Naples Cemetery
Naples, Morris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The earliest recorded burial on this site was that of Elizabeth A. Baker, who died on April 26, 1883. Pattie D. Baker, who died in October of that year, is one of several people reported to have been reinterred here from the local school grounds. In 1892, J. H. Mathews sold about an acre including this site to trustees of the Belden Public School for $12.50 for use as a cemetery. In 1895 when the town of Belden was renamed Naples, the Belden Cemetery was renamed accordingly. Among those interred here are a Texas state representative, as well as Amanda Sheppard, the mother and grandmother of two U. S. congressmen. Members of the Watts family were reinterred here from the Wheatville graveyard northeast of Naples. Now encompassing two acres, Naples Cemetery is a chronicle of Morris County. (2000) Incise on base: Glenda Brown Scarborough
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The earliest recorded burial here is Elizabeth A. Baker, who died in April 1883, followed by others reinterred from the local school grounds. In 1892 J. H. Mathews sold about an acre to the trustees of Belden Public School for $12.50 to use as a cemetery, and when the town of Belden was renamed Naples in 1895 the graveyard's name changed with it. Among the interred are a Texas state representative and Amanda Sheppard, mother and grandmother of two U.S. congressmen.
Why it matters
A small-town cemetery holding a state legislator and the matriarch of a congressional family shows how ordinary rural communities quietly produced the nation's political leaders.
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Related people
- · Elizabeth A. Baker
- · Amanda Sheppard
Related events
- · Renaming of Belden to Naples
Themes & tags
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