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From: "Don Holland" <>
Subject: [RHEA-L] Rhea-Campbell Family Cemetery Found
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2000 19:28:59 -0600


Thanks to the help of people on the Williamson County List, especially Keith
Jones, I have finally located the old Rhea-Campbell Family Cemetery in
Williamson County, Texas! My thanks to all on this forum who helped me with
hints, ideas and encouragement over the past months. I would have never
found it without all of you helping me.

Old family research papers given to me many years ago by a distant cousin
mentioned a Rhea-Campbell Family Cemetery. The only description given was
"Rhea-Campbell Family Cemetery, Campbell Family Farm, North Side of South
Fork of San Gabriel River, 5 Miles West of Georgetown, Williamson County,
Texas". The cemetery was not listed in any source I could find so I let it
ride for a long time until two years ago when I started a concentrated
search for it.

Last year I found at an elderly aunt's home some photos of family members
visiting this grave site. Only three people in the photos were still alive.
All were elderly and in bad health. All three of them told me they remember
visiting the cemetery and remembered the photos being made but none of them
could remember where it was located. My father said he and my mother had
visited it and even had me with them when I was 7 years old but dad could
not remember where it was located either, my mother is deceased and I
certainly had no memory of it at all.

Finally, one elderly aunt said she had an old piece of paper in her
"important stuff" that said the cemetery was located on land belonging to
Mr. R. D. Franklin and even had an old phone number for him. Unfortunately
the phone number was long ago disconnected and there was no listing for him
anymore. I posted this information on the Williamson County forum and it
turned out that Keith Jones was a descendent of R.D. Franklin. Keith talked
to his family and found out where R.D.'s land was for me. The land has been
split into several parcels and sold several times but Keith had enough names
for me to call so that I was finally able to talk to someone who said they
had some "old graves on their land".

So, Sunday, January 02, 2000 my wife Lita, youngest son Allan and I drove to
Georgetown to find this long lost family cemetery belonging to my mother's
family. (Also I want to give credit to my oldest son, Philip, who helped in
some of the earlier research trying to locate this place but was not able to
be with us when we actually found it.)

The cemetery is located on farm land now owned by Sherman Barber. It is
located 3 miles west of Georgetown at the IH-35 & Hwy 29 West cutoff now
instead of 5 miles from Georgetown. (No, the cemetery didn't move; the town
grew.) If driving from Georgetown it will be on the left side of Hwy. 29 at
3311 Hwy. 29 West, Georgetown, TX. The fence gate has a sign on it that
says "Bagwells & Barbers". One has to drive the entire length of the farm
pasture gravel road until coming almost to the river. Located a hundred or
so yards from the river on higher ground is a wooded area looking down on a
cow pasture in between it and the river. In the wooded area is a huge, very
old and beautiful oak tree. Under this ancient oak tree is the
Rhea-Campbell Family Cemetery.

At this point I must thank the Barber and Bagwell families for their
kindness, concern and very friendly and courteous manner in which they
treated us. Every phone call I made to any of them resulted in more
information and more help than I ever expected from total strangers. Maybe
I have been living in the city too long but it has been many years since I
have had total strangers be so nice to me. They seemed to be delighted that
I had contacted them as they told me they had always hoped to find the
family who the cemetery belonged to. Sherman Barber met us at the fence
gate and led us to the cemetery and even helped us clean off the tombstones
so we could read the inscriptions. No one could have been more helpful or
more hospitable to us than he was.

This land at one time was my great grandparent's farm land in the mid to
late 1800's. I have been told by family members that the Rhea family owned
a farm on one side of the river and the Campbell family owned a farm on the
other side of the river. As could be expected, one of the Rhea's soon
married one of the Campbell's when my great grandfather, Ezekiel Moses
(E.M.) Rhea married Martha Ann Campbell on September 09, 1860 at the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Williamson County, Texas.

There are 5 obvious grave sites with stones in the cemetery. There may be
another grave with no marker based on depressions in ground that resemble
the size of a grave.

Graves are as follows:

1. Large flat stone engraved: "John Rhea 1862-1935"

2. Small flat stone with no markings. *See note below.

3. Tall tombstone: "John M. Campbell, Born Feb 16 1840, Died Dec 10 1902"
"One less to love on earth; One more to meet in heaven"

4. Tall tombstone: "Martha Ann Wife of E.M. Rhea, Born Oct 21 1837, Died
June 11 1904"
"Dearest loved one thou hast left us:"
"Here thy loss we deeply feel:"
"But is God who has bereft us:"
"He can all our sorrows heal."
Top of tombstone shows a hand extending upwards and a star above it.
There is a small foot stone at foot of grave marked "M.A.R."

5. Tall tombstone: "E.M. Rhea, Born Dec 9 1831, Died Dec 11 1907"
"Not dead but sleepeth"
Top of tombstone has same hand and star as is on Martha's.
Small foot stone at foot of grave marked "E.M.R."

6. Outside the fenced in area there is a very faint marking of an area about
the size of a grave that may or may not be another grave. Elderly family
members have told me that there was one grave outside the fence that they
did not know about when they had it fenced and this could be it if their
information is correct. An elderly aunt told me there are supposed to be
six grave sites here but only five inside the fenced area.

*I have been told by family members that John M. Campbell's wife is supposed
to be buried here also so either the small unmarked stone or the depression
area outside the fence may be her grave. I only know at this time that her
first name was "Tiny" and have no more information on her yet. Unless I can
prove that there is actually a sixth grave outside the fenced area I would
assign the small unmarked stone to John's wife.

E. M. Rhea was my great grandfather, Ezekiel Moses Rhea. Martha Ann was his
wife Martha Ann Campbell. John M. Campbell was Martha's brother, John M.
Campbell, Jr. John Rhea was Ezekiel and Martha's oldest child John Otis
Rhea.

As an historical note, Ezekiel's nephew was James Milton Tucker, the
Williamson County Sheriff who captured the outlaw Sam Bass at Round Rock.
Ezekiel's brother in law was Rev. Lewis Gordon Tucker, the founder of the
first Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Williamson County known as the Elm
Grove Church near Florence. Ezekiel's mother (my great, great grandmother)
was Martha Viannah "Ann" Austin who is reported to have told her family when
she was alive that she was somehow related to Stephen F. Austin, The Father
of Texas, but so far we have not obtained proof of this relationship.

Below is the text of the obituary of E.M. Rhea which states that he is
buried at this location.

NEWSPAPER OBITURARY OF MY GREAT GRANDFATHER E. M. RHEA
>From Georgetown, Texas newspaper, December, 1907.

"E. M. Rhea. Sr.
Mr. E. M. Rhea, an old citizen of Williamson County died last Friday morning
at his home a few miles in the country near Georgetown after an illness of
three weeks, although his health had been failing for two years. The
funeral was held at his late home Saturday morning and he was buried at the
old Campbell place burying ground. Rev. T G. Alfred conducting the
services. Mr. Rhea was born in Wayne County, Tenn., Dec. 9, 1831 and came
to Texas and Williamson County in 1859. He was married to Miss Martha
Campbell a few years after his arrival. Of this union nine children -- Six
males and three females survive. The daughters are Mrs. W. T. Starnes and
Mrs. Henry Anderson of Georgetown and Mrs. John Bucknel of Sterling County.
During the Civil War he was employed in a Confederate tan yard and thus was
saved from active service in the field. For the most of his life he was a
farmer and was regarded as one of our best citizens. Ever since his early
manhood he was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and he lived
according to its tenets. In addition to his children he left a sister, Mrs.
Wm. Stinnett of Old Round Rock, and two brothers, one living in the Texas
Panhandle and the other in Missouri."

Following is the text of the obituary of my great grandmother Martha Ann
Campbell Rhea which states that she and her brother are buried at this
location. This was taken from the most recent Fall, 1999 issue of The
Chisholm Trail where it was printed on page 72.

"Mrs. Martha Rhea Dead

Mrs. Martha Rhea, wife of E. M. Rhea, died at her home at 5 o'clock Saturday
morning and at her request was buried by the side of her brother, John
Campbell, on the John M. Campbell, Sr. old homestead about 5 miles west of
town. She leaves surviving her a husband and nine children, six boys and
three girls. Two of the sons live in Scurry county, one in San Saba county
and one in the Indian Territory and two in this county. Her daughters, Mrs.
W. T. Starnes, Mrs. Henry Anderson and Mrs. J. B. Buckner, all live in
Georgetown. She had been a member of the Presbyterian church from
childhood. The funeral services were conducted by Rev. T. G. Alfred.
***********
The Williamson County Sun
June 16, 1904"

There is an article about this family in the book "Williamson County, Texas,
Its History and its People" on page 247-248, "The Rhea Family By Alma Faye
Cearley". In this article it is mentioned that E.M. and Martha Rhea are
buried in this cemetery.

Donald Ray Holland

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