FRANKFORD CEMETERY - DALLAS
Muirfield Drive
32 59 18N
96 49 22W
Cemeteries of Collin County, Texas, by Joy Gough
At one time the community of Frankford was here.
White Rock Creek is just to the east. The cemetery is now in the middle of the
Bent Tree North subdivision. It is on the same land as the Church of the Holy
Communion of Frankford, Episcopal. This was originally a Methodist church. The
long wooden building in the middle is the old Addison train station. Both the
church and cemetery have historical markers.
According to the historical marker, the cemetery has been associated with the
White Rock Masonic Lodge, No. 234, since the 1870's. Lodge members served on the
Cemetery Association Board. The cemetery is no longer associated with the
Masonic Lodge. There is currently a disagreement between the Masonic Lodge and
the Cemetery Association about who owns the approximately 1 acre of additional
of land that is undeveloped. The Masonic Lodge wants to sell the land to
developers. The Cemetery Association says that the land is theirs and wants to
expand the cemetery into it.
This cemetery has an active Cemetery Association and a large Perpetual Care
Fund. The cemetery is still in use and is almost full. There are deeds listed in
Vol W, p 502 & 503. They give the White Rock AF & AM Lodge 7 acres of land for a
church and school.
Historical marker, 1981.
FRANKFORD CEMETERY
IN THE EARLY DAYS OF SETTLEMENT, THIS AREA SERVED AS
A STOP FOR CATTLE DRIVES AND FOR TRAVELERS ON THE
PRESTON ROAD. LATER THE COMMUNITY OF FRANKFORD,
THE SITE OF A POST OFFICE UNTIL THE EARLY 1900S, WAS
LOCATED NEARBY.
THIS COMMUNITY CEMETERY WAS USED AS EARLY AS
1862, WHEN AREA PIONEER ELIGA M. YAEGER WAS INTERRED
HERE. THE EARLIEST MARKED GRAVE IS THAT OF JOHN T.
COIT (1829-1872), A LAWYER WHO MOVED HERE FROM SOUTH
CAROLINA. DURING THE CIVIL WAR HE RAISED A REGIMENT
IN THE DALLAS AREA AND SERVED AS A COLONEL. ORIGINALLY
BURIED ON A BLUFF OF THE TRINITY RIVER, HE WAS LATER
REINTERRED AT THIS SITE. ANOTHER EARLY BURIAL WAS THAT
OF MARGARET McKAMY (1786-1873), WHO CAME TO TEXAS
WITH HER SON WILLIAM C. McKAMY, LATER A PROMINENT
AREA LANDOWNER. ALSO BURIED HERE ARE SIDNEY NOELL,
FOUNDER OF THE EARLY TOWN OF NOELL JUNCTION, NOW
ADDISON (1 MI. SW), AND ADDISON ROBERTSON, FOR WHOM
IT WAS LATER NAMED.
SINCE THE 1870S THE CEMETERY HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED
WITH THE WHITE ROCK MASONIC LODGE NO. 234, STARTED AT
WALNUT GROVE IN 1858. A LODGE HALL, BUILT HERE IN 1872,
ALSO SERVED AS A CHURCH AND SCHOOL. LODGE MEMBERS
SERVE ON THE CEMETERY ASSOCIATION BOARD.
FRANKFORD CEMETERY
Historical marker application.
Frankford
Cemetery takes its name from the community of Frankford which had a post office
from 1850 to 1904.... There were several stores there, the Nance home, and down
the road to the south the Dr. Kyle home....
The oldest unmarked grave that is known is that of Eliga M. Yaeger, who died at
his home in Lebanon on August 27, 1862. His family was unsuccessful in trying to
locate his grave, but the date was substantiated by family Bible records.
The earliest death date is that of John T. Coit, born in Cheraw, South Carolina
on July 6, 1829. John Coit was a Princeton graduate and became a lawyer in his
hometown. He married Catherine Mallow Bunting on January 2, 1856. In the spring
of 1858 he left his home in South Carolina and went prospecting for land. He
found what he wanted on the Collin County /Dallas line and bought 320 acres from
L. W. Coleman five miles west of Plano. He contracted with J. M. Huffman to
build a house. John and Cattie arrived in Texas in 1859. At the opening of the
Civil War, he raised a regiment in and around Dallas and served with distinction
as a colonel of this organization. After the war he practiced law in Dallas.
Cattie taught school. The couple had three children. Coit Road is named for the
family. John died on March 2, 1872. The Coit papers state that his body was
originally buried in a little cemetery on the bluff above the river (Trinity?)
[sic] but was later moved to Frankford where his children attended school and
where the family was buried.
Consequently the first burial which resulted in a marked grave at the Frankford
Cemetery is actually that of Margaret McKamy. She was born November 4, 1786 and
died November 5, 1873. Margaret was a daughter of George Townsley of
Pennsylvania and was of Irish descent. She married William C. McKamy, a native
of Virginia and a saddler by trade. His husband died in 1845 and in 1851 she
came to Texas with her son William C. McKamy from Roan County, Tennessee. Her
son William bought the home and substantial mill on White Rock Creek in Dallas
County from the Peters Colonists, Jack and Tom Mounts. He and his young wife,
Rachel, took possession of the home and property and began to improve it. He was
very successful in the business of farming and stock raising and soon
accumulated a large landed estate.
The history of the cemetery is intricately bound up in the history of the White
Rock Masonic Lodge. The Lodge was organized on 12-4-1858 at Walnut Grove, Dallas
County, Texas north of present Addison, and is said to have met either on or
across the road from the old Dr. Kyle farm. Sixteen men signed the petition to
become charter members: B. S. Shelburne � Master, W. H. Witt � Senior Warden, W.
B. Cotton Jr., Warden, Preston Witt, Samuel H. Gilbert, Thomas Weems, W. A.
Scott, William C. McKamy, J. D. Straten (or Stratton), F. P. McKamy, Eli Witt,
Noah Good, J. F. Chenoweth, Wm. M. Yager, J. B. Marten, D. W. Eggers...
Mr. William C. Furneaux, 93, of Carrollton, went to school at The Hall in 1875
when W. H. Alexander and his wife taught about 75 pupils there. His
sister-in-law, Mrs. Joe Furneaux of Dallas, then Carrie Murphy, went to school
there at that time.
Capt. McKamy was buried there in 1902; his mother, Mrs. Margaret McKamy, born in
1786, was buried there in 1873. Two Peters Colonists, Lionel Simpson, who
emigrated from England in 1848, and Mrs. W. H. Alexander, are buried there.
Col. W. P. Bishop, who never surrendered after the Civil War and came to Texas
because the Yankees were after him, is buried at Frankford. His private school
at Grapevine was patronized by the McKamys and Simpsons...
The two men honored by the twice-named town of Addison: Sidney Noell, who
donated the land for Noell Junction, as Addison was first called; and Ad
Robertson, a well-known resident of the community, are buried at Frankford.
John F. Dickerson, donor of half of the townsite of Renner, is another pioneer
buried there.
Frankford Church
CEMETERY INDEX
Recommended
citation:
Frankford
Cemetery - Dallas,
"CEMETERIES OF COLLIN COUNTY." Collin
County, Texas History and Genealogy Webpage by Genealogy Friends of Plano
Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl>
[Accessed Fri February 13, 2004 ].
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