History of Carpenter Cemetery

In 1852, Rev. John Madison Carpenter (1810-1898) and his wife, Elizabeth (Horn) Carpenter (1808-1892), relocated from Allen County, Kentucky, to Texas. They settled briefly in Bastrop County and moved to Bell County a year later. Records list John’s occupation as farmer, but he was also an ordained deacon in the Methodist Church who impacted the area for years as a circuit riding preacher, traveling on horseback or wagon to reach remote worshippers. Later, Carpenter held services at the nearby Rock Church.

In 1874, Rev. Carpenter donated one acre of land to a trust for cemetery purposes. Trustees designated for the cemetery were church members and neighbors from the surrounding community. Many farmers and citizens in the area are buried here. There are 39 known burials in the cemetery, but family members recall significantly more tombstones in the past. For a time, the land was used as a cattle pasture and it is likely some headstones were damaged and are no longer visible. John and Alizabeth Carpenter are buried near one corner of the cemetery boundaries. Their plot is enclosed by a decorative iron fence. Other burials include the freeman family: John Taylor Freeman (1824-1896), his wife, Nancy Herron Dickson Freeman (1825-1883), and their sons Benjamin, John H. and Thomas Freeman. The Freeman family came to Texas from Georgia and settled near the cemetery on land that became the Freeman Heights Neighborhood. Also buried here is Union soldier Christopher Columbus Roller (1822-1896). The Carpenter Cemetery is a portrait of everyday Texans who made an impact in their community and in the lives of their descendants. The Rev. John Carpenter wrote in his autobiography, “our purpose is to live so, as that when we die – to leave those that survive us, the richest legacy that is possible coupled with good advice.”

In 2019, descendants of the Carpenter Family restarted the Carpenter Cemetery Association based on the trust that John Carpenter established in 1874. Since that time, the family has surveyed the land, fenced in the property, cleaned up the property, and started to repair the tombstones. The Carpenter Cemetery was designated a Texas Historic Cemetery in 2019. The Carpenter Cemetery Association was organized in September 2021, and the Association was granted a tax-exempt status under IRS Code Section 501(c)(13), retroactive to the date of organization.