Mount Zion Cemetery
Fate, Rockwall County, Texas
Marker Inscription
John Dewees (1819-1893) and his wife Martha Jane Stevens Dewees (1824-1905) migrated to Texas from Indiana in 1856 with their family of seven children. They purchased 300 acres of land on the banks of Camp Creek nearby. In 1857 a community church was organized and named Mount Zion. A log structure, built on land donated by John and Martha Dewees, served as a church and schoolhouse. The community cemetery was established in 1859 with the death of Julia McCrearby. A community also known as Mount Zion grew up around the church/school and cemetery. Of the more than 628 graves, about 590 are marked. Buried here are veterans from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean conflict. Nearly one-fifth of the graves are those of infants under one year of age. John and Martha Dewees and six of their seven children are buried here, as is county official A. R. Hartman (1839-1917). The Mount Zion Cemetery Association was formally organized in 1988 to establish a permanent fund for maintaining the grounds. The site continues to serve the community as it has for more than a century. (1997)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John and Martha Dewees brought their seven children from Indiana to Texas in 1856, buying 300 acres along Camp Creek and helping found the Mount Zion community. A log church-and-schoolhouse rose on land they donated, and by 1859 a cemetery had taken shape, its first grave that of Julia McCrearby. Today more than 600 graves rest here — pioneers, a county official, and veterans of every war from the Civil War through Korea — with a sobering share belonging to infants who died before their first year.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a layered chronicle of a Texas farming community, from its pioneer founders through generations of citizens who served in America's wars.
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Related people
- · John Dewees
- · Martha Jane Stevens Dewees
Themes & tags
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