Weeks Chapel Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the marker at Weeks Chapel Cemetery tells it, here's how Duane's heard the story. Back in 1838, a man named James Weeks received a land grant out here in what was then Jasper County. By 1846 the county lines had shifted and this ground became part of the newly drawn Newton County.

Weeks built himself a home about a half mile south of this very site, and in 1847 he married a woman named Catherine Hardy, born in 1831. The two of them lived out their days in this country, and when they were gone, they were presumed buried in the nearby Hardy Cemetery, about a half mile east of here. James Weeks himself died in 1863.

The land stayed in the family. Now, fast forward to 1887. Weeks' son, James Robert, born in 1850, and his wife Melvina Robinson Weeks, born in 1840, made a decision that would shape this corner of Newton County for generations.

They granted one acre right here at this site to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. One acre. And on that acre, a crude building went up, rough-hewn and plain, meant to serve as both a church and a school for the settlers scattered across this piney woods country.

Then comes the moment that gave the cemetery its first grave, and its reason for bein'. A native of the area, a young man named Jim Eudaley, born in 1866, was killed in a logging accident near Kirbyville, twenty-six miles to the south. He was gone in 1893.

J. R. Weeks, who by that time had become a Methodist minister, suggested they lay Jim to rest behind Weeks' Chapel.

That suggestion took root as surely as any pine tree in East Texas. The cemetery opened up to the surrounding communities, Brookeland sixteen miles to the northwest, Farrsville five miles to the southeast, Harrisburg two miles to the southwest, Weeks two miles to the north. Over time, some three hundred souls found their rest in this one acre and the ground around it.

In 1904, a new church and school building went up, replacing that first crude structure. And right around that same time, the congregation made a move that surprised nobody who knows how these communities bend and grow. They reorganized, changing their denomination and establishing the Missionary Baptist Church.

The school eventually consolidated with Farrsville, drifting away the way schools do. But the church held on. The cemetery held on.

And every year, folks still come back for the annual homecoming, gathering on this same ground that James Weeks received in 1838, where a minister's quiet suggestion turned one logging accident's grief into three hundred reasons to remember.

What the marker says

This land was part of an 1838 grant to James Weeks (d.1863) in Jasper County, becoming part of Newton County in 1846. Weeks built a home about one-half mile south of this site, and married Catherine Hardy (b.1831) in 1847. They are presumed buried in the nearby Hardy Cemetery, about one-half mile east. In 1887 Weeks' son James Robert (1850-1936) and his wife, Melvina Robinson (1840-1919) Weeks, granted one acre at this site to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. A crude building was erected to serve as a church and school for area settlers. When a native of the area, Jim Eudaley (1866-1893), was killed in a logging accident near Kirbyville (26 mi.S), J. R. Weeks, by then a Methodist minister, suggested a burial behind Weeks' Chapel. The cemetery subsequently served surrounding communities, including Brookeland (16 mi.NW), Farrsville (5 mi. SE), Harrisburg (2 mi. SW), and Weeks (2 mi. N), and now contains some 300 burials. In 1904 a new church and school building was erected, and the congregation changed its denomination by organizing the Missionary Baptist Church. The school later consolidated with Farrsville, but the church and cemetery remain the focus of an annual homecoming. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986