Dobbs Valley Baptist Church and Cemetery - Palo Pinto County, TX
N 32° 40.331 W 098° 06.007
14S E 584375 N 3615303
The Dobbs Valley Baptist Church is at 734 Dobbs Valley Rd in the old Dobbs Valley community, a bit over ten miles south of Mineral Wells, TX. The adjacent Dobbs Valley Cemetery is still active, with over six hundred burials.
Waymark Code: WM11MBV
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/12/2019
Views: 2
The church sign is in front of the cemetery, and it indicates that the church was founded in 1886. While the cemetery's earliest burial dates to 1888 -- a few older graves were relocated here in 1930 -- the church land and cemetery property were deeded by J.R. Couts -- presumably this
James Robertson Couts -- on March 7, 1898. Beyond that, there's not much available beyond web-spidered directory listings and references in obituaries.
Even the Handbook of Texas Online lacks an entry for this community, but Jeff Clark's Texas Tabernacle provides some background. Most notably, the community bears the name of Chesley Dobbs, who was on the receiving end of a scalping in 1872. You'll find his faux crypt and headstone at the north end of the cemetery, where he is buried with his two wives. There is no reference to his fate on his headstone, but nearby is the final resting place of someone else who met an early end: E.G. Ivie fought a gunfight against two men in 1894, and while he took both men down, one of them managed to shoot him in the back. His original headstone is now on its back in front of the modern headstone, and it has no reference to the gunfight. However, there is a photo medallion on the modern headstone, and presumably, it features family members and/or friends from the day they buried Mr. Ivie: Note the horse cart that looks like it had been used as a hearse. The original headstone was standing upright, while the faux crypt that they created is no longer here. The inscription is still faintly legible, and reads:
E.G. Ivie
Born Mch
23 I870
Died Mch
25 I894
The text on the modern headstone appears to be a recreation, as it is identical in its formatting and includes the use of "I' in place of "1". However, the base provides some background:
"According to his sister, Nezzie Jane Ivie Crowe, Ezra G. Ivie died from wounds received in a gun fight. When he had the two other men down and walked away one rose up and shot him in the back. We never knew their names, they died a few days later."