Mount Zion Cemetery
Caddo, Stephens County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1879 this land was owned by Ezekel J. and Louisa J. McCleskey. According to McCleskey Family tradition M.M. McCluskey, a relative of Ezekel and Louisa from Georgia, died while visiting in 1879 and was the first person buried here. Eventually her grave site, near a church/school building, became a community cemetery named Veale for a local pioneer family. It was legally set aside as the Mount Zion Cemetery by the McCleskeys in 1907. The cemetery, enlarged over the years and maintained by an association formed in 1979, continues to serve the Frankell and LaCasa communities.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground began on land owned in 1879 by Ezekel and Louisa McCleskey, when a visiting relative from Georgia died and, by family tradition, became the first laid to rest here. Growing up beside a combined church and school, the plot served the neighborhood before the McCleskeys formally dedicated it as Mount Zion Cemetery in 1907. A community association has cared for it since 1979.
Why it matters
Family and community cemeteries like Mount Zion are often the last physical trace of the scattered rural settlements that once knit the Texas countryside together.
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Related people
- · Ezekel J. McCleskey
- · Louisa J. McCleskey
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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