Lee Cemetery
Seagoville, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1870, James J. Lee (1820 - 1901), a Confederate Army veteran from Mississippi, donated land for this cemetery, stipulating that no charges were to be made for plots. The 1.125-acre tract was the first cemetery in southeast Dallas County. Among the 1,500 burials are Lee and members of his family; Gen. James S. Raines (1817 - 1880), an officer in the Mexican War, 1846; some 60 people of Mexican descent; and a slave brought here in 1855. Land deeded for hitching horses has become part of the parking lot. The burial ground is maintained by Lee Cemetery, Inc.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When James J. Lee donated this 1.125-acre tract in 1870, he made a deliberate act of charity: plots were never to be sold. As the first cemetery in southeast Dallas County, it became a democratic resting place, gathering some 1,500 burials that cut across the era's hard lines of race and rank — a Confederate founder, a Mexican War general, dozens of people of Mexican descent, and an enslaved man brought to Texas in 1855.
Why it matters
A single burial ground holding Confederate veterans, Mexican-descended families, and an enslaved person captures the tangled, multiracial reality of frontier Texas society.
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Related people
- · James J. Lee
- · Gen. James S. Raines
Themes & tags
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