Parrish Family Cemetery
Coppell, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
James and Eliza (Record) Parrish received a 640-acre Peters Colony land grant and settled here in 1853. When James died later that year, Eliza set aside one-half acre of land for a family burial ground. Since then, more than 35 members of the Parrish family have been buried here, including Eliza (d. 1918), her second husband Henry Parrish (James' brother, d. 1866), and 6 of their 7 children and their descendants. Eliza's father, Josiah Record, and two of her brothers, John and Silas, are also buried here. The cemetery records this extended family's long-time presence in Coppell.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
James and Eliza Parrish came to this land in 1853 on a 640-acre Peters Colony grant, part of the settlement scheme that populated North Texas with pioneer families. When James died that same year, Eliza set aside a half-acre as a family burying ground, and over the generations more than thirty-five Parrishes and their kin were laid to rest here. The cemetery quietly records one extended family's deep and lasting presence in what became Coppell.
Why it matters
Family burial grounds like this one mark the enduring footprint of the Peters Colony settlers who transformed the North Texas prairie into farms, communities, and eventually cities.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · James Parrish
- · Eliza Record Parrish
- · Henry Parrish
- · Josiah Record
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Bethel Cemetery
Coppell, TX
Set aside before 1853 by Peters Colony pioneer James Parrish on his farm along the Elm Fork of the Trinity, this cemetery holds the layered history of a vanished community—smallpox victims, Confederate veterans, former slaves, and six people killed in an 1869 lynching. Of an estimated two hundred graves, all but two have been lost to vandalism and development, leaving the resting places of two small children as almost the only visible markers.
Missouri Colony
Grapevine, TX
In 1844 a cluster of related families from Platte County, Missouri, made their way to this part of North Texas, settling on land owned by early pioneer James Gibson. More kin and friends followed in 1845, and the group became known as the "Missouri Colony," raising cattle and grain and worshiping and schooling their children at nearby Lonesome Dove. Some pressed on to open other frontiers, while others stayed to build the first permanently settled corner of Tarrant County.
Perry Cemetery
Carrollton, TX
When the Texas prairie town of Carrollton was still finding its footing, the death of Sarah Huffman Perry in 1896 gave the young community its first true burying ground. The next year her husband, A. W. Perry, deeded the land beside the Union Baptist Church, and scattered graves from private plots were gathered here to rest together. Most of its 482 graves belong to the pioneer families who broke this ground in North Texas.
Union Baptist Church
Carrollton, TX
Organized in a pioneer cabin on May 10, 1846 — the very year Texas joined the Union — Union Baptist Church was the earliest Baptist congregation in Dallas County. A handful of settler families gathered under the Rev. David Myers, who served until his death in 1853, and built their first meeting house on land donated by Thomas and Sarah Keenan. Over the following decades the congregation followed the growing settlements, moving through several sanctuaries before becoming today's Highland Baptist Church.