Caudle Cemetery
Dublin vicinity, Erath County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Once known as "South Bolton Cemetery," this is the final resting place of Mary Follis (d.1879), who was buried here during the ownership of James and Louisa Franks. Hers is the earliest marked grave. T. W. Bolton bought the land in 1879, and James Robert and Tennessee Caudle purchased it in 1883. Family matriarch Rebecca Clayton Caudle, widow of Mark Caudle, was buried here in 1886. Fannie Caudle (1877-1895), who died on her wedding day and was buried in her bridal dress, was the last person buried here. There are fifteen marked and more than 40 unmarked graves. Two of those believed to be interred in unmarked graves are Martha Elizabeth Caudle, who died in 1889 or 1890, and her granddaughter, Mamie Caudle. Descendants rediscovered the cemetery and restored it in 1997. (2000)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Once called South Bolton Cemetery, this Erath County burial ground holds its earliest marked grave from 1879, from the years the Franks family owned the land. The Caudle family bought the property in 1883, and matriarch Rebecca Clayton Caudle was buried here in 1886. Among the poignant stories is Fannie Caudle, who died on her wedding day in 1895 and was laid to rest in her bridal dress; descendants rediscovered and restored the neglected cemetery in 1997.
Why it matters
Small family cemeteries like this preserve the intimate human record of the pioneers who first settled rural Central Texas.
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Related people
- · Rebecca Clayton Caudle
- · Fannie Caudle
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hancock Cemetery
Dublin vicinity, TX
This burial ground, once called North Bolton Cemetery, holds its earliest marked grave from 1876, dating to the era when the Franks family owned the land. After passing through the Bolton and Caudle families, it took the name of Benjamin T. and Elizabeth Hancock, settlers who arrived around 1887. Many of the roughly fifty people buried here were kin to the Hancocks, families who helped found the nearby communities of Alexander and Purves.
Pecan Cemetery
Dublin vicinity, TX
Dating to 1880, Pecan Cemetery was the main burial ground for the Purves Community, which grew up around James Purves's blacksmith shop in Erath County. Its oldest marked grave is that of infant Horace F. Adams, and a memorial stands for Civil War casualty Daniel Turney, though he is actually buried in Tyler. When nearby Friendship Baptist Church disbanded, its materials were used to build a tabernacle here where funerals and annual cemetery-working gatherings were held.
Alexander Cemetery
Alexander, TX
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.
Pecan Cemetery Tabernacle
Dublin vicinity, TX
In 1884 J. W. McKenzie deeded three and a half acres in the Purves Community for a church and cemetery, though burials had begun there as early as 1880. When the Friendship Baptist Church disbanded in 1915, its lumber was reused in 1922 to build this open-air tabernacle—a well-preserved example of the group meeting shelters that hosted revivals and gatherings across rural Texas.