Tate Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker at Tate Cemetery tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Now, 1870 is the year to hold in your mind. That's when Evan Calloway Tate loaded up his family in Georgia and pointed himself west — all the way to this corner of Tarrant County.

He didn't just pass through. He put down roots deep enough that the whole community that grew up around his settling got his name: Tate Springs. Evan Calloway Tate was born in 1832, and he lived until 1885.

Not quite long enough to see what would happen nine years after his passing — because in 1894, his heirs deeded a piece of land to the community for a cemetery. And when they did that, when the paperwork was signed and the ground was officially set aside, there were already four marked burials on that land. Four.

E. C. Tate himself, and three of his children.

Think about that a moment. The man who brought his family to this place in 1870 was already resting in it. And so were three of his kids.

After 1894, more of the Tate family followed, and more of the broader Tate Springs community alongside them. The years kept adding names — and taking them. Many of the graves out there today have no markers at all.

Unnamed, but not forgotten, because in later years the care of this cemetery was entrusted to family members of those buried here. Not a county agency, not a historical society — family. People who had their own reasons to keep the grass cut and the fence standing.

And about that fence: it went up in 1965, along with an entry arch. So there's a proper threshold now. A gate you pass through when you go in.

A patch of Tarrant County ground, deeded by the Tate heirs, holding the man who started it all and the children who didn't outlast him — and a community that kept faith with the place long after the names on the stones stopped being ones anybody living could put a face to. That's Tate Cemetery. Some stories don't need an ending.

They just need tending.

What the marker says

Evan Calloway Tate (1832-1885) brought his family to this area from Georgia in 1870, establishing the Tate Springs community. Land for this cemetery was deeded to the community by Tate heirs in 1894. At that time there were four marked burials, those of E. C. Tate and three of his children. Other members of the Tate family and the Tate Springs community were later interred here. Many of the graves are unmarked. Care of the cemetery was entrusted in later years to family members of those buried here. A fence and entry arch were erected in 1965. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986