Jacobs Chapel Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of the official marker for Jacobs Chapel Cemetery, out in Nacogdoches County. Now settle in, because this one reaches back a good long way, and it earns every mile. It starts with a journey.

In 1836, William Jacobs gathered his family and several others and led them out of Madison, Tennessee, headed for the deep piney country of what would become Nacogdoches County, Texas. The Alders came along. The Browns came along.

The Chisums came along. And after what you can only imagine was a long, hard road, they arrived at their new home on Christmas day. William Jacobs, born in 1765, didn't have many years left on that land he'd claimed.

He passed in 1843. But before he did, he left something lasting. That November, he passed fifteen acres in southern Nacogdoches County to his daughter, Paulina Clementine Jacobs.

Fifteen acres that already held a family cemetery. Paulina was single at the time, keeping watch over her mother, carrying the weight of the household on her own. She would later marry William L.

Wilson and eventually move on to Cooke County. But she did not forget that land. On September 17, 1870, Paulina deeded those fifteen acres, not to one man, but to eight trustees: George W.

Davis, James McKnight, Henry P. Barron, Daniel M. Pate, William T.

Sterns, Augustus Stephens, James Jacobs, and Richard P. White. Trustees of the Jacobs Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church.

And she put it in writing that the parcel of land shall not be used in any other way than as aforesaid and for school and burial purposes. Plain language. No wiggle room.

Now, within that fifteen acres, tucked into the southeast corner, sits 0.66 acres of consecrated ground. The Jacobs Chapel Cemetery, east of Carrizo Creek, set atop a ridge that looks out over a deep narrow valley. It's the kind of place that feels like it was chosen on purpose.

Tradition holds that the first burial here was George Brown, Jacobs's own son-in-law, in 1837, just a year after that Christmas arrival. Where exactly George Brown rests, nobody knows anymore. His gravesite location is unknown.

But he was first. William Jacobs himself is buried here, alongside his wife Nancy, born Isbell, who lived from 1778 to 1859. Their son James Jacobs, born 1806, outlived so much grief it would make a strong person buckle.

His wife Mary, born Chisum in 1808, died in 1865. And seven of their twelve children, seven of them, were lost during the 1860s. Most of them dying from Civil War battle wounds.

Or from typhoid. James Jacobs, who lived until 1889, carried all of that. The cemetery holds granite markers, marble markers, sandstone markers, curbed plots, and the graves of dozens of veterans, beginning with those who served in the Civil War.

The Jacobs Chapel Cemetery Association tends this ground today. They call it what the marker calls it: a chronicle of the triumphs and tragedies of early settlers and their descendants. Christmas day, 1836, a family arrives.

By 1837, the ground is already receiving them back. That ridge above the deep narrow valley has been keeping watch ever since.

What the marker says

In November 1843, Paulina Clementine Jacobs inherited 15 acres in southern Nacogdoches County from her father, William Jacobs (1765-1843), which included a family cemetery. At the time Paulina was single and taking care of her mother. She later married William L. Wilson and moved to Cooke County. On September 17, 1870, Paulina deeded her fifteen acres to George W. Davis, James McKnight, Henry P. Barron, Daniel M. Pate, William T. Sterns, Augustus Stephens, James Jacobs and Richard P. White as trustees of the Jacobs Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church. The transfer stipulated that "the parcel of land shall not be used in any other way than as aforesaid and for school and burial purposes." The Jacobs Chapel Cemetery comprises 0.66 acres in the southeast part of this parcel, and is located east of Carrizo Creek and atop a ridge which overlooks a deep narrow valley. William Jacobs led his family and several others from Madison, Tennessee, in 1836 to this area, arriving on Christmas day. Others who made the trip included members of the Alders, Brown and Chisum families. Tradition states that Jacobs" son-in-law George Brown was the first burial here in 1837, but his gravesite location is unknown. William and his wife, Nancy (Isbell) Jacobs (1778-1859), are also buried here. Their son James Jacobs (1806-1889) lost his wife, Mary (Chisum) (1808-1865), and seven of their twelve children during the 1860s, most of them dying from Civil War battle wounds or from typhoid. Cemetery features include granite, marble, and sandstone grave markers, curbed plots, and burials of dozens of veterans beginning with the Civil War. The Jacobs Chapel Cemetery Association maintains this sacred ground, a chronicle of the triumphs and tragedies of early settlers and their descendants. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2016