EARLIEST Marked Grave in Bethel Cemetery - Anderson County, TX
N 31° 55.400 W 095° 55.631
15R E 223227 N 3535677
A 1985 Texas Historical Marker at the front of Bethel Cemetery notes that the first burial here was that of M.B. Hodge, back in 1862.
Waymark Code: WM11EJQ
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/08/2019
Views: 2
Her Findagrave page (see Web URL, below) gives her full name as Meliscent Bethany (Hall) Hodge, noting that she was a niece of Texas Governor Hardin Richard Runnels, having been married in his home in Mississippi. She is buried a few feet from her husband, a noted area minister, and her small marble headstone has a scroll at the top, reading "Gone Home". The inscription reads:
M.B.
Consort of
Rev. R. Hodge,
Born
Apr. 24, 1814,
Died
Jan. 7, 1862.
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The historical marker provides some background:
Originally part of a Mexican land grant awarded to Jose de Jesus Grande in 1828, land at this site was later granted to early area settler Henry Rampy. Rampy, who had come to this part of Texas in 1848, deeded 5 acres of his land in 1859 for a community cemetery and church.
The earliest significant settlement of pioneers in the Bethel area came in 1846. By 1852, the community was thriving and a post office was established. The Bethel Cemetery was used largely by residents of the town and by settlers in other parts of Anderson and Henderson Counties. The earliest marked grave, that of M.B. Hodge, is dated 1862. Her husband, the Rev. Robert Hodge, who also is buried here, was a pioneer Cumberland Presbyterian minister. He was instrumental in the founding of the Science Hill academy, an important early educational institution in this part of the state. Other early settlers and their descendants are buried here, as are a number of Confederate veterans.
The Bethel community began to decline after the end of the Civil War and was largely gone by the time the post office was discontinued in 1914. This cemetery is the only significant remnant of the once-thriving Anderson County community.
FIRST - Classification Variable: Person or Group
Date of FIRST: 01/07/1862
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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