White Chapel Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker for White Chapel Cemetery in Coleman County is what I'm going on here, so let's see what it has to say. Coleman County was organized in 1867, and if you'd been standing in this part of Texas back then, you would have been standing in something close to a different world. High grasses rolling in every direction.

Pecan trees and live oaks breaking up the horizon. Deer, turkey, bear, and antelope moving through it all like they owned the place, because frankly, they did. Into that wilderness came a convoy of pioneers with enough grit to settle down right where the wild things roamed.

John Thomas and Julia Gowens Hamilton made the journey. Julia's parents, G. A. and Rachel Ann Berryman Gowens, came along too.

And Rachel's father, Benjamin Berryman, brought his whole family into the mix. That is three generations moving together through open country. Now, they passed right through Coleman, looked around, and kept going.

Something about this particular locality spoke to them. Maybe it was the trees, maybe the lay of the land. The marker doesn't say, and neither will I.

What it does say is that a village grew from the efforts of these settlers and their neighbors, and they called it White Chapel. The earliest interment on the burial ground was that of Joseph Shipman, who died in 1884. That same year, land was deeded for a school, and the cemetery was established on that very same site.

The school, the cemetery, the community, all one name: White Chapel. That kind of thing tells you something about a place. The people didn't separate their living from their remembering.

Years rolled on. The Rock Crusher School District was created in 1916 and folded in White Chapel District number forty-four. But when consolidation came to a vote in 1917, White Chapel voters said no.

They were not ready to be absorbed into something larger, not yet. The White Chapel Baptist Church was moved to the school grounds in 1930. Then 1936 brought the Centennial High School District, and older grade levels were consolidated into that new organization.

By 1951, all White Chapel students had been consolidated into the Centennial District. And in 1952, the cemetery was granted its own separate deed from the school. The community had folded into the wider world, but the cemetery stood apart, held its ground, kept its own name.

The pioneer family names in that burial ground read like a roll call of the founding: Berryman, Brooks, Collier, Fenton, Gowens, Jameson, Kelley, Hamilton, Nelson, Saunders, and Stacy. Three Civil War veterans are interred there. So are several members of the United States Armed Forces.

The White Chapel Cemetery, the marker tells us, remains a chronicle of the early settlers of this wilderness. And that is exactly what it is. Out here in Coleman County, where the antelope used to roam free, there is a piece of ground that has been keeping the record since 1884, quiet and steady, long after the school and the village moved on.

What the marker says

Coleman County was organized in 1867. The landscape in this area included high grasses, pecan and live oak trees. Deer, turkey, bear and antelope roamed freely. Into this wilderness came such pioneers as John Thomas and Julia Gowens Hamilton, Julia's parents G. A. and Rachel Ann Berryman Gowens, and Rachel's father Benjamin Berryman and his family. The group passed Coleman, choosing instead to settle in this locality. The village of White Chapel grew from the efforts of these settlers and their neighbors. The earliest interment on this burial ground was that of Joseph Shipman, who died in 1884. When land was deeded for a school that year, the cemetery was established on the same site. The school, cemetery and community were known as White Chapel. The Rock Crusher School District was created in 1916 and included White Chapel District #44, but White Chapel voters rejected consolidation in 1917. The White Chapel Baptist Church was moved to the school grounds in 1930. In 1936 the Centennial High School District was formed and older grade levels were consolidated into the new organization. In 1951 all White Chapel students were consolidated into the Centennial District. In 1952 the cemetery was granted a separate deed from the school. Pioneer family names represented in the cemetery are Berryman, Brooks, Collier, Fenton, Gowens, Jameson, Kelley, Hamilton, Nelson, Saunders and Stacy. Three Civil War veterans and several members of the U. S. Armed Forces are interred here. The White Chapel Cemetery remains a chronicle of the early settlers of this wilderness. (1999)