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Donna Spears recounts legal, survey work that secured Smith Family Cemetery
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Summary
Donna Spears told the commission how genealogical research, a retracement survey and ground-penetrating radar helped secure the Smith Family Cemetery’s designation as a historic Texas cemetery and protect it from nearby development.
Donna Spears, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, told the Flower Mound Historical Commission on Monday how she and her husband fought to preserve a small family burial plot in Dallas County that dates to the 1800s.
Spears recounted tracking the cemetery to Thomas Smith (born 1784), researching deed records and hiring a retracement surveyor to map the site against an 1877 county survey. She said ground-penetrating radar identified "probably 10" potential graves and that she filed a notice of existence of cemetery in the Dallas County deed records in August 2014. "They identified probably 10," Spears said when asked about the radar results. The commission was told that the Texas Historical Commission formally recognized the site as a historic Texas cemetery on 08/05/2016.
Why it matters: Spears described how ordinary records, specialized surveying and state recognition combined to protect a 0.22-acre family cemetery amid later development. She said the legal and survey work produced GPS-based boundaries now recorded in county records, reducing the risk that new owners will inadvertently build on burial plots.
Spears described encountering a neighbor who had planned a parking lot and, later, commercial buyers. She quoted the exchange: "Keep your hands out of my cemetery," she said she told a developer who bought surrounding acreage and acknowledged the cemetery in title records. Spears credited a local retracement surveyor, 1930 aerial photos held at SMU and assistance from a cemetery-law attorney for establishing the cemetery boundaries and securing preservation measures.
Commissioners pressed Spears on technical details. She described contracting for a ground-penetrating radar survey and said surveying crews GPS-recorded corner points for each identified grave. She also noted that many of the large oaks that once marked the site had died and that a prior owner had covered parts of the area with gravel while planning a parking lot, which complicated radar readings. "The trees were the key to the whole thing, in my opinion," Spears said of the aerial-photo evidence that helped match historic maps to the present landscape.
Spears concluded by describing a granite marker and fencing installed on the site and said routine mowing and caretaking occur in summer. Commissioners praised the work: one called the Texas Historical Commission certification "an incredible feat." The commission did not take any formal action on the matter during the meeting; Spears’s presentation was received for informational purposes.
Ending: The presentation closed with follow-up questions about the number of graves and survey methods and with the commission thanking Spears and noting interest in inviting her (and her husband) back for a future meeting.
