Rowe Cemetery
Hedley vicinity, Donley County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Historically significant for its associations with rancher Alfred Rowe and the now-extinct community of Rowe, this burial ground is a reflection of early area farming and ranching efforts and the harshness of pioneer life as permanent settlement came to the Panhandle. With help from cattleman Charles Goodnight, Englishman Alfred Rowe (1853-1912) established the RO ranch on Skillet Creek in 1880, and within ten years had amassed 100,000 acres of land and more than 10,000 head of cattle. His encouragement and support aided the development of Rowe, named in his honor, as a commercial center on the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway line. Kentucky native Isaac Smith, in whose home the Rowe post office was established in 1892, set aside part of his land for use as a community cemetery in 1898, after the death of four children in the Beedy family. Originally located in the family garden, the children's graves were moved to the Rowe cemetery upon its establishment. Even after the community of Rowe moved one mile southeast in 1907, to become the town of Hedley, this cemetery continued to serve as the primary burial ground for area residents. Isaac Smith's grandson, W. I. Rains, provided additional acreage for the Rowe cemetery during the 20th century, and by 1999 there were more than 1,500 marked graves here. A veterans memorial placed in 1990 and the graves of 32 victims of the influenza epidemic of 1918-19 lend additional significance to the Rowe cemetery. (2001)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This Panhandle burial ground grew alongside the ranching empire of Englishman Alfred Rowe, who—with help from cattleman Charles Goodnight—founded the RO Ranch in 1880 and amassed 100,000 acres within a decade. The nearby community that bore his name took shape along the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway, and Kentucky settler Isaac Smith set aside cemetery land in 1898 after four children of one family died. Even after the town moved and became Hedley, the cemetery grew to more than 1,500 graves, including 32 victims of the 1918–19 influenza epidemic.
Why it matters
The cemetery gathers the pioneers, ranch hands, and epidemic dead who paid the human cost of settling the last open range of the Texas Panhandle.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Alfred Rowe
- · Charles Goodnight
- · Isaac Smith
- · W. I. Rains
Related events
- · Influenza epidemic of 1918-19
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
James T. Patman
Clarendon, TX
James T. Patman served as sheriff of Donley County from 1905 to 1916, a time when the great Panhandle ranches were being broken up and sold off as farmland. Born in Sulphur Springs and a Methodist, he married Allie Graves, raised a son and a daughter, and died in Clarendon. He was remembered as an outstanding peace officer of that transitional frontier era.
Clarendon Cemetery
Clarendon, TX
On this bold promontory lies the first cemetery of Donley County, resting place of the earliest settlers of Old Clarendon in the Texas Panhandle. Founded as a colony in the late 1870s, Clarendon was among the first Anglo settlements on the high plains, where pioneers faced hardship, isolation, and loss. In 1938 the State of Texas dedicated this granite monument to those first dead and the survivors who built on after them.
Old Mobeetie Trail
Hedley, TX
The Old Mobeetie Trail followed a path far older than any map—worn over centuries by migrating bison and the Native hunters who followed them across the Texas Panhandle. In the 1870s it carried the first dugout-dwelling settlers, buffalo hunters supplying the hide trade, and soldiers to Fort Elliott, while the frontier town of Mobeetie briefly served as county seat for 28 counties. As the Rath and later the Jones and Plummer trails, it became a great artery for longhorn drives to northern railheads before farming 'nesters' finally settled the land along it.
The Clarendon News
Clarendon, TX
Clarendon began as the Rev. Lewis H. Carhart's dream of a colony grounded in Christianity, temperance, and education, and to promote it he launched The Clarendon News in June 1878—the very year the first colonists arrived. It was the first newspaper in the Texas Panhandle. Through many changes of name and owner, and from hand-set type to modern computers, it has never stopped chronicling its community.