FIRST Burial in Bethany Cemetery - Plano, TX
N 33° 04.599 W 096° 44.228
14S E 711226 N 3662062
An interpretive sign at Plano's Bethany Cemetery indicates that the first burial in the cemetery was that of Walter Clark, who died in 1877.
Waymark Code: WMZ12N
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/23/2018
Views: 2
Little Walter didn't even make it a year. His final resting place is marked by a small gray headstone -- one of several -- at the back of the Clark family plot. It reads:
Walter
Clark
June 12, 1876
Jan. 4, 1877
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The interpretive sign is at the southern end of the cemetery, and it reads:
Bethany Cemetery
(1877 – Present)
Bethany Cemetery is historically associated with the Bethany Christian Church and public school. The church supported Add Ran College, now Texas Christian University, for several years. R.W. Carpenter (1832-1898), and early Plano settler and Confederate Civil War veteran, founded the church, school, and cemetery. The first burial here was for an infant named Walter Clark who died January 4, 1877. Carpenter’s own young daughter, Mary Katie, died March 14, 1878, and was the second burial. Several other members of the Carpenter family, including R.W. Carpenter himself, are interred in this cemetery, as are many early area residents.
The northern one-third of the property contains several marked burials. Elaborate marble spire or scroll monuments, some with decorative curbing, mark many graves, particularly those of early members of the Carpenter family. Others are marked by more modest marble or granite monuments, although a few are marked only by cinder blocks mounted in the ground. The church, school, and a teacher’s dormitory once stood in the southern portion of the cemetery, and evidence of these structures is still visible on the ground. Although this part of the cemetery exhibits no markers, unmarked burials are reported to be present in this area.
The church was founded in 1876 and enjoyed a sizable membership at the turn of the twentieth century. However, as later improvements to roads provided better access to town, membership dwindles. The church disbanded ca. 1933, and the abandoned church building, school, and neighboring structures were eventually razed.
FIRST - Classification Variable: Person or Group
Date of FIRST: 01/04/1877
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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