Routh Cemetery - Richardson, Texas

   One of the oldest in Collin County, the Routh Cemetery (32°59'36"N at 96°42'13"W) is located just north of the Dallas County line on Glenville Road and is less that two miles east of U.S. Highway 75.  This is a wooded area is on a high point southwest of the Spring Creek between the Renner and Campbell Roads.
    Tennessee Baptist Preacher Jacob Routh and his wife Lodemia Ann Campbell Routh purchased 640 acres of land in 1851 or 1852 from John Vance.  Routh's land was located south of the Joseph Klepper land grant that developed into the downtown area of Plano, Texas.  At that time, there were three graves on the land; William D. Klepper, son of Joseph and Nancy Klepper (plot 51), William's aunt Nancy DeLozier Beverly (plot 52), and the unmarked grave of a girl who's family was traveling though the area when she died.  By February 2000, it was estimated that there were 95 marked graves and another 100 unmarked.
    Nancy DeLozier married Civil War Captain William Beverly on 28Apr1828.   She was born on 10Mar1806 and died on 16Jun1651.  William also died in 1851 but the unknown girl is said to have been the first burial at this cemetery.  There is a legend that an indian was buried at this site before any of these people, but there are no records or written stories to back this claim.  We do know that the site was chosen because it is high above the Spring Creek and because the girl's family was camped near the creek when she died.

    Just at Christmas 1845, Nancy Russell died of what was believed to have been the cold of winter combined with a rough trip into Texas and premature child birth.   She was the young married daughter of Joseph Russell and she died just after the family arrived at their new land in Plano.  With no wood available for building as winter began, the family was forced to tear apart the bed of a wagon to build her coffin and they lined it with her mother's hand made quilts.  Nancy may be the travelers daughter that died while they were camped by Spring Creek and may be the first grave at the Routh Cemetery.

Source:
• Lucille Mehrkam, History and Genealogy of the Family of Jacob Klepper/Clepper Family and Malcolm McAlpine Family (The Gregath Company, 1996), Library of Congress under card number 86-62751
• The Plano Historical Committee, Plano Texas, The Early Years, Jan1986, ISBN 0-9651841-0-2 (page 105)
• Harold R. Huber, President of the Routh Cemetery Association

• Deed for this cemetery is listed in Vol. 658, page 114.
• Cathy Spaulding, Not only History, but family, (Plano Star Courier Newspaper, 04Apr1999)
• Lester Floyd quoted Willard Reese, son of N. D. Reese, who quoted Mrs. Clepper.   (This was a common saying of this time.)