Alexander Cemetery
Alexander, Erath County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This burial ground has served residents of southern Erath County since the late 1800s. At that time, the community of Alexander, platted by the Texas Central Railroad Company, was thriving. The community had received a post office in 1876, when it was named Harper's Mill (it was renamed Alexander in 1881), although settlers had lived in the area since before the Civil War. By the 1890s, Alexander had a number of businesses. In the early 1880s, Confederate veteran Thomas Pinckney Tidwell, his wife Zera Ann (Passmore) Tidwell and other family members migrated from North Carolina to Texas. The Tidwells eventually settled in Alexander. Tidwell established this burial ground when a child of a Mexican family died and was not allowed burial in a local cemetery. Tidwell established a public burial ground open to area citizens regardless of religion or ethnic affiliation, and the Tidwell family donated an ornate cross to mark the child's burial site. However, the oldest dated grave is that of Sarah Ethetton (d. 1879), who was later reinterred in the cemetery shortly after its establishment. Among the notable burials in Alexander Cemetery are those of community leaders and of veterans of military conflicts dating to the Civil War. The Alexander Cemetery Association cares for the burial ground. Today, the cemetery serves as a reminder of area pioneers and the former community of Alexander. As a place of free burial, Alexander Cemetery also continues as a monument to charity and human compassion, represented by Thomas Pinckney Tidwell's offer to a family in need. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground has served southern Erath County since the late 1800s, when the railroad town of Alexander—first called Harper's Mill—was thriving. Confederate veteran Thomas Pinckney Tidwell established the cemetery after a Mexican family's child was refused burial in a local graveyard; he opened it to all, regardless of religion or ethnicity, and his family donated an ornate cross to mark the child's grave. Among its burials are community leaders and veterans of conflicts dating back to the Civil War.
Why it matters
An act of compassion on the Texas frontier, the cemetery stands as a quiet rebuke to the era's racial and religious exclusions.
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Related people
- · Thomas Pinckney Tidwell
- · Zera Ann Tidwell
Themes & tags
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