| Marker Text |
James H. Bowman, a veteran of the Texas War for Independence from Mexico, offered 100 acres of land to the Rev. W. D. Lewis to come to the Mt. Hope community and establish a Methodist church and cemetery. The Rev. Mr. Lewis agreed, and the congregation began in 1875. In November of that year Margaret (Ruby) Hicks was the first person to be buried in the adjacent cemetery. Though the church congregation moved to nearby Wells after the arrival of the railroad in 1886, the cemetery continued to be a place of importance to the Mt. Hope and Wells communities. Among the more than 1800 people of Wells, Mt. Hope and other Cherokee County communities interred here, there are more than 200 military veterans, including eight Confederate soldiers. The cemetery is a chronicle of the history of Cherokee County. (2000) |
