Jacobs Chapel Cemetery
Woden, Nacogdoches County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In November 1843, Paulina Clementine Jacobs inherited 15 acres in southern Nacogdoches County from her father, William Jacobs (1765-1843), which included a family cemetery. At the time Paulina was single and taking care of her mother. She later married William L. Wilson and moved to Cooke County. On September 17, 1870, Paulina deeded her fifteen acres to George W. Davis, James McKnight, Henry P. Barron, Daniel M. Pate, William T. Sterns, Augustus Stephens, James Jacobs and Richard P. White as trustees of the Jacobs Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church. The transfer stipulated that “the parcel of land shall not be used in any other way than as aforesaid and for school and burial purposes.” The Jacobs Chapel Cemetery comprises 0.66 acres in the southeast part of this parcel, and is located east of Carrizo Creek and atop a ridge which overlooks a deep narrow valley. William Jacobs led his family and several others from Madison, Tennessee, in 1836 to this area, arriving on Christmas day. Others who made the trip included members of the Alders, Brown and Chisum families. Tradition states that Jacobs’ son-in-law George Brown was the first burial here in 1837, but his gravesite location is unknown. William and his wife, Nancy (Isbell) Jacobs (1778-1859), are also buried here. Their son James Jacobs (1806-1889) lost his wife, Mary (Chisum) (1808-1865), and seven of their twelve children during the 1860s, most of them dying from Civil War battle wounds or from typhoid. Cemetery features include granite, marble, and sandstone grave markers, curbed plots, and burials of dozens of veterans beginning with the Civil War. The Jacobs Chapel Cemetery Association maintains this sacred ground, a chronicle of the triumphs and tragedies of early settlers and their descendants. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2016
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When William Jacobs led his family and neighbors from Tennessee to southern Nacogdoches County, arriving on Christmas Day 1836, they brought with them a family burial ground atop a ridge above Carrizo Creek. In 1870 his daughter Paulina deeded the surrounding acres to the trustees of Jacobs Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church for worship, school, and burials; among those resting here are William and his wife Nancy and their son James, whose family lost seven of twelve children in the 1860s to Civil War wounds and typhoid.
Why it matters
This hilltop cemetery chronicles a pioneer clan's arrival in Texas and the heavy toll the Civil War era exacted on ordinary frontier families.
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Related people
- · William Jacobs
- · Paulina Clementine Jacobs
- · James Jacobs
Themes & tags
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