Chapel Cemetery
Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery traces its origin to the settlement here in the mid 1850s of the pioneer families of John A. and Rhoda Raibourn Fanning, Mitchell and Eliny Jane Raibourn, and Thomas Raibourn. According to Fanning family tradition the cemetery began with the burial of Eliny Raibourn at this site in 1856 and the subsequent donation of the land for cemetery purposes by her brother-in-law, John Fanning. Afterwards the site became known as the Fanning burying grounds. A one-room school house known as Horse Creek School or Lone Star School, located about a mile south of here, was the sole communal structure in this area until a chapel was built next to the burying ground. In 1893 T.A. and Catherine Sweet transferred ownership of the chapel and surrounding land to the Sweet Chapel Methodist Church, and the burying grounds became known as Sweet Chapel Cemetery. By 1938 the Sweet family had moved to Fort Worth, the chapel had disappeared, and the cemetery was known simply as Chapel Cemetery. Burials continued on an informal basis and for many years the graveyard was cared for by members of the Francisco family. The Cemetery was acquired by the Mount Olivet Cemetery Association in 1985. (1993)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground began with the mid-1850s settlement of the Fanning and Raibourn pioneer families, and, by family tradition, with the 1856 grave of Eliny Raibourn on land her brother-in-law John Fanning then donated as a cemetery. A one-room school — Horse Creek or Lone Star School — was the area's only communal building until a chapel rose beside the graves, giving the place its later name of Sweet Chapel. As families moved on and the chapel vanished, it became known simply as Chapel Cemetery, tended for years by neighbors before a cemetery association took it in hand in 1985.
Why it matters
The layered names of this Tarrant County cemetery trace how a scattering of pioneer families gave way to a settled community, then to the growing city of Fort Worth around it.
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Related people
- · John A. Fanning
- · Eliny Jane Raibourn
- · Thomas Raibourn
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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