Chapel Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of the official marker for Chapel Cemetery, straight off the Texas Historical Commission's own inscription. Now, some places earn their names through grand ceremony: a mayor, a ribbon, maybe a brass band. And then some places earn their names the quiet way.

The hard way. The way that starts with a burial. Back in the mid-1850s, three pioneer families put down roots here in Tarrant County.

You had John A. and Rhoda Raibourn Fanning. You had Mitchell and Eliny Jane Raibourn. And you had Thomas Raibourn.

The Raibourns and the Fannings, bound by blood and by frontier, settlin' the same stretch of Texas ground. According to Fanning family tradition, it was Eliny Raibourn who was first laid to rest at this site in 1856. And what happened next says something about the kind of people these were.

Eliny's brother-in-law, John Fanning, donated the land itself for cemetery purposes. Just gave it over. After that, folks in the area started calling it the Fanning burying grounds.

For a while, community life around here was pretty lean. About a mile south stood a one-room schoolhouse (went by two names, Horse Creek School or Lone Star School, take your pick) and that was it. That was the sole communal structure in the whole area.

Then a chapel was built right next to the burying ground, and things started to take on a little more shape. In 1893, T.A. and Catherine Sweet transferred ownership of that chapel and the surrounding land to the Sweet Chapel Methodist Church. The burying grounds got a new name to go with it: Sweet Chapel Cemetery.

Had a proper church. Had a proper name. Seemed like it might hold.

But by 1938, the Sweet family had moved to Fort Worth. And the chapel (that chapel the whole second name depended on) had disappeared. Just gone.

So the cemetery settled into something simpler, something plain and honest: Chapel Cemetery. No family name attached. Just the memory of what once stood beside it.

Burials kept on, informal as they came. And for many years, the graveyard was cared for by members of the Francisco family: quiet stewards of a place that had already outlasted two names and more than a few generations. Then in 1985, the Mount Olivet Cemetery Association acquired the cemetery.

Started with a donation from a grieving family in 1856. Still standing well over a century later. Some things in Texas, it turns out, are harder to let go of than a name.

What the marker says

This cemetery traces its origin to the settlement here in the mid 1850s of the pioneer families of John A. and Rhoda Raibourn Fanning, Mitchell and Eliny Jane Raibourn, and Thomas Raibourn. According to Fanning family tradition the cemetery began with the burial of Eliny Raibourn at this site in 1856 and the subsequent donation of the land for cemetery purposes by her brother-in-law, John Fanning. Afterwards the site became known as the Fanning burying grounds. A one-room school house known as Horse Creek School or Lone Star School, located about a mile south of here, was the sole communal structure in this area until a chapel was built next to the burying ground. In 1893 T.A. and Catherine Sweet transferred ownership of the chapel and surrounding land to the Sweet Chapel Methodist Church, and the burying grounds became known as Sweet Chapel Cemetery. By 1938 the Sweet family had moved to Fort Worth, the chapel had disappeared, and the cemetery was known simply as Chapel Cemetery. Burials continued on an informal basis and for many years the graveyard was cared for by members of the Francisco family. The Cemetery was acquired by the Mount Olivet Cemetery Association in 1985. (1993)