Dilbeck Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Out in Parker County, there's a patch of ground that goes by the name Dilbeck Cemetery, and it holds more stories per acre than most places hold in a whole county. Let me walk you through it.

The earliest recorded grave on the site belongs to a man named Richard W. Barnes, who came to Texas all the way from Tennessee. His grave is dated September 1883, and the marker gives him the distinction of being the first.

He didn't rest alone for long. His wife Elizabeth, born a Green, and seven known descendants are buried there alongside him. Now here's a thing worth sittin' with.

By the time Joe C. Moore sold the surrounding land to J. L.

F. Dilbeck in 1893, more than fifteen burials had already taken place on that site. The ground was already well acquainted with the weight of remembrance before Dilbeck ever put his name to a deed.

Dilbeck was a merchant, and he buried several members of his own family in that same cemetery. The land and the name became bound together the way such things tend to do in Texas. The cemetery served a radius of about five miles, and it was primarily used by Peaster community Baptists until the turn of the century.

Farmers, merchants, teachers, ministers, and other settlers all found their final rest here. One pioneer in particular deserves to be called out by name. Sarah A.

Dodson, born a Curlin, arrived in the Republic of Texas in 1839. That's the Republic, mind you, before statehood. She eventually made her way to the Peaster community after the death of her husband, Charles Dodson, Jr.

She came with six children to raise and took up work as a midwife. Her descendants remained in Parker County, rooted in the same soil she helped bring new life into. A count taken in 1997 found 344 marked graves spread across 2.7 acres.

Among those 344 were twenty-five graves marked only with rocks, no names, no dates, just stones standing quiet witness. At the time of that count, more than twenty-three members of the Stevens clan made up the largest single family group in the cemetery. And more than twenty veterans of American and international conflicts were interred there, men and women who had seen the wider world and came home to this particular piece of Parker County ground.

Three hundred and forty-four marked graves on 2.7 acres. That's a lot of living compressed into a little land, and every one of those stones, named or not, has a story the ground is keepin' for itself.

What the marker says

Richard W. Barnes of Tennessee bears the distinction of resting in the earliest recorded grave on this site, dated September 1883. His wife Elizabeth (Green) and seven known descendants also are buried here. More than 15 burials had already taken place on this site when Joe C. Moore sold the surrounding land to J. L. F. Dilbeck in 1893. Dilbeck, a merchant, buried several members of his own family in the cemetery. Serving a radius of about five miles, the cemetery was primarily used by Peaster community Baptists until the turn of the century. Those interred here include farmers, merchants, teachers, ministers, and other settlers. One such pioneer was Sarah A. (Curlin) Dodson, who arrived in the Republic of Texas in 1839. She came to the Peaster community after the death of her husband, Charles Dodson, Jr. Sarah Dodson worked as a midwife while raising six children. Her descendants remained in Parker County. A 1997count revealed 344 marked graves within 2.7 acres in Dilbeck Cemetery, including twenty-five anonymous graves marked only with rocks. At that time more than 23 members of the Stevens clan comprised the largest family group, and more than twenty veterans of American and international conflicts were interred here. (1998)