Walker Bend Community and Cemetery
Weatherford, Parker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Located in Parker County on a bend in the Brazos River, the Walker Bend Community was named for W.J. Walker (1821-1901) who settled in this area in the 1860's. By 1884 settlers established the Walker Bend School that served students until 1925. The nearby cemetery contains 24 recorded graves including pioneers and Walker Family members. The oldest recorded grave is that of Thomas Walker, in 1878, infant son of W.J. Walker and his wife "Aunt Jenny" Walker. The cemetery, neglected for many years, was restored by the Abandoned Cemetery Association in 1993. (1996)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On a bend of the Brazos River, this community took its name from W. J. Walker, who settled here in the 1860s, and by 1884 had its own school that served children until 1925. The nearby cemetery holds 24 recorded graves of pioneers and Walker family members, the oldest being W. J. Walker's infant son Thomas, buried in 1878. Long neglected, the burial ground was restored by the Abandoned Cemetery Association in 1993.
Why it matters
Rural community cemeteries like Walker Bend are often the last surviving trace of vanished frontier settlements, preserving the names of the families who first broke the land.
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Related people
- · W. J. Walker
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Local memory credits James J. Barnett, who reached Parker County in 1857, with founding the community of Hiner, aiding newcomers with transportation and shelter as they arrived. By about 1870 Wade Chapel Methodist Church rose on donated land beside the cemetery, serving as school and gathering place under its first minister, the Reverend James Hiner. The burial ground, with graves reaching back to 1872, holds at least seven Civil War veterans among the community's pioneers.
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Tennessee-born Thomas J. Shaw — farmer, rancher, and carpenter — reached Parker County in 1854 and two years later raised the original log room of this house. He and his wife Louisa Ann lived there for twenty years, and eight of their thirteen children were born under its roof before Shaw added a board-and-batten room in 1876. The resulting double-pen cabin stayed in the family until 1975, a survivor of Texas frontier homebuilding.
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Henry Hill Battern left Virginia for Parker County around 1860, buying 160 acres that included this one-acre burial ground. His second wife, Sarah Jane, died that same year and is said to be the first laid to rest here. A Civil War veteran who served as the community's unofficial doctor and as a local justice of the peace, Battern was widely respected despite having no formal medical training; the last known burial, his son Francis, came in 1934.
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