Elm Grove Cemetery
Westminster, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Members of the pioneer Roland family, natives of Alabama, settled here in the 1830s. Land at this site was part of a Republic of Texas land grant awarded to family members in recognition of the military service of John Roland, who was killed during the Texas Revolution. Receiving the property were his mother, Martha Roland Arrington, and two brothers Sherrod and Ezekial Roland. A veteran of the Texas Revolution, Ezekial (b. 1824) and his wife Mahala (Pace) set aside this part of the land grant for use as a public cemetery. The first burial here was that of the donor, Ezekial Roland, who died at the age of 35, in 1859. The pioneer Elm Grove Cemetery also served the earliest residents of the Seven Points community, later known as Westminster. Established in the 1860s, the town was the site of an early Methodist school, Westminster College, which operated here until the early 1900s, and a later Baptist academy. Still in use, Elm Grove Cemetery contains over 1500 known graves and 250 unidentified gravesites. For over 100 years it was served as the burial site of pioneers, community leaders, and residents of the surrounding rural area. ** (11981)***
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Roland family, natives of Alabama, settled here in the 1830s on land granted by the Republic of Texas in recognition of John Roland's military service, cut short when he was killed in the Texas Revolution. His brother Ezekial, himself a veteran of the revolution, set aside this parcel as a public cemetery, and its first burial was his own in 1859 at age 35. The graveyard also served the Seven Points community, later renamed Westminster, home to an early Methodist school and a later Baptist academy, and it still holds well over a thousand graves.
Why it matters
The cemetery binds together the sacrifices of the Texas Revolution and the pioneer settlement it made possible, honoring the families who built Collin County.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The Rolands came from Alabama during the 1830s, the last years of Mexican Texas and the start of the Texas Revolution. Thousands of families from the American South were moving into Texas then, drawn by cheap or free land, and many found themselves caught up in the fight for independence.
Once the war was won, the Republic of Texas had plenty of land and very little cash. One way it paid its debts was through land grants to soldiers and, when a soldier had died, to his family. Those grants helped settle North Texas, including what would become Collin County.
In the decades that followed, the blackland prairies here filled with farms and small communities. Churches, schools, and burial grounds anchored each one. A cemetery set aside on a family's land often became the oldest public institution in a community, older even than the town around it.
People & events
At the center of this story is a loss. John Roland was killed during the Texas Revolution. In recognition of his service, the Republic awarded land to his family: his mother, Martha Roland Arrington, and his brothers, Sherrod and Ezekial. Part of that grant is the ground you are standing on.
Ezekial Roland, born in 1824, is remembered on the marker as a veteran of the revolution himself. That would have made him very young when he served, and the details of his service are not given here. He and his wife, Mahala Pace Roland, chose to set aside part of the family grant as a public cemetery. It was a generous gift, and it turned a portion of private land into a resting place for the whole community.
The first person buried here was Ezekial himself, who died in 1859 at only 35. From then on, the cemetery served the people of Seven Points, a community established in the 1860s and later renamed Westminster. The town became home to Westminster College, an early Methodist school that operated until the early 1900s, and later to a Baptist academy. Many of the families connected to those schools, churches, and farms are buried here among more than 1,500 known graves and about 250 unidentified ones.
Its place in the American story
Elm Grove Cemetery shows how a war turned into settlement. The land grants Texas gave its soldiers and their families were part of a familiar American practice. The United States did something similar after the Revolutionary War, and in both cases military service was repaid with land that then became farms, towns, and counties.
The cemetery also reflects the role of education in frontier communities. Small denominational colleges and academies, like the Methodist and Baptist schools at Westminster, appeared across nineteenth-century America. Even in rural places, families wanted their children educated, and churches often stepped in to build the schools.
Finally, places like this hold the history of ordinary people. The 250 unidentified graves are a reminder that much of the American past was never written down. A rural cemetery is often the only place those lives are recorded at all.
If you visit
Elm Grove is a working cemetery, so visit respectfully: stay on paths where you can, and remember that families still come here to mourn. It is a peaceful, reflective place, the kind of rural burial ground where generations of a community lie side by side.
As you walk, look for older stones and family plots, and notice how styles of markers change across more than a century of burials. Keep in mind that many graves here are unidentified, so open stretches of grass may not be empty ground.
Westminster is a small Collin County community, and the cemetery fits easily into a drive through the countryside north of Dallas. It pairs well with other markers in the area about pioneer families, rural churches, and early schools, which together tell the story of how North Texas was settled.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · John Roland
- · Ezekial Roland
- · Martha Roland Arrington
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
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