Stiff Chapel Cemetery
McKinney, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Jesse Stiff (1796-1871) came to Texas from Virginia in 1835 and settled on several thousand acres of land in this area. His brother, Louis, arrived in 1849, and a community known as Stiff Chapel developed around their homesteads. In 1847, Jesse's son, James, died while serving as a Texas Ranger. He was buried near his father's house on land that later was deeded as the Stiff Chapel Cemetery. Most of the graves in the two-acre family burial ground date from the 1800s. The last burial in the Stiff Chapel Cemetery, that of Minnie Swaim, took place in 1935. (1984)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Jesse Stiff arrived from Virginia in 1835 and claimed thousands of acres in what became Collin County, and a community called Stiff Chapel grew up around the family's homesteads. When his son James, serving as a Texas Ranger, died in 1847, he was buried near the family house on land that became this two-acre cemetery — most of its graves dating from the 1800s, with the last burial in 1935.
Why it matters
Family burial grounds like Stiff Chapel are quiet records of frontier settlement, marking where the earliest Anglo families put down roots — and Rangers gave their lives — in early Texas.
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Related people
- · Jesse Stiff
- · James Stiff
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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