Rockhill Cemetery
Mt. Vernon, Franklin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This burial ground served the farming community of Rockhill, settled after the Civil War (1861-65). The high childhood mortality rate of that era accounts for many graves here. Earliest known burial was Mary Hitchens, who died about 1875 at age 12. Oldest dated stone marks the grave of two-year-old Willie Terrell (d. 1881) Of the 148 known graves, 90 are unmarked. A cemetery committee bought the site in 1919. Like many rural settlements, Rockhill began to decline in the 1930s Depression. The community's churches and school vanished, but the cemetery remains a link to its past. (1977)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Rockhill Cemetery is the enduring trace of a farming community that took root after the Civil War. Its many small graves reflect the high childhood mortality of the era, with the earliest known burial around 1875. A cemetery committee purchased the ground in 1919, and though the settlement's churches and school faded during the Depression of the 1930s, the burial ground remains.
Why it matters
Rural cemeteries like Rockhill preserve the memory of vanished farming communities, standing as the last physical link to families who settled the post-war Texas countryside.
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Related people
- · Mary Hitchens
- · Willie Terrell
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
J. A. Drummond Farm Home
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