The Daughters of the Confederacy, Major George B. Erath Chapter Celebrated Confederate History Month with a living history walk in the Old Dublin Memorial Park.
The cemetery has over 70 Confederate Soldiers buried there. Confederate Flags are placed at each grave every April. The Stephenville Chapter of the UDC took on the project of cleaning and restoring the oldest part of the cemetery in 2019, many stones were laying on the ground that now proudly stand upright and are bright and clean. Mr. Weible was a great help to the chapter volunteering his equipment and time raising and repairing over 25 of the tombstones
Five early settlers of Dublin, who were all Confederate Soldiers were chosen and actresses dressed in period clothing from the Major George B. Erath Chapter portrayed the wives of these men. Cliff Weible, dressed in Civil War Uniform shared a drink from his canteen at each grave, in tribute to these brave men who all played a part in Dublin’s early history from the 1850’s through the 1900’s.
The first grave on the tour was that of John Adams, who served as a constable in Dublin in the late 1800’s. John came to Texas, as many others after the Civil War. Sheran Weible portrayed John’s wife Rebecca Adams, the crowd was shocked to hear how John was murdered at the corner of Blackjack and Patrick back in December of 1897.
The next grave on the tour was the resting place of Dr. Robert A. Ross. He was a Doctor practicing in Dublin in the 1880’s. Leah Allen portrayed Robert’s wife Mary Ann. She told the sad story of the Ross’s son who was killed while serving as a deputy in Dublin in 1897, Dr. Ross was the attending physician
Patsy Williams proved to be a knowledgeable guide as she escorted the crowd to the next Confederate Soldier, John L Blackstock. Rita Trosper portrayed John’s 2nd wife, Adelia. John arrived after the close of the Civil War, he was the postmaster at Highland, He also ran a successful business as a well digger in and around Dublin in the late 1800’s. There is a hill in Highland to this day named Blackstock hill.
William (Big Bill) Keith was the next stop, Big Bill was an early settler, coming to Dublin in 1859, his lovely wife, Nancy was portrayed by Lynda Green. Big Bill was a highly respected frontier man in the early years of Dublin, when there was trouble with Indians, everyone came to Big Bill to ask for help and advice.
The last resting place to visit was the grave of Cornelias O’Neal. The O’Neal family arrived in Dublin in 1858 from Hunt County. The wife of Cornelias was Sarah Keith O’Neal ( daughter of Big Bill & Nancy Keith). Robin Ritchie portrayed Sarah, she gave a great performance sharing about the life and hardships the O’Neal’s faced before and after the Civil War.
—submitted