New Hope Cemetery
Stamford vicinity, Jones County, Texas
Marker Inscription
William F. Bean (1872-1944) and his wife Birdie Bean (1881-1917) were among the first settlers to the New Hope community; both their families arrived in 1883. William's great-uncle, Amos Bean, died between 1883 and 1890 and was interred under a tree on Bean farmland. The newborn son of W. L and Georgia Whitaker was interred nearby in 1890. Three more infants and children were buried on Bean farmland in 1891, 1898 and 1899. William Bean deeded the land 3/4 mile northwest of his great-uncle's grave for a New Hope community burial ground in 1899. Since that time the cemetery has grown to three acres including the first five graves. Other interred here include J. E. Skiles, longtime minister of the Baptist church; James Williams, who taught school at New Hope; his wife Mary Artealy Williams; and their descendants. (2000)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Bean and Whitaker families were among the first to settle the New Hope community after arriving in 1883, and burials on Bean farmland began with the graves of an elderly relative and a string of infants and children in the 1890s. In 1899 William F. Bean deeded land nearby for a formal community burying ground, which grew to three acres taking in those earliest graves. Ministers, a schoolteacher, and generations of settler families rest here.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a quiet ledger of frontier settlement on the West Texas plains, where a scattering of family graves grew into a community's shared ground.
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Related people
- · William F. Bean
- · Birdie Bean
Themes & tags
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