Mt. Carmel Cemetery
Wolfe City, Hunt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(0.9 miles south) William J. "Uncle Billy" Williams (1826-1918), whose family settled this area in 1844, set aside 3.5 acres of this cemetery in 1852 for burial of his two-year-old niece, Angelina Williams. Oldest gravestones are those of his parents, Elizabeth (1789-1861) and George Williams (1786-1863). First called Williams Cemetery, it became known as Mt. Carmel after a Methodist church by that name was built nearby in 1883. An open chapel was added to the property in 1891; another erected in 1920 still stands. Maintained by Mt. Carmel Cemetery Association, the site has grown to 37.6 acres and contains about 10,000 graves. (1975)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground began in 1852 as a family plot when "Uncle Billy" Williams set aside a few acres for his two-year-old niece; the oldest stones mark his parents, born in the 1780s. First called Williams Cemetery, it took the name Mt. Carmel from a nearby Methodist church built in 1883, and a chapel from 1920 still stands on the grounds. From that single child's grave it has grown to nearly forty acres and some ten thousand burials.
Why it matters
A frontier family cemetery that became a community's resting place, it records the settlement of a Texas county across nearly two centuries.
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Related people
- · William J. "Uncle Billy" Williams
Themes & tags
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