Milam County Historical Commission
Milam County, Texas
Milam County, Texas
Hamilton Chapel Cemetery
From Rockdale - intersecton of US 79 & FM 487:
South on FM 487 for 2.6 miles to FM 2116; turn
right onto FM 2116 - turn right onto gravel lane
to cemetery.
2014-03-21
Message from John Brooks – bjohnr2010(AT)hotmail(DOT)com
Joe Twohig, our American Legion Carlyle Post 358 Commander, asked me if I would research the correct spelling of our posts namesake, the Carlyle brothers. He said that they both died on the same day, in France, during WWI. He further stated that the Post was named after them, when it was founded, in 1922, in honor of their sacrifice. He suggested that I check the Veterans Memorial Marker at the Courthouse Square first, and then the Hamilton Chapel Cemetery headstone. He said that there was some discrepancy on the spelling of the Carlyle name. The Veterans Memorial marker in the Courthouse square spells it Carlyle.
Norinne Holder Holman’s book – “170 Years of Cemetery Records in Milam County, Texas” – shows that both spellings are found at Hamilton Chapel: Carlile and Carlyle. Brother Hicks Carlile was shown interred there with that spelling. There was also an asterisk in the information column which means that no headstone was found on physical inventory but was gleaned from death records.
I received a call from Joe Twohig while he was at Hamilton Chapel cemetery. He advised that the cemetery was “real overgrown and neglected". He suggested that we need to have a work party and clean the cemetery up. And he had found the headstone for Hicks Carlile! It was located in the woods. It was agreed that research for the ownership and permission to make improvements was needed.
A visit to Ms. Carol Delong at the Milam County Appraiser’s office discovered that the cemetery parcel was an exclusion of a 12,000 acre parcel (Alcoa property). If you'll note the below Milam County ownership document the owner and address is the Hamilton Chapel Cemetery.
After about 7 hours we now have much more than a corridor to the grave and all the underbrush and small mesquites have been removed from around Hicks Robert Carlile's headstone. If more clearing of the many downed trees is required, the descendants of the interred need to take on that task.
As I continued researching Hamilton Chapel Cemetery, I then discovered some terrific reference articles. Lynna Kay Shuffield did some great research on all the Milam County Veterans that were killed in action. Len Kubiak has a wonderful webpage on www.forttumbleweed.net/hamiltonchapel.html
Message from John Brooks – bjohnr2010(AT)hotmail(DOT)com
Joe Twohig, our American Legion Carlyle Post 358 Commander, asked me if I would research the correct spelling of our posts namesake, the Carlyle brothers. He said that they both died on the same day, in France, during WWI. He further stated that the Post was named after them, when it was founded, in 1922, in honor of their sacrifice. He suggested that I check the Veterans Memorial Marker at the Courthouse Square first, and then the Hamilton Chapel Cemetery headstone. He said that there was some discrepancy on the spelling of the Carlyle name. The Veterans Memorial marker in the Courthouse square spells it Carlyle.
Norinne Holder Holman’s book – “170 Years of Cemetery Records in Milam County, Texas” – shows that both spellings are found at Hamilton Chapel: Carlile and Carlyle. Brother Hicks Carlile was shown interred there with that spelling. There was also an asterisk in the information column which means that no headstone was found on physical inventory but was gleaned from death records.
I received a call from Joe Twohig while he was at Hamilton Chapel cemetery. He advised that the cemetery was “real overgrown and neglected". He suggested that we need to have a work party and clean the cemetery up. And he had found the headstone for Hicks Carlile! It was located in the woods. It was agreed that research for the ownership and permission to make improvements was needed.
A visit to Ms. Carol Delong at the Milam County Appraiser’s office discovered that the cemetery parcel was an exclusion of a 12,000 acre parcel (Alcoa property). If you'll note the below Milam County ownership document the owner and address is the Hamilton Chapel Cemetery.
After about 7 hours we now have much more than a corridor to the grave and all the underbrush and small mesquites have been removed from around Hicks Robert Carlile's headstone. If more clearing of the many downed trees is required, the descendants of the interred need to take on that task.
As I continued researching Hamilton Chapel Cemetery, I then discovered some terrific reference articles. Lynna Kay Shuffield did some great research on all the Milam County Veterans that were killed in action. Len Kubiak has a wonderful webpage on www.forttumbleweed.net/hamiltonchapel.html
Hamilton Chapel School and Church (1877)
The Cemetery is directly behind the church/school.
Photo courtesy of Len Kubiak
http://www.forttumbleweed.net/hamiltonchapel.html
The Cemetery is directly behind the church/school.
Photo courtesy of Len Kubiak
http://www.forttumbleweed.net/hamiltonchapel.html
Photos courtesy of Jack Brooks