Ater Cemetery
Gatesville, Coryell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Originally founded as Sardis, the town of Ater took its name from store owner Joe Ater (1856-1928), who also served as its only postmaster from 1899 to 1907. A Mr. Dooley and Lemuel Murrell reportedly deeded land for church, school and cemetery purposes during the community's formative years. The 1868 gravestones of two young women, Elvista and Leovisa Haley, attest to the early use of this cemetery by area settlers. Veterans laid to rest here served in the War of 1812, the Civil War, World War I, World War II and Korea. An association oversees the care of this site that records the heritage of the once-active community of Ater. Historic Texas Cemetery-2002.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground is nearly all that remains of Ater, a small Coryell County community first known as Sardis that took its name from storekeeper and postmaster Joe Ater. Gravestones dating to 1868 mark the resting places of some of the area's earliest settlers, and among the dead lie veterans of conflicts stretching from the War of 1812 through the Korean War. As the little town faded, a cemetery association took up the work of preserving its heritage, and the state recognized the site as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2002.
Why it matters
An abandoned town's cemetery preserves the layered military and settlement history of rural Texas across a century and a half, when few other records of such communities survive.
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Related people
- · Joe Ater
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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