Weaver Chapel Cemetery
Gatesville, Coryell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
WEAVER CHAPEL CEMETERY HAS SERVED THE WIDELY SCATTERED RURAL COMMUNITIES LOCATED IN THE LEON RIVER VALLEY AND THE CORYELL CREEK CORRIDOR FOR MORE THAN 130 YEARS. THE SITE IS ON LAND DONATED BY REV. JOHN WILSON IN 1879 TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, AND REMAINS IN ITS ORIGINAL GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT, UNCHANGED SINCE THE ARRIVAL OF THE EARLIEST SETTLERS. ALTHOUGH MANY FAMILIES INCLUDED IN THE BURIAL RECORDS ARE RELATED, IT IS NOT CONSIDERED A FAMILY CEMETERY. BURIALS ARE OPEN TO ALL INDIVIDUALS WITH TIES TO THE AREA WHO CHOOSE TO MAKE THEIR FINAL RESTING PLACE AMONG THE DOZENS OF EARLY PIONEERING FAMILIES BURIED HERE, THREE OF THE MOST PREDOMINANT BEING THE WILSONS, WEAVERS AND PRUITTS. THERE ARE 55 IDENTIFIED GRAVES DATING FROM 1879 THROUGH 1899 AND OVER 225 IDENTIFIED GRAVES INCLUDED IN THE BURIAL RECORDS. THE OLDEST IDENTIFIED GRAVE (FEB. 6, 1879) IS THAT OF ROBERT WEAVER, INFANT GRANDSON OF REV. FREDERICK WEAVER, FOUNDER OF THE CHAPEL. A MASSIVE GRAVE SLAB PROTECTS THE GRAVES OF THE FAMILY OF CHARLES PETER LILJEBLAD, A SWEDE WHO ESTABLISHED THE LILJEBLAD RANCH IN 1874, WHILE A MARBLE OBELISK MARKS THE GRAVE OF AUGUST WILHELM, AN IMMIGRANT FROM GERMANY. THE GRAVE OF BYROM COWARD, A VETERAN WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE INVASION OF JAPAN, IS ONE OF MANY WWII VETERANS’ GRAVES. ADDITIONALLY, THERE ARE CIVIL WAR AND WWI VETERANS BURIED HERE. A FEW FIELDSTONE REMNANTS MARKING UNIDENTIFIED GRAVES REMAIN. IN 1967, MRS. ETHEL COWARD WILHELM BEGAN A PROJECT TO PRESERVE AND IMPROVE THE CEMETERY. THE WEAVER CHAPEL CEMETERY ASSOCIATION, REACTIVATED THAT YEAR, OPERATES TODAY AND MAINTAINS THE PROPERTY. THE CEMETERY TELLS THE STORY OF A BRAVE GENERATION OF DISPLACED CITIZENS, DETERMINED TO REBUILD THEIR LIVES IN AN UNCERTAIN LAND. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2011
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On land the Rev. John Wilson gave to Methodist trustees in 1879, Weaver Chapel Cemetery has gathered the scattered families of the Leon River valley for well over a century. Its graves trace a mosaic of frontier settlement—Swedish rancher Charles Peter Liljeblad, German immigrant August Wilhelm, and the founding Wilson, Weaver, and Pruitt families among the earliest. Civil War, World War I, and World War II veterans lie here, including one man who took part in the planned invasion of Japan.
Why it matters
Cemeteries like this record how immigrants from Sweden, Germany, and the American South rebuilt their lives on the Texas frontier and answered the nation's call in war.
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Related people
- · Rev. Frederick Weaver
- · Charles Peter Liljeblad
- · August Wilhelm
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Ater Cemetery
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This burial ground is nearly all that remains of Ater, a small Coryell County community first known as Sardis that took its name from storekeeper and postmaster Joe Ater. Gravestones dating to 1868 mark the resting places of some of the area's earliest settlers, and among the dead lie veterans of conflicts stretching from the War of 1812 through the Korean War. As the little town faded, a cemetery association took up the work of preserving its heritage, and the state recognized the site as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2002.
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Pleasant Grove Cemetery
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