Ford Chapel & Cemetery Association

Our History

The family of John H. and Margaret Ford came to Texas prior to 1880. Establishing farms and homes, the family helped settle this area of Newton County. A community cemetery was begun on the land of J. D. and Ida J. Ford. Although the cemetery contains some unmarked graves, the earliest documented burial is that of Promontory Inez Ford (1877-1880), daughter of J. D. and Ida Ford. Originally kept as a scraped earth cemetery, the graveyard was later planted with grass. Northwest of the cemetery is the site of the Ford Community School. Organized in 1893, the school was housed in a one-room log building. It became a part of the Newton Independent School District in 1929-30, and area students traveled to Newton for classes. A wooden frame structure was erected northeast of the cemetery in 1910 to serve as a place of worship for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Although regular worship services were discontinued in the 1930s, the chapel remained on its original site. The Ford Chapel and Cemetery Association, organized in 1961, maintains the cemetery as well as the chapel and school site.