Z. Motley Cemetery
Mesquite, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Zachariah Motley migrated to Texas (1856) from Kentucky with his family and slaves. He and his wife Mary, five sons and three daughters helped settle this area and built their home some 200' northeast of this site, a one-half acre portion of the original homestead bought from the Crittenden Survey. Earliest known burial (1863) was Penelope Motley McLain, a daughter, and the wife of Capt. J. B. McLain. The plot is still in use and is owned and cared for by Motley descendants. Twenty-five known graves include family members and their slaves.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Zachariah Motley came from Kentucky to this part of Dallas County in 1856, bringing his large family and the people he held in slavery to settle a homestead carved from the Crittenden Survey. The family cemetery began with the 1863 burial of a daughter and remained in use for generations. Among its roughly twenty-five graves lie both Motley relatives and the enslaved people whose forced labor built the family's fortunes.
Why it matters
This small burial ground preserves the entwined lives of an enslaving family and the enslaved on the antebellum Texas frontier, a record too often erased from the landscape.
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Related people
- · Zachariah Motley
- · Penelope Motley McLain
Themes & tags
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