Everheart-Canaan Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's what happened at this corner of Grayson County. Emanuel and Rachel Montgomery Everheart arrived in this part of Texas in 1848, bringing their son William and members of Rachel's family along with them. They didn't come light.

By 1850, the Everhearts held 3,346 acres, and this ground you're passing was part of that spread. Now, family history holds that the oldest burials here, tucked into the northwest corner, date prior to 1853. Those are the graves of the Everhearts' slaves.

No marked stones. Just the land, and what the land remembers. That northwest corner asks something of you if you're willing to sit with it.

Not long after, a congregation called the Pilot Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church, organized over at Kentuckytown, pulled up and moved to Everheart land, settling about a mile east of this very site. People started calling it the Canaan Church. And this cemetery became its burial ground.

The congregation even shared their sanctuary with a Methodist Episcopal congregation that came over from Pitman's Chapel. Two denominations, one piece of Texas prairie. The oldest marked grave here carries a date of June 24, 1875, and it belongs to W.H.

Rumsower, one of several Confederate soldiers buried in this ground. Among the others resting here is William C. Everheart, who served as Grayson County Sheriff from 1876 to 1880 and later rode as a Deputy United States Marshal.

The pioneers of the Canaan community found their final places in family plots scattered across this cemetery. For a long time, one woman kept watch over all of it. Nell Arnoldi Everheart cared for this cemetery until her death in 1973.

After she was gone, the Everheart Cemetery Association formed to carry on what she had done. From unmarked graves in a northwest corner to a sheriff's stone to a woman who simply refused to let the place go to ruin. That's the full measure of this ground.

What the marker says

Emanuel and Rachel Montgomery Everheart arrived here in 1848 with their son, William, and members of her family. By 1850, the Everhearts owned 3,346 acres, including this land. Family history holds that the oldest burials here (in the northwest corner) date prior to 1853 and are those of the Everhearts' slaves. Pilot Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church, organized at Kentuckytown, moved to Everheart land a mile east of this site and became known as the Canaan Church. Members utilized this cemetery and shared their sanctuary with a Methodist Episcopal congregation that moved from Pitman's Chapel. The oldest marked grave, from June 24, 1875, is that of W.H. Rumsower, one of several Confederate soldiers buried here. Other burials include William C. Everheart, the Grayson County Sheriff from 1876 to 1880 and later a Deputy United States Marshal. Many of the pioneers of the Canaan community are buried in family plots here. Nell Arnoldi Everheart cared for the cemetery until her death in 1973, and the Everheart Cemetery Association later formed. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004