Campbell Cemetery
Palestine, Anderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Typical of a number of small family cemeteries located throughout the state of Texas, this graveyard was established by the Campbell family, who moved to the Mound Prairie community in this area in 1844. Albert Gallatin Campbell (1808 - 1876), his wife Jenny Elvira, and their children John Bartlett, Isadore, and James, established a farm. Soon the family grew with the addition of another daughter, Jettie, and another son, Alexander. John Bartlett Campbell (1834 - 1915) returned home after service in the Civil War and worked in a hardware store to earn money to purchase his own farm. He eventually purchased 270 acres and built a large home, where he and his wife Mary Elizabeth (1853 - 1927) reared their twelve children. John Bartlett Campbell set aside one acre of land on his farm for a family burial ground, and in 1876 his father, Albert Gallatin Campbell, became the first person buried here. Albert's was the only burial in the graveyard for twenty-four years, until his grandson, 23-year-old John Bartlett Campbell, Jr., died in 1900 of scarlet fever. The cemetery is still in use by Campbell family descendants.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This is one of the countless small family graveyards scattered across Texas, begun by the Campbell family who settled the Mound Prairie community in 1844. Son John Bartlett Campbell returned from Civil War service, worked in a hardware store to buy his own land, and set aside an acre where his father became the first burial in 1876; descendants use the cemetery still.
Why it matters
Family cemeteries like this one map the quiet arc of 19th-century Texas settlement—migration, war service, land ownership, and generations rooted to a single patch of ground.
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Related people
- · Albert Gallatin Campbell
- · John Bartlett Campbell
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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