Dewalt Cemetery
Missouri City, Fort Bend County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1845 Thomas Walters Dewalt (1822-1874) traveled from South Carolina and settled on nearby Oyster Creek. He soon established a plantation, and in 1850 set aside 1.2 acres of land for the burial of two sisters of Charlotte E. Brown, whom he married in 1858. However, the earliest marked burial here is that of Smyly Dewalt in 1869. The cemetery was formally set aside by deed in 1931. About 3.5 acres were added to the graveyard in 1983. Still in use, the Dewalt Cemetery is reserved for the Dewalt, Martin, Robinson, Roane, Bledsoe, and Cessna families.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1845 Thomas Walters Dewalt journeyed from South Carolina to settle along Oyster Creek, where he built a plantation in the coastal plains of what is now Fort Bend County. In 1850 he set aside land for burials, and the graveyard has served his extended family for generations, formally deeded in 1931 and expanded in the 1980s. Still in use, it remains reserved for the interrelated families whose roots reach back to antebellum Texas.
Why it matters
Family cemeteries like Dewalt anchor the story of the plantation society that settled the Texas Gulf coast in the decades before the Civil War.
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Related people
- · Thomas Walters Dewalt
- · Charlotte E. Brown
- · Smyly Dewalt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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