Rhoads Family Cemetery
Alvord, Wise County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Rhoads Family Cemetery Originally from Tennessee, Abner E. (1820-1910) and Chloe Mays (1824-1886) Rhoads and family came to this area from Kentucky by covered wagon, arriving in 1870. Their son, Moses b. (1845-1916), who was a Methodist circuit rider, schoolteacher and carpenter already living in Texas, came to join them on their 205-acre tract of land along with his wife, Eugenia Sarah (1845-1924), and children. The oldest dated graves marking the deaths of two of their young sons in 1879 and 1880 speak of the difficulties of their experience as they joined with others in settling the land. Recorded here are members of the Johnson, Mitchum, Rhoads and Woodruff families; some descendants believe that as many as 100 others may be laid to rest nearby in unmarked graves. The cotton growers who once plowed this land were forced to relocate in the 1920s and 30s when their fields' soil and fertility were depleted by years of cultivation. In 1940, much of the Rhoads property, including this burial ground, was sold to the U.S. government and is now part of the Ibj National Grasslands. This site remains as a record of these settlers whose successes and struggles are part of the heritage of the Alvord area of Wise County. Historic Texas Cemetery-2002
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Abner and Chloe Rhoads came by covered wagon from Kentucky in 1870, joined on their 205-acre tract by their son Moses, a Methodist circuit rider, schoolteacher, and carpenter. The cemetery's oldest graves — two young sons who died in 1879 and 1880 — testify to the hardships of settling the land. When decades of cotton cultivation exhausted the soil, the families relocated in the 1920s and 30s, and much of the property was sold in 1940 to become part of the LBJ National Grasslands.
Why it matters
This burial ground preserves the arc of frontier settlement and soil exhaustion that shaped, and eventually emptied, much of rural North Texas.
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Related people
- · Abner E. Rhoads
- · Chloe Mays Rhoads
- · Moses B. Rhoads
Themes & tags
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