Ramah Cemetery

The Ramah community dates to the early 1870s, when William Tell Pou and his wife Mollie Lucy (Grace) Pou first homesteaded here. They helped found Ramah Baptist Church, established in 1874 and named for the biblical city of Ramah, meaning high place. The log church building also served as a schoolhouse, and became the center of a community with a store and cotton gin. This land was used for burials beginning in the 1870s. In 1891, the congregation built a new frame sanctuary, and in 1909, William and Mollie Pou officially deeded 3.6 acres to Ramah Baptist Church to be dedicated as Ramah Cemetery. The oldest marked burial, for Ella Holley, dates from 1878. More than 100 veterans are buried here, representing service in the U.S.-Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean Conflict. Also notable are gravestones for organizations including the Woodmen of the World, order of the Eastern Star and local Masonic lodges. Ramah Cemetery was later enlarged to more than six acres and has more than 1,000 marked burials. The oldest section contains tall marble monuments, obelisks, a brick crypt, and the granite curbed Parrish family plot. Mollie (d. 1917) and William (d. 1934) Pou are buried here, along with ten children and more than fifty descendants. Also buried here is George E.B. Peddy (1892-1951), who was a soldier, attorney and politician. In 1917, he was elected state representative while a student at the University of Texas at Austin, and he ran for U.S. Senate in 1922 and 1948. Peddy also served in both World Wars, receiving the Bronze Star and croix de guerre. Other notable burials include longtime superintendents, teachers, county officials and other community leaders. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006

Ramah Cemetery is a historical marker in Tenaha, Shelby County, dedicated in 2007. It is one of 35 historical markers documented in Shelby County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 124 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 31.9529, -94.2163 near Tenaha. The nearest cataloged historic site is First United Methodist Church of Tenaha (historical marker), about 1.7 miles away. Others within a short drive include Tenaha City Cemetery, Old Home, and Hutto Cemetery.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5507014001. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.