Wheatville and Wheatville Cemetery
Naples, Morris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Wheatville, named for pioneer settler William Wheat, began as a rest stop/general store on a main road to Jefferson (40 mi. SE) in the 1840s. During the 1850s a cotton gin, grist mill, school, and church were established here. A post office was opened in 1868. The first recorded burial in the community cemetery was that of John S. Sheppard in 1863. The town declined in the 1880s as businesses and residents moved to the new railroad town of Naples (3 mi. S). Wheatville native Morris Sheppard (1875-1941) served as U. S. Senator from 1913-1941. The graveyard continues to serve the area. (1994)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Wheatville began in the 1840s as a rest stop and general store on the road to Jefferson, named for pioneer settler William Wheat, and grew through the 1850s to include a cotton gin, grist mill, school, and church. The town faded in the 1880s as businesses moved to the new railroad town of Naples, but its cemetery, first used in 1863, still serves the area and holds the roots of U.S. Senator Morris Sheppard, born there in 1875.
Why it matters
Wheatville's rise and decline traces the way East Texas life reorganized itself around the railroads, leaving cemeteries as the memory of vanished towns.
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Related people
- · William Wheat
- · Morris Sheppard
Themes & tags
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