Turnbow Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Turnbow Cemetery, out here in Erath County. Now, every family that puts down roots in Texas soil eventually puts some of that family into the soil too. And that's the story of this place.

It starts back in 1827, when a Kentucky man named Chesley Turnbow married Sabra Rose of Tennessee. Two states, one union. They settled in Tennessee for a time, then Arkansas, and then, like so many restless souls of that era, they pointed themselves toward Texas.

The 1850s brought them here. By the 1870s, they had found their ground, right at this very site. But a piece of ground doesn't become a cemetery by intention.

It becomes one by necessity. In 1879, a child was buried here. Henry Lee Rose, an infant.

The son of Granville and Mary Rose, where Mary was born a Turnbow. Henry Lee was Chesley and Sabra's grandchild, and his was the first interment, the one that turned family land into something more solemn. Then came April of the following year, 1880.

A young woman named Dovie Powell, daughter of Louis Blake and Louisa Powell, was laid to rest in a nearby grave. And then, that same April, Chesley Turnbow himself died and was buried close to his grandson. The patriarch of the Turnbow family in Erath County, gone in the same month the cemetery was still finding its shape.

Seven of his ten children are buried here too. Seven out of ten. A family doesn't just rest in a place like this.

A family becomes the place. Other pioneer settlers found their way here. Long-time residents of the surrounding rural community.

And veterans, beginning with those who served in the Civil War, continuing on through the conflicts that followed. Now, here's the thing about this cemetery. It was established by the 1880s, everybody knew it was there, everybody used it, but it wasn't formally set aside until 1940.

The folks who made that official were the heirs of William and Lettie Fox, Tennessee natives who had come to Erath County about 1870 and later purchased the Turnbow property. Decades after Chesley was in the ground, it was the Fox family heirs who finally drew the line around it and said, this ground is consecrated. It's permanent.

It stays. Chesley Turnbow traveled from Kentucky to Tennessee to Arkansas to Texas, chasing something, building something. He didn't get to choose where he'd end up.

But the marker says he ended up right here, near his grandson, in the county where his name still stands. That's not a bad place to land.

What the marker says

Kentucky native Chesley Turnbow wed Sabra Rose of Tennessee in 1827. They lived in Tennessee and later in Arkansas before moving to Texas in the 1850s. By the 1870s they had settled on land at this site. The cemetery began as a family burial ground in 1879 with the interment of their grandchild, Henry Lee Rose, the infant son of Granville and Mary (Turnbow) Rose. In April of the following year Dovie Powell, the daughter of Louis Blake and Louisa (Chaddock) Powell, was buried in a nearby grave. That same month Chesley Turnbow, patriarch of the Turnbow family in Erath County, died and was buried near his grandson. Seven of his ten children are also among those buried here. Although the cemetery was established by the 1880s, it was not formally set aside until 1940. The donors were the heirs of William and Lettie Fox, Tennessee natives who moved to Erath County about 1870 and later purchased the Turnbow property. Individuals buried at this site include members of the Turnbow family, other pioneer settlers and their descendants, longtime residents of the surrounding rural community, and veterans of military conflicts, beginning with the Civil War. (1988)