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From: "Johnita P. Malone" <>
Subject: Re: [RHEA-L] Rhea-Campbell Family Cemetery Found
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2000 21:56:07 -0800


Thanks so much for the wonderful story. As you probably already know,
Ezekiel Moses Rhea, son of Moses Rhea and Martha Austin, is a grandson of
Ezekiel Rhea and Elizabeth Pryor. Moses Rhea is a brother to my ancestor
Sebird Smith Rhea who died and is buried in Mercer Co., MO.

I am the team leader for the group researching the Ezekiel Rhea/Elizabeth
Pryor line so thanks for the info, every little bit helps.

As for your Austin line, maybe I have a little info that might give you
some leads, I don't know. There was a line of Austins who lived in
Anson Co., NC., very early on. Some of what appears to be these same
Austins later lived in McNairy Co., TN. These Austins had married into
my husband's line of Staton.

Johnita

Don Holland wrote:
>
> 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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