Daniel Family Cemetery
University Park, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Frances Sims Daniel (1796 - 1853) moved to Dallas County with her family in 1849 and purchased land in what is now University Park. An orchard planted near the Daniel home became the site of a family cemetery in 1850 when "Old Frank," a family slave for over forty years, was buried there. The gravestone of Isabella Harwood (1836 - 1851), daughter of Frances Sims Daniel, is believed to be one of the oldest in Dallas County. Interred here are Daniel family members, family slaves, and Daniel descendants, including veterans of four wars. (1988)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Frances Sims Daniel brought her family to the young farmlands of Dallas County in 1849, she could not have known that the orchard beside her home would become one of the county's earliest burying grounds. The cemetery began in 1850 with the grave of a man the family called "Old Frank," enslaved by the household for decades, and grew to hold Daniel kin, the people they enslaved, and descendants who served in four American wars. An 1851 headstone for young Isabella Harwood is thought to be among the oldest surviving in the county.
Why it matters
Family burying grounds like this one map the intertwined lives of settlers and the enslaved people whose labor built early Texas, preserving names that formal records often left out.
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Related people
- · Frances Sims Daniel
- · Isabella Harwood
- · Old Frank
Themes & tags
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