple of months. The cemetery of approximately 150 graves dates to 1898, and someone is taking reasonable care of it mowing to keep the mesquite from getting a foothold. It is still in active use by local families whose DNA is part of the soil here.
Working in a grid pattern, I looked as hard and as carefully as I could, but found no trace of a marker with "Infant Son Robertson" on it, although I found several graves of other babies. "Stillborn," said one. Three of them bore the carved lamb motif so sweetly used on the gravestones of babies and young children in late Victorian times and into the 20th century. As I was ready to leave, I passed a white marble stone cut in the shape normally issued for veterans.
When I walked past and turned around to read the inscription, I found words that cut right to my heart. Some saint had gone to the trouble and expense to mark this "tomb of the unknown child." Perhaps it was an infant boy, name of Robertson, who never had a chance ...

Very well said.

R.I.P.

The little lamb motifs are tear-jerkers for sure. One of my grandmothers had two little ones die in her arms. Those graves aren't easy to look at (Austin). There are some incredible angels on children's graves at the historic cemetery in Fort Worth, along the river. God's rest to the little ones.

I have done some grave site searching for Find-a-Grave, some of them make you stop and take a moment, the child ones are always the toughest.
Folks out there surely appreciate your time, thank you.

Ther’s an old cemetery near here, the Tidwell Cemetery I think, but was once the Steele Cemetery. It’s had a few different names over the many decades. I walk around in there every now and then. There are a couple of old Confederate soldiers. But the thing that always draws me is a string of tombstones in a line. The old man buried there had outlived 3 wives and maybe 6 babies. The small stones only say “Baby”. No dates. No names. Just newborns that didn’t make it.

I think the last burial there was in 1965 or so.

I clicked on the pic. 'Looks like someone, sometime, planted spider lilies on the left. You cain't kill those things. Excellent choice.

Find-a-Grave is a neat site. Found my uncle in Azle. I remembered going to his funeral in the 80's but no one left in the family knew which cemetery.

Absolutely. I found 1 set of great grandparents (Effingham, IL), and 1 set of 2nd great grandparents (Nolan, TX) off the site. Those people that volunteer to do that are truly appreciated.

After mentioning the Tidwell Cemetery near me in Limestone County, I searched for more info on the cemetery, and I found a fellow that travels to remote old cemeteries to record graves of Confederate soldiers. He had been through that cemetery and found 7 Confederate soldiers. What he doesn’t know is that I know where another one is, so I joined the forum to tell him where it is.

I was feeding a neighbor’s cats and dogs a couple of years ago while they were on vacation (they had 26 cats and 6 dogs) and I closed their gate behind me. When I got ready to leave, there was a Chevy Suburban at the gate. A whole family was in it, and a real old man. His family had once owned that property, and he wanted to visit the family plot one more time before he died. I let them onto the place and followed them on an old wagon track to a small cemetery back in the woods. This area was once a community called Pleasant Grove (one of three or four of that name in Texas), and the plot dated from that time. It was cyclone fenced and had maybe 8 or 10 graves, one of which was a Confederate veteran. I thought I should tell the guy that records the locations of Confederate vets. It seems right. And the old guy was thankful he got to say goodbye to family.

There is a cemetery that backs up to DFW Airport and a golf course over in Euless. Sometimes I will stop and eat lunch under a shade tree there. One day I decided to wander around and look at headstones. I found myself in a section where infants were buried and reading the headstones ripped me up pretty bad. I am not an emotional person and am quite cold. Couldn't for the life of me figure out why seeing those headstones affected me so badly.

That oddest Cemetery that I've come across in the Dallas area is the one sandwiched between 183 and the service road on the South Side as you're coming into Irving. You see a couple of live oak trees and a little bit of a fence. One day I decided to stop to see what it was and much to my surprise it was a cemetery. There's also the Letot cemetery right off Shady Trail close to all of the topless bars.

There is also a cemetery in the woods in Lewisville sandwiched between Highway 121 and the Lake Lewisville dam. You have to wander around a whole lot to find it and I haven't been there since my early 20s.