Hemmeline Cemetery
Gatesville, Coryell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1895, members of the German Bethel Baptist Church (now Bethel Heights Baptist Church) established this graveyard as the German Baptist Cemetery. A. T. Voss deeded two acres of land to the deacons of the church to be used as a cemetery. The property was located approximately one mile east of the former church site, and was located across the road from the Hemmeline School, which was named for a family living nearby. The small community, originally settled by german immigrants, is now known as the Plainview/Bethel Heights Community. The early organizational records of the cemetery were handwritten in German, and designated one acre to be divided into family plots of eight graves to be sold for one dollar, with the second acre to be used by the community. Minutes in 1915 show that cemetery officials decided that the cemetery would be open to persons of any nationality or skin color, with preference given to members of the church congregation and their families. Although no records exist showing an official name change, obituaries show that the cemetery came to be known as Hemmeline Cemetery during the early 1900s. American involvement in World Wars I and II may have contributed to the permanent name change. Many people and institutions dropped German references or German-sounding names at that time in order to avoid hostility. The church also changed its name from German Bethel Baptist Church to Bethel Heights Baptist Church in 1940. The German Bethel Baptist Church (Bethel Heights Baptist Church) continued to administer the cemetery until 1974, when a cemetery association organized. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2008
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
German immigrants of the Bethel Baptist Church founded this Coryell County graveyard in 1895 as the German Baptist Cemetery, with early records kept in German and plots sold for a dollar. In 1915 cemetery officials voted to open it to people of any nationality or skin color, an unusually inclusive stance for its time and place. As anti-German feeling rose during the world wars, the community shed its German names — the cemetery becoming "Hemmeline" and the church renamed Bethel Heights in 1940.
Why it matters
The cemetery captures both the German immigrant experience in central Texas and the wartime pressure that pushed such communities to abandon the language and names they had carried from the old country.
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Related people
- · A. T. Voss
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Bethel Heights Baptist Church
Gatesville vicinity, TX
German immigrants who came to Texas in the 1880s founded this congregation in 1886 as the German Bethel Baptist Church, meeting in a schoolhouse near Coryell City under Rev. Julius E. Sydow. As the German Baptist population grew, the group split into two churches, built a house of worship on land bought from Ludwig Voss, and kept its records in German for decades. During World War I the congregation pledged loyalty and sold war bonds, and during World War II it shifted to English-language services and took the name Bethel Heights Baptist Church.
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Immanuel Lutheran Church
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Canaan Baptist Cemetery
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