Pecan Cemetery
Dublin vicinity, Erath County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Pecan Cemetery traces its history to 1880. The oldest marked grave is that of Horace F. Adams (October 19-November 14, 1880), son of Isaac (1842-1931) and Mary (1855-1915) Adams, who are also buried in the historic graveyard. A memorial marker for Civil War casualty Daniel Turney (1829-1864) bears the earliest death date, although he is actually buried in Tyler. His family placed the memorial at his wife's grave site in the 1960s. The cemetery contains a number of 19th-century graves. It was the primary burial ground for residents of the Purves Community, which grew up around a blacksmith shop owned by James Purves. Friendship Baptist Church, located near the cemetery, served the community from 1884 until it disbanded in 1915. The building was torn down in 1922 and the material was used to build a tabernacle at Pecan Cemetery. Funerals were held in the tabernacle, and on annual special days families gathered there for refreshment while working in the cemetery. The Pecan Cemetery Endowment Corporation was formed in 1961 to provide perpetual care for the graveyard. (1992)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Dating to 1880, Pecan Cemetery was the main burial ground for the Purves Community, which grew up around James Purves's blacksmith shop in Erath County. Its oldest marked grave is that of infant Horace F. Adams, and a memorial stands for Civil War casualty Daniel Turney, though he is actually buried in Tyler. When nearby Friendship Baptist Church disbanded, its materials were used to build a tabernacle here where funerals and annual cemetery-working gatherings were held.
Why it matters
The cemetery and its tabernacle preserve the memory of a lost pioneer community and the communal traditions that bound rural Texans together across generations.
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Related people
- · James Purves
- · Horace F. Adams
- · Daniel Turney
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Pecan Cemetery Tabernacle
Dublin vicinity, TX
In 1884 J. W. McKenzie deeded three and a half acres in the Purves Community for a church and cemetery, though burials had begun there as early as 1880. When the Friendship Baptist Church disbanded in 1915, its lumber was reused in 1922 to build this open-air tabernacle—a well-preserved example of the group meeting shelters that hosted revivals and gatherings across rural Texas.
Caudle Cemetery
Dublin vicinity, TX
Once called South Bolton Cemetery, this Erath County burial ground holds its earliest marked grave from 1879, from the years the Franks family owned the land. The Caudle family bought the property in 1883, and matriarch Rebecca Clayton Caudle was buried here in 1886. Among the poignant stories is Fannie Caudle, who died on her wedding day in 1895 and was laid to rest in her bridal dress; descendants rediscovered and restored the neglected cemetery in 1997.
Hancock Cemetery
Dublin vicinity, TX
This burial ground, once called North Bolton Cemetery, holds its earliest marked grave from 1876, dating to the era when the Franks family owned the land. After passing through the Bolton and Caudle families, it took the name of Benjamin T. and Elizabeth Hancock, settlers who arrived around 1887. Many of the roughly fifty people buried here were kin to the Hancocks, families who helped found the nearby communities of Alexander and Purves.
Turnbow Cemetery
Dublin, TX
Chesley Turnbow and his wife Sabra worked their way west from Kentucky and Tennessee through Arkansas before settling on this Erath County land in the 1850s. The burial ground began in 1879 with the grave of an infant grandchild, and within months it held the family patriarch himself; seven of his ten children rest here as well. It became the resting place of pioneer families, longtime rural neighbors, and veterans of America's wars beginning with the Civil War.