Hopewell Cemetery
Liberty Hill, Williamson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Pioneers who settled here in the 1840s and established the town of Hopewell faced many hardships, including Indian raids. Wofford and Mary Johnson and their daughter were killed by Comanches nearby in 1863. They were buried at this site near the grave of Cornelia Johnson, whose burial is the first recorded here. The graveyard was deeded to a local congregation in 1877 and in 1966 a cemetery association was formed. Buried here are area pioneers and their descendants, and veterans of the Civil War. This cemetery is all that remains of the Hopewell community. (1993)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Pioneers who reached this stretch of Williamson County in the 1840s founded the town of Hopewell and endured the dangers of frontier life, including Comanche raids — Wofford and Mary Johnson and their daughter were killed nearby in 1863. The cemetery grew up around the earlier grave of Cornelia Johnson and was deeded to a local congregation in 1877. Today the graveyard, holding area pioneers and Civil War veterans, is the only trace left of the Hopewell community.
Why it matters
Hopewell Cemetery preserves the memory of a frontier settlement erased by time and the violent, contested nature of Anglo and Comanche encounters on the mid-19th-century Texas frontier.
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Related people
- · Wofford Johnson
- · Mary Johnson
- · Cornelia Johnson
Themes & tags
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