Wesley Chapel Cemetery (1997)

The Watkins community was settled in the mid-1800s. M. Crosby and his wife Isabell Crosby deeded land for a church and cemetery to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1872. The first recorded burial in this cemetery is that of John I. Sewell, who was buried on the site in 1870 before it was officially designated as a cemetery. A new Wesley Chapel Methodist Church was built near the Watkins school in 1922 on land deeded by Thomas G. and Carrie Barfield. They, along with early church trustees O. M. Norman, S. A. Sewell, Sr., and H. L. Paschall are buried here. A new frame chapel was built at the cemetery in 1957 by local residents. The five-acre cemetery contains about 400 graves. Among those interred here are more than 50 young children and infants, some of whom were buried with their mothers who died in childbirth. Also buried here are veterans of the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. The Wesley Chapel Cemetery Association maintains the site and hosts annual reunions with memorial services and picnics for descendants of pioneer settlers. The cemetery remains in use and continues to serve the area as it has for more than a century. (1997)

Wesley Chapel Cemetery is a historical marker in Canton, Van Zandt County, dedicated in 1997. It is one of 84 historical markers documented in Van Zandt County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 169 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.5658, -95.9999 near Canton. The nearest cataloged historic site is Wesley Chapel Cemetery (cemetery), about 0.1 miles away. Others within a short drive include Cana Cemetery, High Cemetery, and Flatt-Roberts Cemetery.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5467011446. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.