White Rock Cemetery
Ross, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Although local tradition claims this cemetery began with the burial of a drifter in 1855, the first recorded burial was that of Elizabeth A. Bennett in 1856. The cemetery served the communities of White Rock, West, Elm Mott, Gholson, Ross, and Waco. The graveyard was enlarged in 1947, and in 1959 the White Rock Cemetery Association made arrangements for the cemetery's upkeep. Among the more than 1,675 people buried here are many of the area's first settlers and their descendants and veterans of wars ranging from the Texas Revolution to the Vietnam War.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Local lore says this graveyard began with a drifter's burial in 1855, but the first recorded interment was Elizabeth A. Bennett in 1856. For generations it gathered the dead of a cluster of small McLennan County communities, and among its more than 1,600 graves lie many of the area's first settlers alongside veterans of every American conflict from the Texas Revolution to Vietnam.
Why it matters
A single rural cemetery can hold the whole arc of a region's history—its pioneers and its soldiers across more than a century of American wars.
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Related people
- · Elizabeth A. Bennett
Themes & tags
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