Rowlett Creek Cemetery
Plano, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1836 Dr. Daniel Rowlett (1786-1848), a Kentuckian, came to Texas with his wife and six other families. Rowlett, a physician, lawyer, surveyor, and politician, settled near present Bonham. He located much of his large 1838 land grant in the fertile area along present Rowlett Creek. After meeting in homes and outdoors, seven charter members organized the Wilson Creek Church of United Baptists in 1848, under leadership of the Rev. David Myers. In 1852 the name became "Rowlett Creek Baptist Church". George White (1820-1886) deeded six acres at this site in 1861 for a meetinghouse. The following year Shadrick J. Jackson (1830-1863) and his wife Sophronia deeded an adjacent four acres. Soon lots were set aside for this cemetery. The earliest marked grave is that of pioneer Alfred Harrington in 1862. The second interment in 1862 was that of Charles Gough, who was on furlough from the Confederate Army. In 1895 the Rowlett Creek Cemetery Association was formed. Rowlett is believed to be the earliest Baptist church in Collin county. It became inactive in 1935 but had been influential in establishing many early churches, a number of which are still prominent in the North Texas area. (1979)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Dr. Daniel Rowlett, a Kentuckian who was physician, lawyer, surveyor, and politician all at once, came to Texas in 1836 and laid claim to a large land grant along the creek that now bears his name. The Baptist congregation that gathered here in homes and open air by 1848 grew into the Rowlett Creek Baptist Church, and by the early 1860s the surrounding grounds became a cemetery—its earliest graves including a Confederate soldier on furlough. Believed to be the earliest Baptist church in Collin County, it seeded many congregations across North Texas.
Why it matters
This cemetery and its church trace the founding generation of North Texas, showing how faith, land, and family bound scattered settlers into the communities that became the Dallas suburbs.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Dr. Daniel Rowlett
- · Rev. David Myers
- · George White
- · Shadrick J. Jackson
- · Alfred Harrington
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Wilmeth-McKinney Homestead
McKinney, TX
When J.B. and Nancy Wilmeth staked out 320 acres of untouched Collin County prairie in 1846, Texas had been a U.S. state for less than a year and the frontier was still raw. Their two-story home became a hub of pioneer life—a place of worship for the First Christian Church congregation J.B. organized, and a free school he and his children taught for nearly four decades. J.B. helped choose the county seat and served as district clerk and county judge, while marriages knit his family to that of Collin McKinney, the county's namesake and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Frankford Church
Frankford, TX
The White Rock Masonic Lodge Hall did triple duty for early Frankford as lodge, school, and church, and among its worshipers was a Methodist congregation organized on a circuit in 1885. In the 1890s Captain William McKamy and his neighbors built this frame church, which the Methodists used until 1924; Episcopal services followed in the 1960s. It is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Chambersville
McKinney, TX
Elisha and Peggy Ann Chambers brought their seven children to Texas in 1847, claiming headrights in Collin and Dallas Counties and donating land for a cemetery and school that seeded the community named in their honor. By the turn of the century Chambersville thrived with a sawmill, cotton gin, blacksmith, post office, and stores, while its school doubled as auditorium, dance hall, and even a roller rink. During World War I the Red Cross worked out of the school as local women rolled bandages for the troops.
Young Cemetery
Plano, TX
Sam and Patience Young came to Collin County from Illinois in 1842, part of a wave of Midwestern settlers drawn to North Texas farmland. Young bought land, founded a school, and opened this cemetery when Patience died in 1847. Eleven pioneer families rest among its fifty-one known graves, including veterans of both the War of 1812 and the Civil War.