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Early RepublicCivil War

Frankford Cemetery

Dallas, Collin County, Texas

Marker Inscription

In the early days of settlement, this area served as a stop for cattle drives and for travelers on the Preston Road. Later the community of Frankford, the site of a post office until the early 1900s, was located nearby. This community cemetery was used as early as 1862, when area pioneer Eliga M. Yaeger was interred here. The earliest marked grave is that of John T. Coit (1829-1872), a lawyer who moved here from South Carolina. During the Civil War he raised a regiment in the Dallas area and served as a colonel. Originally buried on a bluff of the Trinity River, he was later reinterred at this site. Another early burial was that of Margaret McKamy (1786-1873), who came to Texas with her son William C. McKamy, later a prominent area landowner. Also buried here are Sidney Noell, founder of the early town of Noell Junction, now Addison (1 mile southwest), and Addison Robertson, for whom it was later named. Since the 1870s the cemetery has been associated with the White Rock Masonic Lodge No. 234, started at Walnut Grove in 1858. A lodge hall, built here in 1872, also served as a church and school. Lodge members serve on the Cemetery Association Board. (1981) Historic Texas Cemetery medallion added 2013.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Frankford Cemetery began as a resting place for pioneers along the old Preston Road cattle-drive route, its first burial dating to 1862. Among those interred is John T. Coit, a South Carolina lawyer who raised a Dallas-area regiment and served as a Confederate colonel in the Civil War, later reinterred here. The burial ground has been tied since the 1870s to the White Rock Masonic Lodge, whose hall doubled as church and school.

Why it matters

A single country cemetery gathers the whole arc of North Texas settlement — cattle trails, Civil War service, and the fraternal lodges that organized frontier civic life.

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Related people

  • · John T. Coit
  • · Margaret McKamy
  • · Eliga M. Yaeger

Themes & tags

Civil WarWestward ExpansionFrontier HistoryMemorial

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