Ramah Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker at Ramah Cemetery tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to give it its due. Way back in the early 1870s, a man named William Tell Pou and his wife Mollie Lucy, born a Grace before she took his name, came out to what would become Shelby County and homesteaded. Just the two of them putting down roots in that piney east Texas soil.

And what they planted grew into something that's still standing today. They helped found a church, Ramah Baptist Church, established in 1874. The name came from a biblical city, Ramah, meaning high place.

That log church building pulled double duty from the start, serving the community as both a sanctuary and a schoolhouse. Around it grew a real community, with a store and a cotton gin, people putting their lives together in the shadow of those old pines. The land began receiving burials in the 1870s.

The oldest marked grave belongs to Ella Holley, dated 1878. Think about that. Ella Holley was laid to rest before the congregation even built their frame sanctuary, which they did in 1891.

And it wasn't until 1909 that William and Mollie Pou made it official, deeding 3.6 acres to Ramah Baptist Church, dedicated as Ramah Cemetery. Over the years that ground filled up with the stories of a whole community. More than a hundred veterans are buried there, men who served across the full arc of American conflict, the U.S.-Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, both World Wars, and the Korean Conflict.

You walk those rows and you're walkin through American history in one quiet east Texas field. The stones themselves tell stories too. Tall marble monuments.

Obelisks. A brick crypt. The granite-curbed Parrish family plot.

Gravestones bearing the symbols of the Woodmen of the World, the Order of the Eastern Star, local Masonic lodges. Fraternal bonds carved in stone. The cemetery grew over time to more than six acres, more than a thousand marked burials.

And somewhere in that ground rest William and Mollie Pou themselves, Mollie gone in 1917, William in 1934. Around them lie ten children and more than fifty descendants. The people who started it all, surrounded by the community they helped build.

Now, one name among those buried there deserves a moment of its own. George E.B. Peddy, born 1892, died 1951.

Soldier, attorney, politician. In 1917, while still a student at the University of Texas at Austin, he was elected state representative. He ran for U.S.

Senate in 1922 and again in 1948. He served in both World Wars and came home with the Bronze Star and the Croix de Guerre. The rest of the ground is filled with superintendents, teachers, county officials, community leaders.

The kind of people who show up every day and make a place worth living in. William Tell Pou and Mollie Lucy came to that high place in Shelby County in the early 1870s with nothing but intention. What they left behind is a cemetery with more than a thousand stories in it, and the ground is still telling them.

What the marker says

The Ramah community dates to the early 1870s, when William Tell Pou and his wife Mollie Lucy (Grace) Pou first homesteaded here. They helped found Ramah Baptist Church, established in 1874 and named for the biblical city of Ramah, meaning high place. The log church building also served as a schoolhouse, and became the center of a community with a store and cotton gin. This land was used for burials beginning in the 1870s. In 1891, the congregation built a new frame sanctuary, and in 1909, William and Mollie Pou officially deeded 3.6 acres to Ramah Baptist Church to be dedicated as Ramah Cemetery. The oldest marked burial, for Ella Holley, dates from 1878. More than 100 veterans are buried here, representing service in the U.S.-Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean Conflict. Also notable are gravestones for organizations including the Woodmen of the World, order of the Eastern Star and local Masonic lodges. Ramah Cemetery was later enlarged to more than six acres and has more than 1,000 marked burials. The oldest section contains tall marble monuments, obelisks, a brick crypt, and the granite curbed Parrish family plot. Mollie (d. 1917) and William (d. 1934) Pou are buried here, along with ten children and more than fifty descendants. Also buried here is George E.B. Peddy (1892-1951), who was a soldier, attorney and politician. In 1917, he was elected state representative while a student at the University of Texas at Austin, and he ran for U.S. Senate in 1922 and 1948. Peddy also served in both World Wars, receiving the Bronze Star and croix de guerre. Other notable burials include longtime superintendents, teachers, county officials and other community leaders. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006