Lowe's Chapel Cemetery
Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
New settlers arriving primarily from the southern states arrived in this section of Cherokee County by the late 1840s, and Lowe’s Chapel Cemetery was begun soon after. Local tradition holds that as a wagon train passed through in the early 1850s, a child died and was buried here in a grave marked by a pile of rocks. The oldest legible gravestones record burials from the 1860s. James Lowe was overseer of the road leading to Lowe’s Chapel from Rusk to Henderson. The historic road led from Johnson’s Mill past Lowe’s Chapel and Lowe’s Farm on to Stafford’s Ferry on Mud Creek. E. H. Lowe deeded land for the cemetery to the Methodist Episcopal Church, south, who had a church adjacent to the burial ground. The deed for five acres was recorded in 1882, with the land conveyed to trustees J. O. Cawthon, J. H. Wilson and W. L. Manning. Area families buried here include Andress, Bagley, Baxter, Blankinship, Brown, Cannon, Cawthon, Christopher, Copeland, Davis, Gifford, Grammer, Hall, Irwin, Jones, Manion, Mcdonald, Richey, Riggs, Roberts, Sanders, Parsons, Sherrard, Stafford, Summers, Thompson, Tosh, Waldrup, Watson, Wilkins and Wortham. A number of veterans are buried here, from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. There are also several woodmen of the world and masonic gravestones. In the older part of the cemetery, there are illegible sandstone markers and two plots enclosed by wrought iron fences. The Lowe’s Chapel Cemetery Association dates back to the early 1900s. An annual homecoming has been held here for more than 80 years, ensuring that this historic community burial ground remains a significant and treasured place of heritage and memory. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2016
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Settlers from the southern states reached this part of Cherokee County by the late 1840s, and Lowe's Chapel Cemetery began soon after — local tradition says with a child from a passing wagon train, buried beneath a pile of rocks. E. H. Lowe deeded five acres to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in a deed recorded in 1882, and dozens of area families are buried here alongside veterans from the Civil War through Vietnam. An annual homecoming has drawn descendants for more than eighty years.
Why it matters
The churchyard preserves the rhythms of frontier East Texas life and the long memory of a community that still gathers each year among its pioneers and veterans.
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Related people
- · James Lowe
- · E. H. Lowe
Themes & tags
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