Mt. Pisgah

There is a historical marker on Farm Road 542, three miles south of Oakwood in Leon County, Texas, commemorating the Mt. Pisgah Cemetery which is believed to be one of the oldest cemeteries in the county. The cemetery is on Ringgold Creek two miles beyond the marker and south of Hwy 542. According to the historical marker the earliest marked grave is that of two year old John W. Orenbaum who died in 1854. As early as 1860 a school was established in the vicinity, in a log building on the Heatly tract.

ADELA ANN wife of JAMES COSTON daughter of H. M. & ELIZABETH JOHNSON DIED Oct. 26, 1867 AGED 18 years 5 months & 5 d's

MATTHEW VANN Born Mar. 15, 1819 Died Oct. 5, 1887

J. H. RICHMOND Dec. 12, 1890 Aug. 14, 1919 Blessed are the pure in heart

There are numerous graves marked only with field stones in Mt. Pisgah. Many early pioneers and veterans of the Texas Revolution are said to be buried in the unmarked graves.

Beaver Dam Cemetery

The above marker was erected at the Beaver Dam Cemetery in memory of the family of John W. Bell who came to Texas from Alabama in the 1850's and settled near Beaver Dam Creek and the small community of Russell in the Trinity River bottoms of Leon County, Texas.

UTA BELL BORN Dec. 3, 1848 DIED Apr. 16, 1919 Another link is broken In our household band But a chain is forming in a better land

THOMAS I. JONES BORN Dec. 13, 1872 DIED Aug.a 24, 1916

HORTENSE S. Wife of W. H. McMillan BORN Aug. 8, 1864 DIED Oct. 31, 1891

Infant Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Willie Rawls Born Oct. 26, 1914

Wednesday's Child - Baby Dora

Baby Dora

In addition to the professional, carved gravestones in Moore's Chapel Cemetery there are numerous field stones used as grave markers and several homemade stones such as this one for baby Dora Rabe.

The only Rabe family in the area came to Leon County, Texas a short while before the 1880 census was taken. In that census Christain and Caroline Rabe, both born in Prussia, are recorded there along with their six children ranging in ages from 14 to 2 years old. All six children are listed as having been born in Missouri so the family must have moved to Texas between 1878 and 1880.

Baby Dora was not listed on that census so she was apparently born after 1880 and before 1889 for her mother Caroline's gravestone records her death on Good Friday of 1889.

Moore's Chapel Revisited

Another visit to Moore's Chapel Cemetery on the back of the Johnson farm at Peeler's Switch (more commonly known as Oakwood), Leon County, Texas.

Sarah (Nippert) McGuffin
Feb. 26, 1851
Aug. 4, 1896

FAREWELL

A. NIPPERT

BORN
Aug. 10, 1818

DIED
Mar. 28, 1882

AGED
66 Yrs. 7 Mos.
19 Dys.

FAREWELL

TEXANA
NIPPERT

BORN
Nov. 27, 1863

DIED
Jan. 28, 1883

AGED
19 Yrs. 2 Mos.
1 Day

Back in Texas - Moore's Chapel Cemetery

Moore's Chapel Cemetery's last burial was in the 1880's. The stage road that went past it and the chapel for which it is named are long since gone. Only the cemetery is left to mark the location on the back side of my cousin Debby's farm in Leon County. The fence isn't very decorative, but Aunt Ruby put it there years ago to keep the cows out of the cemetery.

Georgie Nippert

Born
Mar. 10, 1883
Died
Aug. 23, 1885

We loved this tender little one
And would have wished him stay
But let our Father's will be done
he shines in endless days
(Inscription on Reverse)

Carolyn Rabe

Born
Sept. 19, 1841
Died
Good Friday 1889

James Thomas Nippert

Born
Nov. 30, 1862
Died
Oct. 10, 1889