Brief History
Merrell Cemetery is a small historic one-acre cemetery located within the Dallas City limits at 4018 Merrell Road. “Eli Merrell and his large family came to Texas in1844 and received land grant eligibility of 640 acres from Peters Colony. The land that the cemetery is located on belongs to Benjamin Merrell (b. 1801), Eli’s brother David’s son and Eli’s nephew. Eli was an Elder in Disciples of Christ Church and performed his first marriage in Dallas County in 1846. When Eli died his many heirs inherited his land. To protect this one-acre cemetery it was purchased for $35 by Connell, Luna, Merrell, and Strait families from the (Lanham) Latham family. The MCMA was formed in 1965 to raise funds for a fence to protect the cemetery.” This information came from The Dirt Up II by Frances James.
Bylaws and Standard Operating Procedures
Bylaws include that on November 14, 2016, in Article V – Participants guide MCMA with eligibility for burial I Merrell Cemetery. Those families on the list of Participants are generally descendants of those early families buried there.
Standard Operating Procedures Historical Background: In 1890 the land for Merrell Cemetery was conveyed to Mr. J.M. Merrell and J.A. Conley as Trustees for the Cemetery. In 1965/66 the Merrell Cemetery Maintenance Association was formed as a Non-profit Corporation. MCMA is organized for the purpose of maintenance, beautification, and improvement of the cemetery, and for the receipt and expenditure of funds for this purpose. In 1967 MCMA was granted non-profit status.
The Executive Committee along with the Trustees are responsible for the day-to-day operations: grass mowing, overall appearance; overturned tombstones are upright within 90 days, maintain fences and gates; trees trimmed, and new trees replaced as needed; general upkeep, repair, beautification, and maintenance of the cemetery.
SOP: “Fund Raising and Perpetual Care Fund: Funds in excess of present expenses form a Perpetual Care Fund with a goal of that Fund will reach a point of generating sufficient interest income to pay the expenses of maintaining the Cemetery. When the Cemetery becomes filled, there will be no income associated with new burials. As time goes by after that it is likely active interest in the cemetery may decline as living descendants are more remotely related to those buried there. At that time, the Perpetual Care Fund will be especially needed to maintain Merrell Cemetery.”
Many small cemeteries have gone back to the City as they have run out of money to maintain their cemetery. When this happens, the City assigns the maintenance to Code Enforcement to mow and care for the cemetery, but most times the cemetery is only mowed a couple of times a year and then it is mowed with bush whackers with no care to the headstones or overall appearance of the cemetery. We do not want this for Merrell Cemetery.
Merrell Cemetery has approximately 400 lots per our last survey. Presently, according to Find a Grave on our website has 249 grave sites with headstones. Except for three Bobo family members that do not have headstones. It is the obligation of the Cemetery Board to provide these via our SOP. There have been more burials since this survey.
We have reserved lots that we have received donations for an additional 45 – 50 more. After discussions with our Treasurer, Denise Jenkins and Randy Griffin, President and Sexton for MCMA, it is concluded that we have about 200 lots left to reserve with donations.
The last few years maintenance donations have been exceptionally low with only $1,300 in donations over a four-year period. At the end of 2023, MCMA received a donation in the amount of $5,700 from a member who left a life insurance policy to the cemetery.
When our ancestors established this family cemetery, they had no way of predicting this situation. Families that are buried here expected their descendants to maintain the grounds and the issues that arise.
It is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees to keep the cemetery maintained and funded. The only chance for this to happen is to increase the donation lot and gate fees effective June 1, 2025. Without this increase, we will be out of funds to maintain the cemetery within 17 – 20 years. We do not want our beautiful cemetery to fall into the hands of the City of Dallas Parks and Recreation department to maintain.
A motion was made to the Board of Trustees for a motion to increase Lot Donations and Gate open fees and read as follows:
MCMA increases the donation, in perpetuity, for an individual lot to $2,500. This increase will be in full effect on June 1, 2025. The amount of the Gate fee increases, in perpetuity, for individual lot to $1,000. Individual Participants that have not paid the former donation of $1,000 per lot and $250 gate fee prior to June 1, 2025, will owe the new increased donations.
The SOP in Section VIII clearly authorizes “the amount of the mandatory donation for burial can be increased by a simple majority vote of Trustees. This would not affect any person who has paid the total burial donation required at the time of payment. It would, however, affect any other person who has not reached the required donation level.”
We have a new website merrellcemetery.com that has a donation area. We also would encourage you to use the new website for all upcoming events and to stay informed to what’s going on in the cemetery. This notice of Increased Lot Fees can be found under Events on the website.