Chambersville Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Chambersville Cemetery, out there in Collin County. Elisha and Margaret Ann Chambers, she born a Mannon, made the long journey from Indiana to Texas in 1847. They built a life here, the way folks did, one hard season at a time.

Then in 1853, their infant son Lewis Cass Chambers died. And what did Elisha and Margaret Ann do in the depths of that grief? They gave something.

They donated the very land where Lewis was laid to rest, setting it aside for a cemetery and a school. That is the kind of grief that turns itself outward. The community that grew up around that land was no small thing, either.

This spot sat at the crossroads of a busy farm community, with several homes nearby, a cotton gin, a school, a church, and two general stores, one of them home to a post office. People moved through this place, worked in it, raised children in it, argued over fences and prices and all the ordinary urgent business of living. The folks buried in Chambersville Cemetery served their neighbors and their country as storekeepers and schoolteachers, postmasters and farmers, blacksmiths and soldiers, homemakers and musicians.

Every trade, every calling a crossroads community needs to keep itself whole. The school was moved in 1931, and a new section of the cemetery opened alongside that change, with the first burial in that section taking place in 1941. By 1999, about nine hundred and fifty graves graced this ground.

Nine hundred and fifty lives, each one a thread in the long weave of Collin County history. The marker puts it plainly and exactly right: Chambersville Cemetery remains a chronicle. And a chronicle, friend, is how the dead keep talking to the living, long after the crossroads goes quiet.

What the marker says

Elisha and Margaret Ann (Mannon) Chambers came to Texas from Indiana in 1847. Their infant son Lewis Cass Chambers died in 1853 and they donated the land on which he was interred for a cemetery and school. This site was once at the crossroads of a busy farm community of several homes near a cotton gin, school, church, and two general stores, one with a post office. Those buried here served their community and country as storekeepers, schoolteachers, postmasters, farmers, blacksmiths, soldiers, homemakers and musicians. The school was moved in 1931 and the first burial in that section took place in 1941. In 1999, about 950 graves graced Chambersville Cemetery. It continues to serve surrounding communities and remains a chronicle of Collin County history. (2000)