Cornelia Graves

The youngest of nine children of John and Laura (Fuqua) Tyler, Cornelia Tyler was born in Dallas in 1875. She attended Dallas schools and then Prairie View Normal School and Hearne Academy to earn her teaching certificate. After teaching inDallas, she moved here and was the principal and only teacher at the city’s colored school (or Bethelda School) for African-American children. She taught here for nearly twenty years. She married John Graves, a civil war veteran, and the couple moved to Amarillo in 1926 due to John’s diagnosis of tuberculosis. In Amarillo, Cornelia continued her career as an educator. In 1951, Cornelia Graves Elementary School in Stephenville was named in her honor. She died in Dallas in 1960.

Cornelia Graves is a historical marker in Stephenville, Erath County, dedicated in 2011. It is one of 71 historical markers documented in Erath County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 144 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.2320, -98.1988 near Stephenville. The nearest cataloged historic site is Mount Olive Cemetery (cemetery), about 0.2 miles away. Others within a short drive include East End Cemetery, Oldest Home in Stephenville, and Stephenville Church of 1900.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5507016960. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.