Sterling Cemetery
Calvert, Robertson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Burial place of some 400 Texas pioneers and descendants. On land granted (1835) to A. J. Webb; bought in 1850 by Judge Robert Calvert, a civic leader in Sterling, a town named for Empresario Sterling C. Robertson. Calvert dedicated 11.1-acre cemetery and built adjacent Cumberland Presbyterian Church of his own plantation timber. In 1867, Judge Calvert died and was buried near cemetery gate. The church building was moved by oxen to new town of Calvert (2 mi. E). In 1868, his wife, Mary Keesee Calvert, and their three daughters deeded cemetery site to the Cumberland Presbyterians.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This 11-acre burying ground holds some 400 Texas pioneers on land first granted in 1835 and bought in 1850 by Judge Robert Calvert, a leader of the vanished town of Sterling. Calvert dedicated the cemetery and built an adjoining Cumberland Presbyterian church from his own plantation timber; after his death in 1867 the congregation hauled the church by oxen to the new town of Calvert two miles east. In 1868 his widow and daughters deeded the site to the Cumberland Presbyterians.
Why it matters
The graveyard preserves the memory of an empresario-era settlement and the way frontier faith, family, and town-building were braided together in antebellum Texas.
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Related people
- · Robert Calvert
- · Mary Keesee Calvert
- · Sterling C. Robertson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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