Descendants care for Southlake's oldest landmark

As Roger Hays wanders through Whites Chapel Cemetery, he points at various tombstones.

"That's my cousin," and "That's my aunt," he said. Then he motions to the back of the cemetery, where his grandfather and another cousin are buried.

For Hays and his nephew Michael McGarry, caring for the cemetery is more than preserving a Southlake landmark; it is preserving family history.

Hays and McGarry are the historian and president, respectively, of the Whites Chapel Cemetery Association, an organization dedicated to maintaining the cemetery. Since being incorporated in 1982, the association has worked to preserve the cemetery's history. The association and its projects are completely funded through donations.

The first person buried at Whites Chapel Cemetery was a young girl who died on a wagon train in 1851. Records at the Southlake Public Library show her family asked to bury the girl on the land where the cemetery now stands, Hays said.

Since then mainly local families—including the Whites, for whom the cemetery is named, and Hays' and McGarry's family—have been buried at the cemetery. Former Texas legislator Elihu Newton is also buried there. Today, only families with relatives buried in the cemetery may use the grave plots.

The association has pursued several projects in the past few years to renovate the cemetery, including installing a wrought- iron fence and gate. Volunteers and association members also participate in a biannual cleanup of the grounds, with the next cleanup scheduled for Oct. 18, McGarry said.

Association members have tried to repair and preserve aging tombstones by cleaning them or using adhesive to fix broken stones. Many of the tombstones have been weathered or damaged by vandalism. Some graves are unmarked, signified only by fieldstones.

"Back in the old days they would use sandstone and just mark initials on them," he said. "We have lots of those, and we're trying to preserve those as well."

Keeping a record of everyone buried at Whites Chapel Cemetery has been challenging, Hays said, but he works to make a record of the people buried there before names engraved in stone fade.

"The cemetery, as long as I'm living and as long as he's living," Hays said motioning to McGarry, "is going to be our family history, and we're going to work to keep that going."

Whites Chapel Cemetery, Whites Chapel Cemetery Association, P. O. Box 92082, Southlake, Texas 76092, 817-697-5114