Annetta Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. There's a cemetery sitting west of Fort Worth, out in Parker County, and the story of how it got there, and how the town around it got its name, starts with a man who refused to bend the knee. A.

B. Fraser was a Confederate soldier, and when the war ended, he made a choice a lot of men talked about but few actually made. Rather than declare allegiance to the Union, he went into exile.

Not just across the county line; he went all the way to Central America. Now that's a man with convictions. While the Frasers were living in Honduras, a daughter was born to them.

They named her Anneta. Carry that name with you a moment, because it's going to echo across a long stretch of Texas history. The family returned to the United States in 1872 and settled in Fort Worth.

Then, in 1876, they moved a few miles west of the city, and Fraser got to work. He established a store and a freight station near Weatherford and named the station for his daughter: Anneta. Four years later, in 1880, the Texas and Pacific Railroad built tracks through that area.

The railroad adapted the Fraser name, spelling it Annetta (two t's). And that's the name that stuck to the place. Now, every community eventually needs a cemetery.

It's likely the ground had already been receiving the dead for several years before anyone thought to put up a proper stone. But the earliest tombstone on that site belongs to Edgar M. King, interred there in September of 1882.

He was the first of many of his family to be buried in Annetta Cemetery, and in a way, his stone marks the beginning of the record. What the record shows, if you walk that ground and read the dates, is something that can stop you cold. Thirty-five graves belong to infants.

Thirty-five. All dated between 1882 and 1910. The marker calls it a testament to the harsh conditions of pioneer life, and there's no better word for it than that.

Testament. Beyond those small graves, the cemetery holds civic leaders and church leaders, educators and politicians, farmers and ranchers, merchants and manufacturers. The Bell, Bledsoe, Chapman, Chew, Duncan, Nichols, Otto, and Winslow families are prominently represented; whole lineages laid down in Parker County soil.

There are veterans among them, too. One who served in the Civil War. Others who served in several major United States and international wars and conflicts.

By 1998, more than 935 graves had been counted. The town of Annetta itself has largely faded. Fading railroad tracks are about all that's left of the line that once gave the place its spelling.

But the cemetery endures. And in a way, that's fitting; because the whole story began with a man who refused to be erased, named a freight station after his daughter, and the railroad carried that daughter's name forward in iron and timber. Now the trains are gone, and the tracks are going.

But Annetta Cemetery is still out there, still keeping the record, still holding the names of the people who built something in the Texas west and left their children, and sometimes their children's children, in the ground.

What the marker says

Community founder A. B. Fraser was a Confederate soldier who went into exile in Central America rather than declare allegiance to the Union. The Frasers named their daughter, who was born in Honduras, Anneta. The family returned to the U. S. in 1872, settling in Fort Worth, then moved a few miles west of the city in 1876. Fraser established a store and freight station near Weatherford and named the station for his daughter. When the Texas and Pacific Railroad built tracks through this area in 1880, it adapted the Fraser name, spelling it Annetta. Though it is likely that the site had already been used as a burial ground for several years before Edgar M. King was interred here in September 1882, his is the earliest tombstone on this site. King was the first of many of his family to be buried in Annetta Cemetery. Thirty-five infants' graves are dated between 1882 and 1910, a testament to the harsh conditions of pioneer life. Those interred here were civic and church leaders, educators, politicians, farmers, ranchers, merchants, and manufacturers. The Bell, Bledsoe, Chapman, Chew, Duncan, Nichols, Otto, and Winslow families are prominently represented, as are others who built the Annetta community. One burial is that of a veteran of the Civil War; other graves are those of veterans of several major United States and international wars and conflicts. More than 935 graves were counted in 1998. Fading railroad tracks and the Annetta Cemetery are all that remain to chronicle the passing of the pioneers of Annetta community. (1998)