The land for the cemetery was donated by Richard Ormand Respess who taught school at Frog Pond School in the 1870’s which is the current location of Liberty Chapel Church. The cemetery was originally developed as a burial place for his direct descendants as well as other members of the church. Today, if you have family members currently buried here, you are considered a member.
When Richard Ormand Respess was born on June 11, 1838, in Beaufort, North Carolina, his father, Ormond, was 42 and his mother, Judith, was 39. Richard Ormand Respess married Nannie Lois Adams Williams in Harrison, Texas, in 1858 when he was 19 years old and she was 18 years old and they had eight children together. Nannie Lois Williams was born in 1839 in Yazoo City, Mississippi, the daughter of Elizabeth and Charles. They had eight children in 17 years. She died in 1877 in Waskom, Texas, at the age of 38. It is said that Nannie died in child birth while giving birth to twins in 1877 however she is not buried at Liberty Chapel Cemetery and her grave has not been located at the time of this writing. Ancestry.com records indicate she was living in Waskom TX, Harrison County, at the time of her death. According to the 1880 census, Richard was married at the time of that census and it is said that he also had two sons and two daughters from this relationship. He is indicated as widowed in the 1890 census. Richard Ormand’s death notice states he died “of consumption”, tuberculosis, in 1906 at the home of his daughter Bettie Finklea.
The children of Richard Ormand and Nannie Lois were Charlie O Respess, Anna Neal Respess Finklea, Virginia Elizabeth “Bettie” Respess Finklea Mitchell, Joseph M Respess, Alice Respess Barnes, Robert E Lee Respess and Isaaiah L Respess (twins), Sallie Respess Morris
The first person buried at Liberty Chapel Cemetery was John C Anderson in 1880. There are several graves marked by angel statues, no name, no date, as well as a number of un-marked graves. There were many people, in some cases entire families, who died in the early 1900s of influenza. Spanish flu, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or the 1918 influenza pandemic.
Due to the nature and age of the cemetery, not all rows are straight. It is thought that when the land was first put to use, the different families picked an area as their family plot and buried their relatives within that area. As time went on, the members have done their best to create rows for mapping purposes.
Richard Ormand Respess
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/160393318/person/282099076805/facts
Nannie Lois Respess
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/160393318/person/282099079162/facts