Hood Cemetery
Southlake, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery was established on the farm of Peters colonist Thomas M. Hood (ca. 1823-1859), who came to Texas from Missouri about 1845. The earliest marked grave is that of Urias Martin (1795-1855). Among the unmarked graves are those of Hood and his second wife Maryetta (Hall). Other Peters colonists and several Confederate veterans are buried here. In 1871 Thomas Hood's family formally set aside the one-acre cemetery tract. Handmade native sandstone markers and burial cairns reflect the lifestyles and resourcefulness of early north Texas pioneers. (1982)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On the north Texas frontier of the 1840s and '50s, families drawn west by the Peters Colony land grants carved farms out of the prairie near what is now Southlake. This burial ground grew on the farm of Missouri emigrant Thomas M. Hood, its oldest marked grave dating to 1855 and its resting dead including Peters colonists and Confederate veterans. The handmade sandstone markers and stone burial cairns here were shaped by pioneer hands with the materials the land itself provided.
Why it matters
Frontier cemeteries like this one preserve the material culture and hard-won community of the settlers who transformed the Texas prairie into farmland, telling the story of ordinary pioneers rather than famous names.
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Related people
- · Thomas M. Hood
- · Urias Martin
Related events
- · Peters Colony settlement
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
White's Chapel Cemetery
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Tucked into a corner of what was once rural Tarrant County, this pioneer burying ground took root around 1851, when—by local memory—a child who died on a passing wagon train was laid to rest in the raw prairie soil. Its oldest documented grave dates to 1872, and many of the earliest are marked only by native red sandstone or unlettered fieldstones. Among the dead are Civil War veterans and a former state legislator, silent witnesses to the settlement of this stretch of North Texas.
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