Cottonwood Cemetery

Duane's take

Now, this here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Cottonwood Cemetery, just outside Dublin, Texas — and friend, this one's got layers. Set yourself down a minute. Because before there was a cemetery, there had to be a community, and before there was a community, there had to be somebody stubborn enough to put down roots in wild country.

That somebody was Alexander H. and Sarah Holland Dobkins, who helped establish Dublin as a small farming community back in 1854. Now, how Dublin got its name — well, that's one of those questions where history looks you straight in the eye and shrugs. Some historians say the town was named for the practice of doubling in wagons to protect against Comanche attacks.

Others say it came from the Double Inn, a stagecoach stop built in the shape of an H-shaped cabin. History gives you two stories and lets you pick your favorite. The first families — the Bellamys, the Richards, the Strouds — they came here and they farmed cotton.

That's who broke this ground. And in 1857, a man named James C. Bellamy donated land to the county.

Not for profit. Not for himself. For a school and a public burial ground.

That burial ground became the Cottonwood Cemetery. Now here's where the story gets heavy, and I want you to feel the weight of it. About a quarter mile from where the cemetery sits, two people were attacked and killed by Comanches.

They were buried in unmarked graves — no names carved in stone, just a tree standing watch over them. For over twenty years, that tree was the only marker they had. Then came the railroad.

And railroad construction required that the tree be cut down. When it fell, those graves could not be left behind. They were relocated — those two souls, finally, to the Cottonwood Cemetery, where at least they would rest among community.

The cemetery itself is a quiet place. Large post oak and pecan trees shade the gravesites. The landscape is planted with natives of Texas — this land remembers what it is.

The first marked grave belongs to Robert P. Belknap, who passed in 1879. And among those resting here are veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam.

Generation after generation, laid to rest under the same Texas sky. In February of 1908, the Cottonwood Baptist Church was organized and began holding services in the schoolhouse right next to the cemetery. Eventually the school consolidated with the Dublin public schools, but the congregation kept right on meeting in that old schoolhouse.

Faithful as the post oaks. Today, the Cottonwood Cemetery and the Cottonwood Baptist Church are all that remains of that cotton farming community established here in the eighteen hundreds. The families who built it are gone, the school is gone, the town that grew up around it moved on — but the ground holds the memory.

It always does. Out here just off Cottonwood Creek, the trees keep their shade, and the names on the stones keep their stories. Some marked.

Some, for a long while, not. But remembered all the same.

What the marker says

Just outside Dublin on the banks of the Cottonwood Creek lies the Cottonwood Cemetery. Dublin began as a small farming community established in 1854 by Alexander H. And Sarah Holland Dobkins. Some historians believe the town got its name from the practice of "doubling in" wagons to protect the town from Comanche attacks. Others believe it was named after the Double Inn, a stage coach stop which was an H-shaped cabin. The Bellamys, the Richards, and the Strouds, a few of the first families in the community, began the settlement by farming cotton. Land was donated by James C. Bellamy to the county in 1857 for the establishment of a school and a public burial ground which became Cottonwood Cemetery. About a quarter mile from the location of the cemetery, two people were attacked and killed by Comanches. They were buried in unmarked graves under a tree. Over twenty years later, railroad construction required that the tree be cut down and the graves relocated to the Cottonwood Cemetery. Cottonwood Baptist Church was organized in February in 1908 and began meeting in the school house next to the cemetery. After the school consolidated with the Dublin public schools, the congregation continued to meet in the old school house. The landscape of the cemetery consists of plants native to Texas. Large post oak and pecan trees shade the gravesites. The first marked grave is that of Robert P. Belknap who passed in 1879. Among those buried here are Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam veterans. The Cottonwood Cemetery and the Cottonwood Baptist church are all that remains of the cotton farming community established here in the 1800s.