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Historic Cemeteries in or near Richardson

JACOB ROUTH FAMILY CEMETERY

The Jacob Routh Family Cemetery as it used to look.

The Jacov Routh Family Cemetery as it looks now.

From the forthcoming book, RICHARDSON: A History of One of the Biggest Small Cities in Texas

On a peaceful bluff overlooking Spring Creek, in the far-north part of present-day Richardson, a low iron fence surrounds a small, seldom-visited burial plot. Up until recent years, it lay deep within the boundaries of a vast expanse of woods and fields, untouched by the modern development encroaching on its boundaries. Today, overshadowed by a tall apartment building, lie the mortal remains of the Reverend Jacob Routh, a prominent pioneer settler of what is now the city of Richardson, in the place where he was laid to rest more than a hundred years ago. Apparently erased by recent development, there once was a dirt road down which stagecoaches may have once traveled-on their way from Dallas to Bonham, via McKinney, using Routh's house (which stood nearby) as a rest-stop.

There are only four known graves within the fence's boundaries: that of Routh himself, his wife, and those of his two youngest daughters. The grave-markers all face west, toward the setting sun, Reverend Routh's is the oldest-a tall stone, rounded on top, on which these words, now weathered and somewhat hard to read, are inscribed:

Jacob Routh
Born
Dec. 22, 1818
Died
Apr. 30, 1879
Asleep In Jesus

To the right of Jacob Routh's grave is a large boulder, which marks the final resting place of his wife: Mrs. L. A. Routh. Born Lodemia Anne Campbell on November 16, 1833, she was eighteen years old in 1851, when she met Jacob Routh, who was then a thirty-three-year-old bachelor, They were married a few years later and had nearly three decades together before her husband died from consumption (tuberculosis). She lived another thirty-seven years as a widow, dying on October 8, 1916 at the ripe old age of eighty-three.

To the right of Mrs. Routh's marker is a modern-day stone inscribed with the name "ROUTH." It is shared by the two individuals buried there: Rose Routh, (Sept. 18, 1874-Sept. 24, 1954) and Clara Routh (June 7, 1876-June l, 1962), the unmarried daughters of Jacob and Lodemia.

On the west side of the small, enclosure, just outside it, are three more graves, One is that of a cat. The others are where Rose and Clara, who lived on this property all their lives, had their favorite dogs and horses buried. The stones are small and read, from left to right:

LOCATION: The Jacob Routh Family Cemetery is located at the end of a paved trail, behind the Vantage at Spring Creek Apartments on Routh Creek Parkway. Google Maps

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