Midlothian Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You're listening to Duane, and this one comes from Ellis County: the Midlothian Cemetery, and the long road of lives that led to it. Now, before there was a Midlothian, there was just land.

Raw, wide-open Texas land, and a grand experiment called the Peters Colony, which pulled settlers out here from 1841 all the way to 1848. Families loading up everything they owned and pointing themselves toward a place that didn't even have a name yet. One of those families was the Hawkinses: W.A. and Anna Hawkins, along with their extended family, making the journey and arriving in 1848, just in time to claim their acreage under the colony's terms.

Now, the Hawkins family wasn't just passing through. They put down roots so deep the ground itself remembers them. W.A. and Anna's son, Benjamin Franklin Hawkins, set aside part of his own land for a church.

And right next to that church, the way these things tend to go, the community found a place for its dead. The earliest marked grave in that cemetery belongs to Mary Elizabeth Hawkins. October 1873.

And if that date alone doesn't settle heavy on you, consider this: two of her young children, who died shortly after she did, are buried close by. A mother and her little ones, together in the Texas earth. You don't need to dress that up.

It speaks for itself. The very next year, 1874, two more Hawkinses, John W. and George W., made it official. They deeded four acres, including that burial ground, over to the Methodist church.

Four acres to start. The community, over the years, kept adding surrounding land, growing the cemetery to the size you'd find it today. Midlothian itself incorporated in 1888, and the cemetery was already there waiting for the town to catch up.

Among the many notable residents buried within those grounds is W.A. Brundage, Sr., the city's very first mayor. But here's what the marker wants you to hold onto before you drive on.

This isn't just a place for the notable. It's the burial place of military veterans, pioneers, farmers, ranchers, paupers, and many others. The whole wide range of a community's life, laid to rest in the same soil.

The marker even notes that earlier, unmarked graves most likely exist; quiet reminders that some stories arrived before anyone thought to write them down. That's the Midlothian Cemetery. Started by one family, built by a whole community, and still carrying all of it, every name, every season, every unmarked soul, right there in Ellis County.

What the marker says

What would later become Midlothian began as part of the Peters Colony, which brought settlers to Texas from 1841 to 1848. W.A. and Anna Hawkins and their extended family arrived in 1848, in time to receive acreage for their new home. Their son Benjamin Franklin Hawkins set aside part of his land for a church, and the adjacent land became the community's cemetery. Although earlier unmarked graves most likely exist, the earliest marked grave, that of Mary Elizabeth Hawkins, dates to October 1873. Two of her young children, who died shortly after her death, are buried nearby. In 1874, John W. and George W. Hawkins deeded four acres including the burial ground to the Methodist church; the community has added surrounding land over the years to increase the cemetery to its current size. The city of Midlothian incorporated in 1888. W.A. Brundage, Sr., the city's first mayor, is among the many notable area residents buried here. The cemetery is also the burial place of military veterans, pioneers, farmers, ranchers, paupers and many others, representing the community's long and rich heritage. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003