FIRST Marked Grave in Cottonwood Cemetery - Dublin, TX
N 32° 05.421 W 098° 17.480
14S E 566871 N 3550670
A 2011 Texas Historical Marker at Cottonwood Cemetery, just outside of Dublin, TX, indicates that the first marked grave in the cemetery belongs to Robert P. Belknap, dating to 1879.
Waymark Code: WM11MF8
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/12/2019
Views: 2
This small marble headstone is in two pieces and on its back, its holder nowhere to be seen. A lamb is at the top, followed by this inscription:
Robert P.
Son of
P.J. & E.P.
Belknap
Born Oct. 31, 1864
Died June 14, 1879
---*---
A place is vacant in our
home,
Which never can be
filled.
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The historical marker provides some background:
Just outside Dublin on the banks of the Cottonwood Creek lies the Cottonwood Cemetery. Dublin began as a small farming community established in 1854 by Alexander H. And Sarah Holland Dobkins. Some historians believe the town got its name from the practice of "doubling in" wagons to protect the town from Comanche attacks. Others believe it was named after the Double Inn, a stage coach stop which was an H-shaped cabin. The Bellamys, the Richards, and the Strouds, a few of the first families in the community, began the settlement by farming cotton. Land was donated by James C. Bellamy to the county in 1857 for the establishment of a school and a public burial ground which became Cottonwood Cemetery.
About a quarter mile from the location of the cemetery, two people were attacked and killed by Comanches. They were buried in unmarked graves under a tree. Over twenty years later, railroad construction required that the tree be cut down and the graves relocated to the Cottonwood Cemetery. Cottonwood Baptist Church was organized in February in 1908 and began meeting in the school house next to the cemetery. After the school consolidated with the Dublin public schools, the congregation continued to meet in the old school house. The landscape of the cemetery consists of plants native to Texas. Large post oak and pecan trees shade the gravesites. The first marked grave is that of Robert P. Belknap who passed in 1879. Among those buried here are Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam veterans. The Cottonwood Cemetery and the Cottonwood Baptist church are all that remains of the cotton farming community established here in the 1800s.
FIRST - Classification Variable: Person or Group
Date of FIRST: 06/14/1879
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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