Harper Chapel Cemetery
Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On December 1, 1890, I.H. Pratt deeded one acre of land at this site to J.R. Harper. Born in 1838 in Hinds County, Mississippi, Harper came to Texas with his wife Delilah (Rice) (1836-1908), with whom he had six children. He died in 1896 and was the first to be buried here, at what was then known as Harper Cemetery. His wife was buried next to him 12 years later. Because of a fire at the Sabine County courthouse, the original deed is only referenced in a 1925 deed transfer to J.D. Fuller and E.H. Murphee. By that time, the Harper Chapel community, originally known as Lick Skillet, had further developed. Local Baptists completed construction on their wood-frame church house, Harper Chapel, in 1934. The community continued to utilize the burial ground here, acquiring additional acreage from donors over the years. The cemetery today is a link to the generations of area residents. Among those buried here are U.S. military veterans from conflicts beginning with World War I. The Harper Chapel Cemetery Association, comprised of descendants and friends of those buried here, maintains the site. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2004
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground began in 1896 with the death of J.R. Harper, a Mississippi native who brought his family to Texas and gave his name to the surrounding community once known as Lick Skillet. As the Harper Chapel community grew, local Baptists raised a frame church here in 1934, and neighbors continued burying their dead on land expanded by later donors. Veterans of conflicts beginning with World War I rest among the generations of area families.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a living record of a small East Texas farming community, binding together the settlers, worshippers, and soldiers who called it home.
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Related people
- · J.R. Harper
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Harper Chapel Church
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Local Baptists first gathered for revivals under a brush arbor on this spot before raising a proper frame chapel in 1933–34. The men of the community did the building while the women funded it by selling box lunches, a small drama of Depression-era self-reliance. Though the congregation disbanded in the 1950s, the chapel with its beveled siding and four-over-four windows still hosts funerals, weddings, and community gatherings.
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Hemphill First United Methodist Church
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