Mount Capers Cemetery
Point Blank, San Jacinto County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Sarah Washington Ricks Durdin Chrznowski (1819-94) donated land for this cemetery from estate of her late husband, James. T. Durdin (d. 1859), probably in 1860s, although no deed exists. Cemetery was named for adjacent Mount Capers Baptist Chapel, built by the Rev. L. R. Capers. According to tradition, first grave was for Elisha Williams; James Tarpley Knight, an infant grandson of land donor, was interred in Dec. 1871. Oldest legible headstone is dated 1873. The Mount Capers Cemetery Association received in Aug. 1971 a deed to four acres of land here. There are 100 or more graves.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Widowed pioneer Sarah Washington Ricks Durdin Chrznowski gave land from her late husband's estate for this burial ground in the 1860s, on the piney edge of what became San Jacinto County. The cemetery took its name from the neighboring Mount Capers Baptist Chapel, and by tradition its first grave was that of Elisha Williams, followed by the donor's infant grandson in 1871. More than a century of burials — over a hundred graves — now rest here under community care.
Why it matters
Rural cemeteries like Mount Capers are the enduring records of frontier families, preserving the names and kinship ties of the settlers who built East Texas.
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Related people
- · Sarah Washington Ricks Durdin Chrznowski
Themes & tags
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