Martha Angeline Ledbetter
(1841 - 1887)
(1841 - 1887)
Old Troy, Texas Cemetery Visit Summary
GPS Cords. N31 13.923, W097 18.347
Randall Woodrow Todd Jr.
12/08/2006
Bell County, Texas was established in or about 1850. It was know that the area was an extremely fertile area and well suited for farming. This is the reason so many migrated to the area. One of the frontier towns that were a result of migration was the little town of Troy. Originally Troy was nothing more than a stage coach stop between Waco, Texas and Salado, Texas in route to Austin, Texas. Around the turn of the century the railroad was built from the North to South. That railroad by passed Troy by two miles. As the stagecoach was being phased out and the iron horse becoming evermore popular forced the little town of Troy to relocate slightly southward to the location where Troy now sits along Interstate 35. The "Old Troy" completely disappeared around the 1920s. The last standing structure there was the old one room school. No structure still stands. The only evidence that suggest there was ever an Old Troy in an abandoned and badly overgrown cemetery that has about 30 marked graves and at least that many and probably more grave that are unknown or lost. Sadly there is no photo or written history of the original Troy, Texas so records do not exist.
Regrettably our Grandmother Martha Angeline (Ledbetter) Todd completed her life in this place at this time. The story is that Martha was a person of delicate health. William and Martha heard that the area here was less demanding than in Arkansas where they were. They decided to relocate. Sadly, when the men were returning from Waco in the wagon, a tornado struck the house that Martha was living in. She fell unconscious at the moment of impact and never regained consciousness.
I have made several attempts to locate Martha Angeline (Ledbetter) Todd’s grave. I not only could not locate her grave I could not even find the cemetery. As stated previously no records were kept so no one absolutely knows where she is however when one does just a little research it is clear that in Old Troy there was but one cemetery. The dates on the headstones in this forgotten cemetery range from the 1870s to 1920s. Martha Angeline died in 1887. I have concluded that she must be here unless she was buried on private property which is unlikely since she and William did not own property. I had wished to locate her grave but as it turned out was lucky to have located the cemetery. Thanks to modern Global Positioning System technology (at least by today’s standards) the old cemetery was found.
OLD TROY, TEXAS. Old Troy was on Big Elm Creek nine miles north of Temple and two miles north of the current site of Troy in northeastern Bell County. Settlers began arriving in the vicinity in the 1850s, and there was an Elm Creek post office on the site from 1854 to 1876. The Elm Creek community was also a stage stop on the line from Waco to Belton to Austin. In 1876 residents changed the name of the post office and the community to Troy, perhaps after Troy, New York, presumably the former hometown of a Troy, Texas, citizen. When the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad came through the area in the early 1880s, a station was built two miles south of Troy. Most of the citizens moved there, but others refused to leave the old site of the town, and for a time Old Troy and New Troy coexisted. In 1903 there was still an Old Troy school that had some sixty pupils and two teachers, but the community disappeared by 1927. In 1973 there was an Old Troy cemetery on the site.
GPS Cords. N31 13.923, W097 18.347
Randall Woodrow Todd Jr.
12/08/2006
Bell County, Texas was established in or about 1850. It was know that the area was an extremely fertile area and well suited for farming. This is the reason so many migrated to the area. One of the frontier towns that were a result of migration was the little town of Troy. Originally Troy was nothing more than a stage coach stop between Waco, Texas and Salado, Texas in route to Austin, Texas. Around the turn of the century the railroad was built from the North to South. That railroad by passed Troy by two miles. As the stagecoach was being phased out and the iron horse becoming evermore popular forced the little town of Troy to relocate slightly southward to the location where Troy now sits along Interstate 35. The "Old Troy" completely disappeared around the 1920s. The last standing structure there was the old one room school. No structure still stands. The only evidence that suggest there was ever an Old Troy in an abandoned and badly overgrown cemetery that has about 30 marked graves and at least that many and probably more grave that are unknown or lost. Sadly there is no photo or written history of the original Troy, Texas so records do not exist.
Regrettably our Grandmother Martha Angeline (Ledbetter) Todd completed her life in this place at this time. The story is that Martha was a person of delicate health. William and Martha heard that the area here was less demanding than in Arkansas where they were. They decided to relocate. Sadly, when the men were returning from Waco in the wagon, a tornado struck the house that Martha was living in. She fell unconscious at the moment of impact and never regained consciousness.
I have made several attempts to locate Martha Angeline (Ledbetter) Todd’s grave. I not only could not locate her grave I could not even find the cemetery. As stated previously no records were kept so no one absolutely knows where she is however when one does just a little research it is clear that in Old Troy there was but one cemetery. The dates on the headstones in this forgotten cemetery range from the 1870s to 1920s. Martha Angeline died in 1887. I have concluded that she must be here unless she was buried on private property which is unlikely since she and William did not own property. I had wished to locate her grave but as it turned out was lucky to have located the cemetery. Thanks to modern Global Positioning System technology (at least by today’s standards) the old cemetery was found.
OLD TROY, TEXAS. Old Troy was on Big Elm Creek nine miles north of Temple and two miles north of the current site of Troy in northeastern Bell County. Settlers began arriving in the vicinity in the 1850s, and there was an Elm Creek post office on the site from 1854 to 1876. The Elm Creek community was also a stage stop on the line from Waco to Belton to Austin. In 1876 residents changed the name of the post office and the community to Troy, perhaps after Troy, New York, presumably the former hometown of a Troy, Texas, citizen. When the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad came through the area in the early 1880s, a station was built two miles south of Troy. Most of the citizens moved there, but others refused to leave the old site of the town, and for a time Old Troy and New Troy coexisted. In 1903 there was still an Old Troy school that had some sixty pupils and two teachers, but the community disappeared by 1927. In 1973 there was an Old Troy cemetery on the site.
