Weaver Chapel Cemetery

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