Details for Wiley College Cemetery
Historical Marker — Atlas Number 5203010229
Data
| Marker Number | 10229 |
| Atlas Number | 5203010229 |
| Marker Title | Wiley College Cemetery |
| Index Entry | Wiley College Cemetery |
| Address | Achte St. |
| City | Marshall |
| County | Harrison |
| UTM Zone | 15 |
| UTM Easting | 370576 |
| UTM Northing | 3599111 |
| Subject Codes | cemetery; Methodist (Methodist Episcopal and United Methodist) denomination; African American topics; educational topics |
| Marker Year | 1989 |
| Recorded Texas Historic Landmark | No |
| Marker Location | Achte St., 0.1 mi. SW of the S end of the street, 0.2 mi. S of Lancaster St. |
| Private Property | No |
| Marker Condition | In Situ |
| Marker Size | 27" x 42" |
| Marker Text | The Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, North, an organization devoted to the education of former slaves and their descendants, established Wiley College in Marshall in March 1873. The school was named for Bishop Isaac W. Wiley, a charter member of the society, and was originally located about three miles south of the town square. The college moved to its present location in 1877. A four-acre plot of the college property was set aside as a burial ground for the Black community, and has been known through the years as both Wiley College Cemetery and Wiley University Cemetery. The earliest documented graves here are those of Oscar Laurin Coffin (March 11 - May 15, 1894) and his mother, Minnie May Coffin (d. June 17, 1894). Other members of the community buried here include the Rev. Matthew Dogan (1863-1947), president of Wiley College from 1896 to 1942; respected schoolteacher Effie Mitchell; educators Henry and Gertrude H. Mason; and veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. The cemetery also contains a large number of unmarked graves. The Wiley College Cemetery Club, organized in 1959, maintains the historic graveyard. (1989) |