Bethesda Community, Texas
Historical marker text:
Bethesda Cemetery
Settlers in the 1860s called this area Dry Creek but renamed it Bethesda Community in 1876 after
they built a schoolhouse used for Methodist worship. John G Leach (1846-1930) and John Marshall Coalson
(1826-1897) gave land near the school for a cemetery in 1877 when Leach's daughter Minnie (1872-1961)
seemed near death with diptheria. She recovered and the earliest marked grave is that of Charlie A Walker
(1879-1890). Childhood mortality accounts for many graves in the older part of the cemetery. Descendants
of pioneer families donated land in 1973 to enlarge the site to five acres. (1976)