Tarrant County, TXGenWeb

Benbrook Cemetery
once known as Merinda Seminary Graveyard

Inventoried July 1996 by Penny Brewer Blankinship and Neva Bowles
Updated and annotated February 2003 by Rob G. Yoder
 

Benbrook Cemetery, established in 1885, is located in the City of Benbrook on Mercedes Street just west of Winscott Road. Within the boundaries enclosed by the fence are actually two cemeteries, but you'll not find any sign of boundaries between them. To make way for residential development, Howard Cemetery (aka Howard Family Graveyard) was relocated in 1955 from an area in southwest Fort Worth now known as Tanglewood. It's new home was a small strip of land adjoining the eastern edge of Benbrook Cemetery. Outside the fence, there is not one sign identifying Benbrook Cemetery, however there is sign for Howard Cemetery beside the gate that enters that corner of the complex.

In 1949, the Corp of Engineers relocated graves from five cemeteries to Merinda Seminary Graveyard to clear the way for the construction of Benbrook Lake. Those cemeteries were: Day, Hunter, January, Muhlinghause and Mustang. Two others that were being considered were Maples Grave and Gilliland Cemetery. Maples was never found and Gilliland was determined to be above the maximum flood line and therefore never moved. Click on these links for more information obtained from the Corp of Engineers.

Today, Benbrook Cemetery is operated and maintained by the City of Benbrook. We would like to thank Andy Wayman, Director of Public Works, who was extremely supportive in supplying the plot map and aerial photograph, and in allowing the use of city records to complete this project.
 

Notes

1.	Unless otherwise noted, all data that is not enclosed within [brackets] was taken directly from the headstones.
2.	When the word "Unknown" is used, [no brackets] it represents a small headstone containing only that word.
3.	Unless the phrase "no headstone" is used, when there is reference to a funeral home marker, it is in addition to the headstone and is included to identify the funeral home that handled the burial or to provide other useful information.
4.	Highlighting is used where two or more names appear on a common stone.

 
Abbreviations Used

DAR	References to DAR denotes information obtained by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1952 when an inventory was conducted by Mrs. Sue Wade McDonald of the Fort Worth Chapter.
CB	References to CB indicates additional information found in the Cemetery Book at Benbrook City Hall.
RGY	References to RGY shows information added by Rob Yoder who has a research interest in the Ward Family buried here.
FHM	Funeral home marker
[ndd]	No death date on headstone.
HCR	References to HCR indicates additional information found in the Howard Cemetery records provided by Clifford Smith.
COE	References to COE denotes information obtained from a 1949 report from the Corp of Engineers titled "Cemetery Relocation Plan, Benbrook Dam and Reservoir."

 
This inventory contains both Benbrook and Howard Cemeteries.
 

Three veterans of the War Between the States have been idenifiied in this inventory. James M. Benbrook, a Union soldier, is in Section A, Lot 2.  Confederate veterans, John B. Hunter and Frederick S. Beat are in Section E, Lots 7 and 151, respectively.

This page was last modified 23 Feb 2003.

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