DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the one telling this story, and I'm just the voice carrying it down the road. White's Chapel Cemetery, Tarrant County — and friend, this place has been holding stories longer than most folks around here can remember. According to local legend, it began about 1851, when a child traveling through this area in a wagon train died and was buried here.
A wagon train passing through. A life that barely had time to start. That child's resting place, out here in what was then open country, may have been the very beginning of this ground.
Now — the marker calls that legend, and legend it is. The oldest documented burial belongs to an infant named Amy A. Marr, and that took place in 1872.
Two young souls, bookending the early mystery of this cemetery. Many of the graves here are unmarked entirely, or marked only with fieldstones pulled from the earth nearby. Native red sandstone — the deep rusty color this land is known for — was shaped into markers and curbing for many of the burials that do carry a stone.
Think about what it takes to build something lasting out of what the ground gives you. Among those laid to rest here is Elihu Newton, born 1845, died 1925, a former state legislator who served in the 20th and 23rd Texas legislatures. Veterans of the Civil War and other armed conflicts also rest in this ground — men who came home, or didn't quite make it all the way home, and found their place here.
White's Chapel Cemetery stands as a reminder of the once-rural, pioneer heritage of this part of Tarrant County. And it's cared for today by the White's Chapel Cemetery Association — folks keeping watch over those fieldstones, those sandstone markers, and all the ones the earth has simply reclaimed. Some places hold history in their buildings.
This one holds it in the ground itself.
What the marker says
According to local legend, this cemetery began about 1851, when a child traveling through this area in a wagon train died and was buried here. The oldest documented burial, that of infant Amy A. Marr, took place in 1872. Many graves in the pioneer cemetery are unmarked, or are marked only with fieldstones. Native red sandstone is used for many of the markers and curbing. Among those laid to rest here are former state legislator Elihu Newton (1845-1925), who served in the 20th and 23rd Texas legislatures, and veterans of the Civil War and other armed conflicts. A reminder of the once-rural, pioneer heritage of this part of Tarrant County, the cemetery is cared for by the White's Chapel Cemetery Association. (2001)