Clark's Chapel Cemetery
Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
As part of a group of settlers, William A. Clark moved with his wife, Nancy (Copenhaver), and children to Caldwell County from Alabama in 1850. Clark purchased land in this vicinity in 1854. Early community residents met in homes and out of doors for worship services, and in 1877, at the Clarks' home, 26 men and women organized the Clark's Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, South, under the leadership of the Rev. J. W. Brown. Two years later, Joseph and Jennie Magee deeded land to the group for a church building and grounds, later adding land for Clark's Chapel Cemetery. The first grave marker, that of two-year-old Martha R. Smith, dates to 1882. The church building was torn down in 1950, and with the cemetery in poor state, Clark and Magee descendants, including Austin Magee, Guy Kelley and Niram "Nye" Clark, began gathering information about the church and cemetery, and organizing annual reunions for family members. Through these reunions and annual donations, the families today maintain the burial ground, which is still in use as a link to family and friends, and to area history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When William and Nancy Clark brought their family from Alabama to Caldwell County in 1850, worship in this corner of central Texas still happened in parlors and open fields. That changed in 1877, when twenty-six neighbors gathered in the Clark home to organize a Methodist congregation, and a land gift from Joseph and Jennie Magee soon gave them both a church and a burying ground. The little two-year-old laid to rest here in 1882 became the first of generations linked by this soil, and long after the church itself came down in 1950, Clark and Magee descendants kept the cemetery alive through reunions and shared care.
Why it matters
It shows how faith, family, and land wove frontier Texans into lasting communities, and how descendants' stewardship can preserve that heritage even after the institution that created it is gone.
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Related people
- · William A. Clark
- · Nancy Copenhaver Clark
- · Rev. J. W. Brown
- · Joseph Magee
- · Jennie Magee
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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