Little Bethel Cemetery
Duncanville, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Burials of two small children opened this cemetery in 1856. The oldest stone (1858) commemorates Etna Barker, of a pioneer family. Some relatives of John Neely Bryan, first settler in Dallas, are buried here. This was once the site of a small church that was later relocated in Cedar Hill. Landowner Crawford Trees donated original burial ground in 1860. Judge William B. Hamilton added acreage in 1936 and 1951. There are now 1,000 graves. Little Bethel became a memorial park with perpetual care in 1966.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground opened in 1856 with the graves of two small children and grew on land a pioneer donated in 1860 beside a small church later moved to Cedar Hill. Among those interred are relatives of John Neely Bryan, the first settler of Dallas, tying the cemetery to the earliest days of the region's Anglo settlement. It became a perpetual-care memorial park in 1966.
Why it matters
Little Bethel preserves a direct connection to the founding families of what would become one of America's great cities.
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Related people
- ¡ Etna Barker
- ¡ John Neely Bryan
- ¡ Crawford Trees
- ¡ William B. Hamilton
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Trees Cemetery
Duncanville, TX
Crawford Trees came to Texas in 1845 and, after striking enough wealth in the 1849 California Gold Rush, returned to buy more than 5,000 acres of Dallas County land. He and his wife Anna donated ground for a school and church, and in 1856 they founded this cemetery after Anna's brother and a friend were killed in a shooting. Chiefly a family burial ground, it remains in use by Trees descendants today.
Penn Springs
Duncanville, TX
Two springs feeding a natural pool made this a vital watering place, first for Native peoples and later for the wagon trains and cattle drives moving along the Shawnee Trail. Major John Penn of Illinois settled his family here in the 1850s after first visiting in 1848, and on July 4, 1882, the springs hosted a Confederate reunion of Parson's Texas Cavalry. The Penns held the land until 1895 as Duncanville grew around it.
Duncanville
Duncanville, TX
First settled by farmers and ranchers in the 1840s and 1850s, this area became "Duncan Switch" in 1881 when the Chicago, Texas & Mexican Central Railroad built a switching station, with local resident John Duncan securing the right-of-way. When a post office application under the name Duncan was denied, the town became Duncanville, opening its post office in 1882. Growth stayed gradual â barely 300 residents by the 1930s â until postwar suburban expansion from nearby Dallas transformed it into a fast-growing commercial center.
City of Cedar Hill
Cedar Hill, TX
Settlers drawn to a high prairie hilltop founded Cedar Hill in the late 1840s, when this was still the frontier edge of a young Texas. Its early economy served the surrounding farms until a disastrous tornado in 1856 checked its growth, and the arrival of the railroad in 1882 revived it. In the late twentieth century the old farm town gave way to suburban Dallas.