Chandler Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Chandler Cemetery in Rockwall County. Now, some stories start with a grand arrival, a proclamation, a flag planted in fresh soil. This one starts quieter than that.

Henry Martin and Martha Chandler, Kentucky natives both, Martha's maiden name Wade, had settled here by 1860. Among the earliest Anglo pioneers in the area, the marker says, and you can feel the weight of that word, earliest. They were out ahead of the crowd, putting down roots in Rockwall County when it was still a rough proposition.

The Chandlers built a life here, and like all lives, that life eventually needed a place to put its grief. Chandler Cemetery holds seven marked graves. Six of them are Chandler family.

The seventh belongs to a neighbor, and we'll get to her. But the first burial at this site, the one that opened the ground for everyone who followed, was in 1869. Mary Chandler.

Nine years old. The Chandlers' daughter. There is no way to dress that up, and no reason to try.

A nine-year-old girl is the reason this land became a cemetery, and that fact sits in the story like a stone. The years kept moving, as years will. Henry Chandler was buried at the site in 1904.

Martha followed in 1908, and Martha's is the last known burial at the site. One grave among those seven doesn't carry the Chandler name. That one belongs to Hattie Harvey, daughter of William C. and Laura F.

Harvey, who farmed on an adjacent piece of land. Neighbors in life, neighbors still. Seven graves, one small cemetery, one county's worth of pioneer history compressed into a patch of Rockwall County ground.

The marker puts it plainly: Chandler Cemetery serves today as a reminder of the many pioneering families of Rockwall County. And it does. Starting with a little girl named Mary, in 1869, it has been doing exactly that.

What the marker says

KENTUCKY NATIVES HENRY MARTIN AND MARTHA (WADE) CHANDLER WERE SETTLED HERE BY 1860 AS SOME OF THE EARLIEST ANGLO PIONEERS IN THE AREA. OF THE SEVEN MARKED GRAVES IN CHANDLER CEMETERY, SIX ARE CHANDLER FAMILY MEMBERS. THE EARLIEST BURIAL AT THIS SITE OCCURRED IN 1869, UPON THE DEATH OF THE CHANDLERS" NINE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, MARY. THE ONLY NON-FAMILY GRAVE BELONGS TO HATTIE HARVEY, WHO WAS THE DAUGHTER OF WILLIAM C. AND LAURA F. HARVEY, NEIGHBORS FROM AN ADJACENT FARM. HENRY CHANDLER WAS BURIED AT THE SITE IN 1904 AND MARTHA WAS INTERRED IN 1908; MARTHA'S IS THE LAST KNOWN BURIAL AT THE SITE. CHANDLER CEMETERY SERVES TODAY AS A REMINDER OF THE MANY PIONEERING FAMILIES OF ROCKWALL COUNTY.