Ebenezer Cemetery
Jasper, Jasper County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Begun in 1860 as a family graveyard, the earliest burial in this cemetery is that of Martin H. Dean, infant son of William P. M. and Mary Ann Dean. Land for the cemetery and Ebenezer Methodist Church was given by the Deans to the community in 1861. Among those interred here, in marked and unmarked graves, are citizens of the Republic of Texas, a veteran of the Texas Revolution, two unknown cowboys who died while traveling through the area, and members of the Dean and other pioneer families. An additional acre was acquired for the cemetery in 1962.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Begun in 1860 as a family graveyard with the burial of an infant son of the Dean family, this cemetery grew into a community resting place when the Deans deeded land for it and the adjoining Ebenezer Methodist Church in 1861. Among those interred here are citizens of the Republic of Texas, a veteran of the Texas Revolution, two unknown cowboys who died passing through, and generations of pioneer families.
Why it matters
Its graves gather the founding generation of the area—Republic-era Texans, a revolutionary veteran and anonymous drovers—preserving the human record of East Texas settlement.
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Related people
- · Martin H. Dean
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Ebenezer Methodist Church
Jasper, TX
Area pioneers organized this Methodist congregation in 1861, served by the circuit-riding ministers who carried religion across the thinly settled Texas frontier. Its first log building, shared with the Baptists, burned—as did its successor—but the community rebuilt again and again, and a later structure doubled as both church and school. After more than a hundred years, the Methodist church was deactivated in 1965.
Site of the Town of Zavala
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Zavala grew up on land within the 1829 empresario grant to Lorenzo de Zavala, the Mexican statesman who would later help found the Republic of Texas, and it took his name. Set along a river, the town served as an early boat landing and a mail and stage stop, and it incorporated in 1838. Its post office lasted until the Civil War before the community faded into memory.
Hamilton Cemetery
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This cemetery sits on the original townsite of Zavala, a colony founded in 1834 and named for the Mexican statesman and empresario Lorenzo de Zavala, who would soon help create the Republic of Texas. Settlers drawn to Thomas Huling's land built one of Jasper County's oldest communities along the Old Beef Trail and the Angelina River. Republic-era Texans are buried here, among them John Hamilton, a Republic defender whose grave carries a Daughters of the Republic of Texas medallion.
Homer Community Cemetery
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