Colorado County Cemetery Records About the Cemeteries
Colorado County Cemetery Records
About the Cemeteries
Each of the more than 130 cemeteries and burial sites identified inside Colorado County are listed below, alphabetically according to the legal or most common name of the cemetery. In some cases, alternate names are also provided. Most of the other information is self-explanatory. The maps referred to are the United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey 7.5 Minute Series Topographical Maps, which are indispensable for research in the field and which are available, either by number of by name, at any good map outlet. The parenthetical insertion "marked" or "not marked" indicates whether the site of the cemetery is marked on the map. Often such sites are marked by name, often simply with the designation "Cem."
In addition to the persons whose burial places are known, these cemetery records contain more than 1300 persons whose burial place is unknown and more than 100 persons who were cremated, all of whom are known to have died in or been intimately associated with Colorado County.
Sometimes the names of persons suspected to be buried in a cemetery are listed in the descriptions provided below.
| Index |
Select the first letter of the cemetery name from the list below, and/or scroll down to find a particular cemetery:
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - R - S - T - U - V - W - Z
| List of Cemeteries |
Abell Cemetery
Origin of name: after Abell family
Source of name: usage
Alternate name: Jones Graveyard
Source of alternate name: Obituary of Robert A. Abell
Location: about 2.5 miles directly north of Garwood and 1.5 miles east of Highway 71, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-133, Garwood Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 752879E, 3264462N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1879
Earliest known year of birth: 1844
Most recent known burial: 1916
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Bill Stein and Elizabeth Schoellmann
Date audited: February 21, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 5
Adams Cemetery
Origin of name: after Adams family
Location: about one half mile north of Ramsey Road, about 1.3 miles southwest of its intersection with FM 102, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 750553E, 3281633N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1911
Earliest known year of birth: 1871
Most recent known burial: 1932
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: MacDonald Ruffeno, Rita Ruffeno, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: July 6, 1990
Number of known burials to date: 7
Adkins Cemetery
Origin of name: after Adkins family
Location: about one tenth of a mile northeast of County Road 201, between 1.5 and 2 miles north of its intersection with County Road 206
Map: 2996-342, Ellinger Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 722986E, 3293744N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1860
Earliest known year of birth: 1792
Most recent known burial: 1872
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 4
Alexander Cemetery
Origin of name: after Alexander family
Source of name: usage
Location: about .5 miles east of the juncture of Highway 71 and Duncan Lane (County Road 111), just to the south of the Community Cemetery, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-422, Altair Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 750285E, 3267293N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1867
Earliest known year of birth: 1883
Most recent known burial: 1941
Racial mix: all black
Comments: The cemetery has not been used for decades and is consequently in a dense thicket. The surveyors listed below and an earlier team of explorers consisting of Tony Williams, Dora Dervin, Elizabeth Schoellmann, and Bill Stein actually walked through the cemetery without noticing its existence before, on a second attempt the same afternoon, Glenda Henderson Jordan located the first tombstone. Only three readable stones were found. Two were concrete slabs laid on the ground. One was inscribed with the name, birth, and death dates of Addie Alexander. The top left corner of the other, on which part of the dead person's name was inscribed, was broken off. What remained read "L DERVIN." The surveyors took the "L" to be the final character of a first name rather than an initial. One other stone, a small, quite elegant slab of marble that was mostly intact, provided the name and dates of birth and death of Patcy Durvine. All three of the discovered tombstones were partially or completely covered with dirt and vegetation. Evidence of other graves exists, but no other readable grave marker was located. Based on information provided by Tony Williams, library staff subsequently searched the death records at the Colorado County courthouse and added four names to the list of those buried in the cemetery. None of those added, however, were said on their death certificates to be buried in the Alexander Cemetery. Two, Lucian and Emmett Alexander, were said to be buried in Vox Populi, one, William Alexander, was said to be buried in Garwood, and another, Saloman Alexander was said to be buried near Garwood. Nonetheless, based on Tony Williams' testimony, and recognizing that each of the listed places of burial might easily be confounded with the location of the Alexander Cemetery, all have been added to our survey.
Surveyors: Glenda Henderson Jordan, Kerry Briggs, Marvin C. Farrow, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: August 7, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 10
Allen Cemetery
Origin of name: after Allen family
Source of name: U. S. G. S. Topographic Map
Location: about 100 yards south of County Road 102, at a point about 2.3 miles south of its intersection with Interstate 10, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 745069E, 3287932N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1852
Earliest known year of birth: 1832
Most recent known burial: 1869
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006 and noted: The stones are scattered on a hilltop, apparently by cattle. There is no fence around the site. The stones are clean, but broken and laying on the ground.
Surveyors: Kay Potter, Leah King, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: April 28, 2000
Number of known burials to date: 3
Alley Family Cemetery
Origin of name: after Alley family
Source of name: usage
Location: about seven tenths of a mile west of County Road 102, a mile or so behind a gate that is almost precisely three miles south of the intersection of County Road 102 and Interstate 10, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 746433E, 3285701N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1831
Earliest known year of birth: 1787
Most recent known burial: 2012
Racial mix: all white
Comments: On November 2, 1881, Nicola and Elisabeth Glaiser deeded one acre "to the following named Families (as a burial ground) Dukes Neals Alleys & Clapps" for one dollar (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book Y, p. 40). Though this must be counted as the formal creation of the cemetery, it is certain that there were earlier burials. In fact, the deed uses as one of its landmarks, "the Tombstone erected to the memory of T. C. Wright," who had died in 1876. In creating the cemetery, the Glaisers also reserved the right to have themselves and their descendents buried there.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Bill Stein and Nina Tuttle
Date audited: May 1, 1990
Number of known burials to date: 54
Alleyton Cemetery
Origin of name: after town in which it is located
Location: in Alleyton
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 743633E, 3289123N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1867
Earliest known year of birth: 1813
Most recent known burial: 2012
Racial mix: whites and blacks
Comments: 1. In June 1882, H. C. Gaedecke deeded fractional block 68 and part of block 57 in Alleyton to a group of "trustees for the white citizens of Alleyton & their successors for a burial ground (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book Y, p. 362). The section for blacks was added in October 1882 when a group of trustees paid $40 to the heirs of J. J. Holt for two acres "for a grave yard for the colored citizens of Alleyton and vicinity" (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 2, p. 538).
2. In November 1998, a man named Charles "Red" Underhill erected a tombstone for Dallas Stoudenmier, probably the cemetery's most famous "resident." Stoudenmier was involved in several gunfights, finally being killed in one in El Paso. He was brought to Alleyton for burial. No one knows the precise location of Stoudenmier's grave, so Underhill simply picked a prominent spot and set up the tombstone. Underhill used the spelling "Stoudenmire" which is the one commonly used by Stoudenmier's biographers. The family apparently spelled the name Stoudenmier.
Surveyors: Jon K. Loessin
Date surveyed: August 1985, August 2009 Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 314
Amthor Cemetery
Origin of name: after Amthor family
Location: about 300 yards south of the point on Kveton Road that is about .3 miles east of its intersection with Sealy Road
Map: 2996-431, Cat Spring Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 757956E, 3296394N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1868
Earliest known year of birth: 1860
Most recent known burial: 1882
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery contains nine graves, arranged chronologically, with the earliest grave on the left side of the small, fenced enclosure and the latest on the right. A larger stone, in the center of the cemetery announces, in German, that the stones mark the burial sites of the beloved children of Heinrich and Emilie Amthor (Zur Erinnerung an alle unsere Lieben Kinder von ihren tiefbetrübten Elltern Heinrich & Emilie Amthor, or, in English, In rememberance of all our dear children from their deeply sorrowed parents Heinrich & Emilie Amthor).
Surveyors: John Batla, Duane Smith, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: January 26, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 9
Bachelor Hill Cemetery
See: Zoar Lutheran Church Cemetery
Barten Cemetery
Origin of name: after Barten family
Location: southeast of the intersection of Cat Spring Road and Zimmerscheidt Road, about one-fourth of a mile east of Zimmerscheidt Road and one-fifth of a mile south of Cat Spring Road
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: c. 1875
Earliest known year of birth: 1819
Most recent known burial: 1903
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Larry Uhlig
Auditors: Mary McElvey
Date audited: June 3, 1994
Number of known burials to date: 2
Batla Cemetery
Origin of name: after Batla family
Source of name: usage
Location: east of Highway 71 about half a mile north of Garwood, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-133, Garwood Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1898
Earliest known year of birth: 1823
Most recent known burial: 1903
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: James Hopkins, Mary Elizabeth Hopkins, and E. H. Stienke
Date surveyed: March 22, 1972
Number of known burials to date: 3
Besch Cemetery
Origin of name: after Besch family
Location: about 1.25 miles east of County Road 103 and two miles north of Highway 90A, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-311, Rock Island Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1908
Earliest known year of birth: 1836
Most recent known burial: 1918
Racial mix: all white
Comments: There are no tombstones or grave markers of any kind on the site. Both known burials in the cemetery were extracted from the death records at the courthouse. Alexander Besch actually has a tombstone in the Columbus Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery, but it was not erected at the time of his death. It is a Confederate veteran marker erected, probably, in the 1960s.
Surveyors: Bill Stein
Date surveyed: July 20, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 2
Boeer Cemetery
Origin of name: after Boeer family
Location: about one third of a mile east of FM 109, about one third of a mile south of its intersection with Interstate 10, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-324, Weimar Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 715727E, 3286053N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1888
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1799
Most recent known burial: 1888
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 2
Boetcher Cemetery
See: Böttger Cemetery
Boettcher Cemetery
See: Böttger Cemetery
Borden Cemetery
Origin of name: after community near which it is located
Location: on County Road 217, three tenths of a mile west of its intersection with County Road 210
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 723964E, 3287394N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1844
Earliest known year of birth: 1795
Most recent known burial: 1985
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Bill Stein
Date audited: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 39
Böttger Cemetery
Origin of name: after Böttger family
Alternate name: Boetcher Cemetery
Source of alternate name: U. S. G. S. Topographic Map
Location: about one-tenth of a mile west of FM 1890 (Shaws Bend Road), about 2.4 miles south of its northernmost intersection with Highway 71
Map: 2996-342, Ellinger Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 726325E, 3294016N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1870
Earliest known year of birth: 1819
Most recent known burial: 1913
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. The name of the cemetery and of the family buried within it might well be questioned by those who know the name by its more common spelling, Boettcher, especially when they note that the map cited above refers to the cemetery as the Boetcher Cemetery, but the tombstones of the family members quite distinctly give the name as Böttger.
2. Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006 and made these comments: There is a new barbed wire fence running through the center of cemetery. The cemetery on both sides of the fence has been destroyed by cattle. The only readable stone remaining is that of Mary Zickuhr (1858-1918).
Surveyors: Bill Stein and Mary Annell Horndt
Date surveyed: April 28, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 3
Boykin Cemetery
Alternate name: Mount Zion Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: after the nearby church of the same name
Source of alternate name: U. S. G. S. Topographic Map
Location: on the north side of County Road 79 (Mahalitc Lane), about one-tenth of a mile west of its intersection with FM 3013
Map: 2996-421, Eagle Lake Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 759241E, 3269296N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1911
Earliest known year of birth: 1869
Most recent known burial: 2010
Racial mix: all black
Surveyors: Bill Stein, Elizabeth Schoellmann, and Isidoro Ramirez
Date surveyed: May 21, 1993, August 2009-Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 68
Braden Cemetery
Location: on the north side of A. Braden Road, approximately one-half mile west of the Zoar Lutheran Cemetery
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 747432E, 3298899N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1903
Earliest known year of birth: 1875
Most recent known burial: 1903
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Gary McKee
Date surveyed: November 14, 2006
Number of known burials to date: 1
Bratton Cemetery
Origin of name: after Bratton family
Source of name: usage
Location: about two miles southeast of Altair, 400 yards east of Highway 71, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-422, Altair Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1868
Earliest known year of birth: 1829
Most recent known burial: 1882
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 7
Bretschneider Cemetery
Alternate name: Kellner Cemetery
Source of alternate name: U. S. G. S. Topographic Map
Location: on the south side of Bostik Road, about 1.9 miles from its intersection with Cat Spring Road
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 750313E, 3301248N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1897
Earliest known year of birth: 1834
Most recent known burial: 1908
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Carolyn Skopik and Gary McKee visited the cemetery on April 1, 2007 and made these remarks: The cemetery is surrounded by a chain link fence approximately fifteen feet square. Egmont Bretschnieder and wife are on one “modern” stone, with unnamed child size grave marked by bricks. There are two very large cedar trees and some lilies.
Surveyors: Larry Uhlig
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 5
Bretschneider 2
Carl Bretschneider Cemetery
Origin of name: after Carl Bretschneider
Location: northwest of the intersection of Reichardt Lane and Cat Spring Road
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 752146E, 3301638N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1890
Earliest known year of birth: 1836
Most recent known burial: 1965
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery is called "Bretschneider Cemetery" on the map cited above.
Surveyors: Larry Uhlig
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 7
Britton "Grave Site"
Location: near the end of County Road 214, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-312, Sawmill Branch Quadrangle (not marked)
Comments: 1. Actually not a grave site at all, though one tombstone is on the site. At some point, the family of James Brown Britton (who is more frequently recorded as James Alfred Britton) secured a Confederate-veteran marker for his grave. However, they did not erect it for years, by which time they had forgotten where he was buried. Wishing perhaps more than anything else to get it out of their garage, they finally erected it in their garden, where it remains today. The existence of the gravestone was reported to the library by Lillian Schneider on July 31, 1992. Library staff passed the knowledge on to intrepid Britton family researcher Ellene Williamson, who discovered the true nature of the "grave site" on August 16, 1992.
2. Gary E. McKee visited the site in December 2006 and added these remarks: The nonexistent grave site now exists elsewhere. The landowner, Fred E. Westergren, gave the tombstone to someone, he believes to Ellene Williamson. Westergren remembered that he had plowed up the marker in his field behind the house near the end of CR 214 and then placed it in his garden. He is a descendant of Britton. He also reported that “Aunt Keeler Kohleffel” is buried just west of his home (14, 723671E, 3278775N) on a rise in the old potato field. His family has never plowed or planted anything on that little rise.
Number of known burials to date: 0
Brown Family Cemetery
Origin of name: after Brown family
Source of name: death certificates
Alternate name: Charlie Brown Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: after Charlie Brown
Location: on the east side of Highway 71 about one mile south of its intersection with Highway 90A
Map: Altair Quadrangle, 2996-422 (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 746280E, 3272312N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1972
Earliest known year of birth: 1895
Most recent known burial: 2005
Racial mix: all black
Surveyors: Bill Stein and Elizabeth Schoellmann
Date surveyed: February 21, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 6
Brown 2
George W. Brown Burial Site
Origin of name: after the person buried there
Location: in Columbus, on the far southwestern corner of lot 5, block 7
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (not marked))
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 738131E, 3288886N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1848
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1818
Most recent known burial: 1848
Racial mix: all white
Comments: George William Brown, an attorney and the representative of Colorado County at the 1845 Annexation Convention, died at the age of 30 sometime between January 12 and March 28, 1848. Little more than two years earlier, on October 18, 1845, Brown had married Elizabeth C. Hinch. Left a widow at a young age, she remarried (to Edward Musgrove Glenn) in 1851, and shortly afterward sold the home in which she and Brown had lived and behind which Brown had been buried. No doubt fearing that the grave site would be neglected, on July 19, 1852, Brown's brother-in-law, George W. Smith purchased it, a twelve foot by twelve foot tract in the southwest corner of the lot. It has long since disappeared from view and from memory (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book H, p. 308; Colorado County Marriage Records, Book B, p. 71; Lavaca County Marriage Records, Book A, p. 52).
Number of known burials to date: 1
Brownson Cemetery
See: Golden Rod Cemetery
Brune Cemetery
Location: on the south side of FM 1890 (Shaw's Bend Road), about 1.5 miles southwest of its southernmost intersection with Highway 71
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 730674E, 3291863N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1895
Earliest known year of birth: 1840
Most recent known burial: 2015
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Bill Stein
Date surveyed: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 241
Brune 2
Ludwig Brune Cemetery
Location: about six tenths of a mile east of Brune's Mill Road, about three and a half miles north of its intersection with Schobel Road, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-341, Frelsburg Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1867
Earliest known year of birth: 1816
Most recent known burial: 1935
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Thurman Brune
Date surveyed: April 1990
Number of known burials to date: 8
Burttschell Cemetery
Origin of name: After the surname of the only person known to be buried in the cemetery.
Location: about .2 miles northeast of Frelsburg Road, about .3 miles southeast of its intersection with Mentz Road
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1878
Earliest known year of birth: 1849
Most recent known burial: 1878
Racial mix: all white
Comments: It is something of a mystery why the person buried in this cemetery was not buried at the very large St. Roch's Cemetery, which is in easy walking distance.
Surveyors: Bob Cowart, Jack Hodge, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: February 22, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 1
Carlton Cemetery
Origin of name: after Carlton family
Source of name: obituary of Benjamin M. Maner
Location: about two tenths of a mile northeast from the point, about three tenths of a mile from Highway 71, where County Road 101 turns to the southeast, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 740806E, 3283548N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1869
Earliest known year of birth: 1822
Most recent known burial: 1962
Racial mix: whites and blacks
Comments: 1. Those with surnames Maner, Perry, and Jamison were white, those named Davis, Bratcher, and Glover were black.
2. Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006 and made these notes: The cemetery is in a thicket and has been trampled by cattle.
Surveyors: Nancy Wooten, Bernice Etheridge, Celia Perry, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: February 23, 1990
Number of known burials to date: 11
Charlie Brown Cemetery
See: Brown Family Cemetery
Carter Family Cemetery
Origin of name: after Carter family
Location: on the north side of Highway 71, at its intersection with Garden Lane, just north of the north river bridge in Columbus
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 737036E, 3290097N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1874
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1831
Most recent known burial: 1909
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery contains just one stone, and that not erect. It lies near the remains of a small iron gate.
Surveyors: Bill Stein
Date surveyed: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 2
Cheetham Cemetery
Origin of name: after community of Cheetham
Source of name: obituaries and death certificates
Location: south of Highway 90A, just west of its intersection with Lake Sheridan Road (County Road 275), and about a mile east of Sheridan
Map: 2996-243, Sheridan Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 726958E, 3265484N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1877
Earliest known year of birth: 1801
Most recent known burial: 2015
Racial mix: all white
Comments: On July 6, 1979, one acre was added to the south side of the cemetery (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 399, p. 431).
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Regena Brisco
Date audited: 1991
Number of known burials to date: 538
Clear Creek Cemetery
Origin of name: after the Clear Creek Methodist Church, which once stood nearby, and which was named for the nearby creek
Alternate name: Devil's Pocket Cemetery
Location: on County Road 250, less than one half mile from its intersection with FM 2144 and just after its intersection with County Road 248
Map: 2996-324, Weimar Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 701707E, 3280732N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1855
Earliest known year of birth: 1794
Most recent known burial: 1929
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery was established on land deeded to the trustees of a Methodist Episcopal Church South by Edward M. Glenn on July 21, 1856 (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book K, p. 537).
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Ernest Mae Seaholm, Bobby Payne, Judy Payne, and Gene Payne
Date audited: 1989
Number of known burials to date: 76
Columbus City Cemetery
Origin of name: after the city in which it is located
Source of name: obituaries
Location: on the west side of Columbus, just south of Highway 90, between Rampart Street and Legion Drive
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 736852E, 3288587N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1853
Earliest known year of birth: 1785
Most recent known burial: 2015
Racial mix: whites and blacks
Comments: 1. The cemetery was certainly in use long before the City of Columbus formally purchased it from John and Lavinia H. Toliver on March 15, 1870. The original seven acre purchase was augmented by three adjoining acres on October 5, 1893. The cemetery was taken into the city limits on November 13, 1939 (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book O, p. 61, Book 18, p. 173; Minutes of the City Council of Columbus Book 4, p. 760, Archives of the Nesbitt Memorial Library, Columbus.)
2. The cemetery was in wide use until December 1913, when a flood washed up many of the graves and carried off many of the markers. It lay abandoned for years thereafter, with only sporadic burials of longtime plot owners. On March 13, 1939, two cemetery associations, the City Cemetery Association and the City Cemetery Association, Colored, were formed. Periodically, the city hired someone to clean up the cemetery, but over time it was neglected. In 1955, Hattie May Dick systematically catalogued the cemetery, and, as a member of the city council, made an attempt to clean it up (see Houston Post, May 9, 1955). Thereafter, however, it remained neglected until, in 1970, it was cleaned up by a volunteer crew led by Charles Redus. Later, at the instigation of Buddy Rau, a long, narrow concrete slab was poured along the side of one of the cemetery's main roads, and many tombstones which had been scattered and/or broken were placed on it.
3. Most of the burials since 1913 have been indigent blacks. A few blacks were also buried in the cemetery earlier. Fully one-fourth, if not one-third, of the burials listed herein for this cemetery were derived from sources other than tombstones on the site.
4. On December 28, 1929, two men were killed in a three car accident west of Glidden. One of the dead men was identified as John W. Sargent. Sargent was carrying a diary which revealed that he had traveled extensively. The local undertakers, Untermeyer Brothers, contacted his family for instructions regarding the body. The family requested that Sargent be buried as a pauper, and, on January 2, 1930, he was.
Nearly five years later, on October 31, 1934, an 18 or 19 year old man was struck by an automobile and killed while walking on the road near Glidden. The dead man had no identification on him, and though he was traveling with another man, his name could not be determined. He was embalmed and left in a coffin above Untermeyer's Store in Columbus for some months. Visitors in town and people looking for a missing person were taken up to look at him in hopes he could be identified. Finally, after he had become nearly ossified by the repeated infusion of embalming fluids, he was buried in an unmarked grave in the Columbus City Cemetery. Over time, the two incidents were confounded and merged in the public memory. People "remembered" that a man who had worked with Howard Carter when he opened Tutankhamen's tomb on November 26, 1922 and therefore been cursed to die violently had been killed in an automobile accident near Glidden, laid unidentified above Untermeyer's for several months, become known locally as King Tut, and then was buried. In fact, it was Sargent who, according to his traveling companion, H. R. Miller, had been at King Tut's tomb, not the teenage transient who was killed five years later and never identified (see Colorado County Citizen, January 2, 1930, November 1, 1934, March 7, 1935).
5. At 11:35 on the night of March 19, 2003, about 12.2 miles east of Columbus, an eighteen-wheel truck struck a pedestrian who was walking on the frontage road of Interstate 10, killing him. The pedestrian was an Asian man about 35 years old. By the articles he was carrying, he was judged to be a homeless man who sustained himself by fishing at various water holes. He had no identification on him, and so, on his death certificate, his name is given as "John Doe." Authorities, however, determined that his name might have been Tuan Dang. He was buried as a pauper in the Columbus City Cemetery. A small metal marker reading "Believed to be Tuan Dang died March 19, 2003," was placed on the grave.
Surveyors: Hattie May Dick
Date surveyed: 1955
Date audited: April 25, May 1, May 7, and May 8, 1990 by Bill Stein and Michael Hawn
Date audited: September 2004 and August 2009 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 704
Columbus Confederate Cemetery
Location: unknown
Earliest known year of death: 1863
Most recent known burial: 1863
Comments: During the Civil War, numerous Confederate soldiers were stationed in and around Columbus. In addition, for several months at least, the Confederate military maintained a hospital in Columbus. The diary of James Pitman Saunders, published in John Bennett Boddie, comp., Historical Southern Families, vol. 7 (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1963), pp. 173-198, confirms that the military also had a cemetery in or near Columbus. Pitman visited the cemetery on April 18 and April 21, 1863. On the 21st he wrote, "There is about fifty graves here so new that there is no grass growing on them and men at the hospital dying at the rate of 2 or 3 a week. They are buried in a verry plain coffin, a shallow grave without a vault in a verry loose sandy piece of ground, dressed in their own everyday wearing clothes. No fencing whatever about the graves." His diary provides the names of four of the five persons known to be buried there. The fifth name, John M. Anderson, was provided by his descendant, Melba McNiel, who learned the date of his death and the fact that he was buried in the Columbus Confederate Cemetery from Confederate pension records.
Number of known burials to date: 5
Columbus Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery
Origin of name: after a lodge, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which presumably had some early jurisdiction over the cemetery
Source of name: deed records and obituaries
Location: in Columbus, on Montezuma Street, south of its intersection with FM 806
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 736059E, 3288017N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1852
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1792
Most recent known burial: 2015
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. The original cemetery is on the east side of Montezuma Street, south of St. Anthony's Catholic Cemetery. The land was deeded to the Columbus Lodge No. 51, Independent Order of Odd Fellows by John Toliver on July 17, 1871. In 1890, the Odd Fellows sold the cemetery to the newly created Columbus Cemetery Association. Additions to the cemetery were made on August 8, 1901 and July 1, 1977. The 1977 addition, containing 8.795 acres, is on the west side of Montezuma Street, across the street from St. Anthony's Catholic Cemetery (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 24, pp. 494, 510, Book 37, p. 97, Book 99, p. 13, and Book 362, p. 93).
2. The cemetery contains the most celebrated tombstone in Colorado County, that of Ike Towell. Towell had the tombstone made shortly before he committed suicide. It is inscribed "Here rests Ike Towell an infidel who had no hope of heaven nor fear of hell was free of superstition to do right and love justice was his religion." At least twice in the more than fifty years since the tombstone was erected, some of Towell's relatives have sought to have it torn down, but other relatives have blocked them.
3. In its early years, the bluff on the south side of the cemetery had serious erosion problems. In fact, some graves were exposed. In November 1888, a committee was appointed by the local Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge to plant trees to prevent further erosion, and to keep the cemetery grounds, described then as in deplorable condition, in order. Nonetheless, a few years later, Henry Middleton, who had died the same month the cleanup committee was appointed, was washed out of his grave.
4. In March 1955, an entrepreneur named Gene Loewy announced that he was planning to build and sell crypts in a mausoleum at the Odd Fellows Cemetery. According to Loewy, the mausoleum was to be "as fine as money, art and science can build" and contain 36 "dry snow white compartments of stone and marble." Two weeks after his announcement made the newspaper, a group calling itself The Interested Citizens' Committee took out an ad criticizing mausoleums. The ad, headlined "Never let this Happen in your Community!" and "Skull Missing From Body In Desecrated Mausoleum," warned that "statistics show that many mausoleums are not permanent." The following week, Loewy responded with a long ad that scoffed at the Interested Citizens' Committee and their charges. Over the summer, the mausoleum was built. By the end of August, only two of the crypts had not been sold. On September 3 and 4, the mausoleum was opened to the public. It contained 36 crypts, 18 on each side, arranged in three rows of six crypts each. The prices of the crypts varied according to location.
On May 7, 1958, William Christian Papenberg, who had died two days earlier, became the first person buried in the mausoleum. Records are incomplete, but four others are known to have been entombed in the mausoleum: Albert W. Leyendecker, Robert Beresford Shaw, Edwin Ray Spencer, and Angeline Louise Spencer. Leyendecker, who was buried in 1967, is the last known burial in the mausoleum. However, since 1967, all the above mentioned person's bodies have been removed from the mausoleum and buried in the ground. Over the years, it became apparent that the mausoleum was hardly the magnificent form of eternal rest that Loewy had claimed. The roof leaked, and, more importantly, so did the crypts. In addition, the building was poorly ventilated, and whatever odors permeated the walls remained in the air. In short, the mausoleum became a very disagreeable place, and people quickly removed the members of their families who had been entombed in it. The doors remained unlocked and ajar for nearly twenty years before, in the early 1990s, it was discovered that a homeless man had installed a cot and was sleeping in the building. The cot was removed and the doors locked. Most of the crypts remain intact, though the floor is littered with broken marble. The building stands vacant, or nearly so, and useless, because those families who bought crypts still hold title to them (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 187, pp. 67-68, 115-119, 129-142, Book 195, pp. 128-129; Colorado County Citizen, March 24, 1955, April 7, 1955, April 14, 1955, June 2, 1955, July 14, 1955, August 25, 1955, May 8, 1958).
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Bill Stein and Heath Moore
Date audited: July 31 and August 2, 1989
Number of known burials to date: 3278
Corner Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Source of name: usage
Location: southeast of Altair, near the east end of County Road 212, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-422, Altair Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1917
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1862
Most recent known burial: 1959
Racial mix: all black
Comments: At the time it was surveyed, the cemetery contained tombstones for only five people: Charley Collier, Jessie Forde, Willie Green, Eliza Jane Polk, and Mattie Washington. In searching the death records at the Office of the County Clerk in the Colorado County courthouse, library staff turned up about a dozen names of persons said to be buried in Altair. Several of those persons were said by local residents to have been buried at the Corner Cemetery, and so all have been added to our survey.
Surveyors: Elizabeth Schoellmann and Gerry Fling
Date surveyed: March 5, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 21
Cox Family Cemetery
Origin of name: after the Cox family, who owned the site from 1850 to 1867
Source of name: deed records
Location: in Columbus, on the corner of Martin Luther King (formerly Malleck) and Prairie Streets, north of Martin Luther King and east of Prairie
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 737569E, 3289293N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: unknown
Earliest known year of birth: unknown
Most recent known burial: unknown
Racial mix: presumed to be all white
Comments: On December 28, 1867, Mary Jane Cox, the widow of George W. Cox, and her three children, George Lawrence Cox, Mary Laura Cox, and William H. Cox sold all of lots 2 and 3 of block 93 in Columbus "except ten (10) Varas Square including the graves in the S. W. Corner of lot No three." Mary Jane Cox died on November 1, 1882. Seven years later, on June 10, 1889, the three children sold the remaining small square of block 93, describing it as "having been used at one time by our parents [as] a family burial ground." The Cox family, in the person of George W. Cox, had acquired the property on December 31, 1850, and apparently buried more than one of their number on the site. George W. Cox, Robert Cox, Francis Cox, and Emmeretta Cox, the last three all children of George W. and Mary Jane Cox, all apparently died before the first sale cited above was made, and might have been buried on the site. George W., Robert, and Francis Cox all appear on the 1850 census, but not on the 1860 census. Emmeretta is on the 1860 census but not mentioned in either of the deeds. If her husband and some of her children were buried there, then Mary Jane Cox might have been as well (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book G, p. 326, Book M, p. 612; Colorado Citizen, November 2, 1882).
Number of known burials to date: 0
Dahse Cemetery
Origin of name: after Dahse family
Location: about eight tenths of a mile directly west of the intersection of FM 532 and County Road 244, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-321, Oakland Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 713464E, 3278590N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1887
Earliest known year of birth: 1837
Most recent known burial: c. 1892
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery is marked on the map cited above simply as "Grave."
Surveyors: Bill Stein and Nelda Hajdik
Date surveyed: August 3, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 3
Devil's Pocket Cemetery
See: Clear Creek Cemetery
Eagle Lake Cemetery East
was Farmer's Improvement Society Cemetery, after an organization of black farmers which offered, as one of the principal benefits of membership, burial insurance
Alternate name: Eagle Lake Community Cemetery East
Location: in Eagle Lake, on the northwest corner of FM 3013 and State Street
Map: 2996-421, Eagle Lake Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 759545E, 3275468N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1911
Earliest known year of birth: 1804
Most recent known burial: 2015
Racial mix: all black
Comments: Three markers were only partly legible. One provided the information that someone who is buried in the cemetery died on either February or July 8, 1992, another that someone died on June 15, 1965, and a third that someone was born in 1903 and died in 1979. Other existing records were checked in an attempt to further identify the burials, but in vain.
Surveyors: Sandy Ray, Tracey Wegenhoft, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: April 5, 1994
Date audited: September 2004 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 148
Eagle Lake Cemetery North
was Eagle Lake Community Cemetery
Location: at the intersection of Cat Springs Road and Cemetery Street in Eagle Lake, adjacent to the Eagle Lake Masonic Cemetery
Map: 2996-421, Eagle Lake Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 758434E, 3276909N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1885
Earliest known year of birth: 1826
Most recent known burial: 2012
Racial mix: all black
Comments: 1. On June 2, 1902, Arabella Dorigan deeded one acre, less "three Graves sold at the N. E. Corner to a colored family," adjacent to the "Freedman Grave Yard" to be used "for a Catholic Burying Ground" to the Galveston Diocese of the Catholic Church. Her deed also reserved three lots for the burial of Ellen Cherry and family, and twenty lots for "poor and destitute Catholics without charge" (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 24, p. 447). The Catholic cemetery never developed, and Mrs. Cherry and her family were eventually buried in the Eagle Lake Masonic Cemetery. The land sold to the church by Mrs. Dorigan is apparently now part of the Eagle Lake Community Cemetery.
2. The cemetery contains two quite interesting graves, each with an unusual headstone, and on one, a footstone that has mounted on it, a clock, with the time frozen at three minutes after eight.
Surveyors: Bill Stein, Elizabeth Schoellmann, and Geraldine Suber
Date surveyed: December 11, 1992
Date audited: September 2004 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 293
Eagle Lake Masonic Cemetery
Location: at the intersection of Prairie Avenue and Cemetery Street in Eagle Lake, adjacent to the Eagle Lake Community Cemetery
Map: 2996-421, Eagle Lake Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 758353E, 3276802N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1867
Earliest known year of birth: 1811
Most recent known burial: 2013
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. The cemetery dates from the appointment, on April 9, 1880, of a committee to purchase land for a cemetery by the Masonic chapter of Eagle Lake. The land was purchased on July 3, 1880 (see Eagle Lake Headlight, August 30, 1940).
2. The family of James Alston Harbert was originally buried in a family cemetery. Upon his death in 1921, he was buried in and his family members were moved to the Eagle Lake Masonic Cemetery.
Surveyors: Kathryn McRee and Robert Samuel Martin
Date surveyed: March 5, 1973
Auditors: Ernest Mae Seaholm
Date audited: 1989
Number of known burials to date: 773
Farmer's Improvement Society Cemetery
Alternate name: Eagle Lake Community Cemetery East
Fitzgerald Cemetery
Location: southwest of FM 1890 about 3.5 miles west of its southernmost intersection with State Highway 71, about 100 yards and across a ravine from the Grace Cemetery
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 727497E, 3292619N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1860
Earliest known year of birth: 1786
Most recent known burial: 1994
Racial mix: all white
Comments: This cemetery is often combined with the Grace Cemetery and referred to as the Fitzgerald-Grace Cemetery. The two cemeteries, however, are quite distinct from each other.
Surveyors: James and Mary Elizabeth Hopkins
Date surveyed: February 13, 1972
Auditors: Bill Stein and Lucien Templain, Jr.
Date audited: April 26, 1990
Number of known burials to date: 51
Flournoy Homestead Cemetery
Origin of name: after Flournoy family
Location: on the south side of County Road 273, very near its intersection with County Road 212
Map: 2996-312, Sawmill Branch Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 721140E, 3276325N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1869
Earliest known year of birth: 1857
Most recent known burial: 1869
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. There is only one grave on the site, but near the grave there is a marker designating the original home site of the Flournoy family which lists the members of the family and their birth and death dates. These people are actually buried elsewhere.
2. Gary E. McKee visited the site in October 2006 and made these notes: The UTMs of the home site are 721127E, 3276274N. There is a debris field on the homestead site, and a pear orchard remaining.
Surveyors: Jim Kearney, Anders Saustrup, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: March 14, 1990
Number of known burials to date: 1
Floyd Cemetery
Origin of name: after Floyd family
Source of name: death certificate of Mary Darden
Location: at the southern extremity of Secates Road
Map: 2996-344, Industry Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 731808E, 331254N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1925
Earliest known year of birth: 1865
Most recent known burial: 1973
Racial mix: all black
Comments: The cemetery contains a great many more graves than gravestones. One partially legible marker was not included in the cemetery records. It records the burial of someone named Nora who lived to be 61 years old.
Surveyors: Allen Ruhmann and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: March 10, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 13
Gaedecke Cemetery
Location: north of Bostik Road
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Earliest known year of death: c. 1926
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1855
Most recent known burial: 1948
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery that is called "Gaedecke" on the map cited above is actually the Kretzschmar Cemetery. The Gaedecke Cemetery is some distance to the northwest, very near the Hinks Cemetery, marked simply "Cem."
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 5
Gaedecke Cemetery
See: Kretzschmar Cemetery
Garwood Cemetery
Origin of name: after the nearby town
Location: about 2.5 miles west of Garwood, on the south side of FM 1693 about .3 miles from its intersection with Ed Frnka Road
Map: 2996-133, Garwood Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 748612E, 3259537N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1912
Earliest known year of birth: 1837
Most recent known burial: 1987
Racial mix: all white
Comments: On April 25, 1914, J. J. Pinchback deeded three acres to the Garwood Cemetery Association for use as a cemetery (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 55,p. 613).
Surveyors: Elizabeth Schoellmann
Date surveyed: September 1991
Number of known burials to date: 43
Garwood Methodist Cemetery
See: Lehrer Memorial Cemetery
Gay Hill Cemetery
Origin of name: after the Gay family, who provided the land for the cemetery
Source of name: death certificates and obituaries
Alternate name: Private Colored Toland Chapel Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: unknown
Source of alternate name: deed records
Location: on the south side of Schobel Road, about 1.8 miles west of its intersection with Brunes Mill Road
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 733660E, 3293001N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1913
Earliest known year of birth: 1853
Most recent known burial: 2012
Racial mix: all black
Comments: On January 15, 1912, James Bates Gay and his mother, Betty Munn Gay sold 2.143 acres to the Private Colored Toland Chapel Cemetery Association for use as a cemetery. The original deed refers to the cemetery as the "Private Colored Poland Chapel Cemetery," but the name is corrected in the release filed some months later. That name almost immediately fell into disuse. Death certificates from as early as 1918 refer to the cemetery by its now universal name, the Gay Hill Cemetery (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 49, p. 125, Book 52, p. 147).
Surveyors: Elizabeth Schoellman, Geraldine Suber, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: October 9, 1992
Date audited: September 2011 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 156
Gerstenberger Cemetery
Origin of name: after Gerstenberger family
Location: on the east side of FM 532, about one tenth of a mile south of its intersection with County Road 244
Map: 2996-321, Oakland Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 714866E, 3278513N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1886
Earliest known year of birth: 1796
Most recent known burial: 1886
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery contains no tombstones. The names of the people buried at the site, the dates of their births and deaths, and their relationship to each other were obtained by affidavit of Wilma Gerstenberg Beken. In 1990, an historical marker was was erected by the Gerstenberger descendants some fifty yards north of the cemetery. Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery with Butch Strunk in November 2006 and noted that Strunk stated that the grave is now believed to be on the site of the historical marker, because when the highway was being widened, bricks and other artifacts were encountered.
Surveyors: Butch Strunk
Date surveyed: November 15, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 2
Glidden Cemetery
Origin of name: after the nearby community
Source of name: death certificates
Location: on the north side of FM 2424
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quandrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1910
Earliest known year of birth: 1860
Most recent known burial: 1942
Racial mix: all black
Surveyors: John Batla and Walt Glasscock
Date surveyed: May 11, 2005
Number of known burials to date: 12
Golden Rod Cemetery
Origin of name: after Golden Rod Creek
Source of name: deed records
Alternate name: Brownson Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: after Brownson family
Source of alternate name: U. S. G. S. Topographical Map
Location: about half a mile north of Sandy's Road, less than half a mile from the Lavaca County line
Map: 2996-241, Sheridan SE Quadrangle (marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1884
Earliest known year of birth: 1836
Most recent known burial: 2009
Racial mix: all white
Comments: On July 12, 1915, Henry and Mary Beckman deeded one acre to the Golden Rod Cemetery Association. The deed specifies that the land was already being used as a cemetery (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 59, p. 57).
Surveyors: Beulah Ethel Davis, Lena Emogene Balusek, James Hopkins, and Mary Elizabeth Hopkins
Date surveyed: June 2, 1971
Number of known burials to date: 34
Good Hope Cemetery
Location: on the north side of the Interstate 10 feeder road, about 1.5 miles west of its intersection with the westernmost branch of County Road 210
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 719987E, 3286887N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1911
Earliest known year of birth: 1846
Most recent known burial: 2012
Racial mix: all black
Comments: As is characteristic of black cemeteries, there are many graves marked with uninscribed stones, pipes, or other implements. Additionally, many of the stones that were inscribed were of such poor quality that the inscriptions have fallen prey to the elements. One grave is marked with a rather curious metal cross. There is a flat metal plate above the crossbar which evidently once held the name of the individual buried beneath it. The five letters of what was apparently her first name, Daisy, fashioned from metal, are suspended from the crossbar.
Surveyors: Bill Stein and Elizabeth Schoellmann
Date surveyed: April 24, 1993
Date audited: September 2004, November 2009 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 154
Grace Cemetery
Origin of name: after the Grace family
Location: southwest of FM 1890 about 3.5 miles west of its intersection with State Highway 71, about 100 yards and across a ravine from the Fitzgerald Cemetery
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 727509E, 329519N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1857
Earliest known year of birth: 1801
Most recent known burial: 1878
Racial mix: all white
Comments: This cemetery is often combined with the Fitzgerald Cemetery and referred to as the Fitzgerald-Grace Cemetery. The two cemeteries, however, are quite distinct from each other.
Surveyors: James and Mary Elizabeth Hopkins
Date surveyed: February 13, 1972
Auditors: Bill Stein and Lucien Templain, Jr.
Date audited: April 26, 1990
Number of known burials to date: 8
Hadden Cemetery
Origin of name: after the Hadden family
Location: believed to be in the John Hadden Survey, near Alleyton, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1867
Earliest known year of birth: 1811
Most recent known burial: 1868
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The exact location of the cemetery is now unknown. The information regarding the burials was taken from an old survey, and has not been verified.
Surveyors: Henry and Erna Naumann
Date surveyed: 1930s
Number of known burials to date: 2
Hahn Cemetery
See: Nada Cemetery
Halyard Cemetery
Origin of name: after Halyard family
Location: on the west side of Highway 71, just less than a mile south of its intersection with Shaw's Bend Road, outside a pasture fence, on a small bluff
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 733308E, 3292163N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1891
Earliest known year of birth: 1808
Most recent known burial: 1937
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Only two gravestones, those for Alphonso Baker Halyard and Carroll Halyard, are extant. The other two burials at the site were provided by affidavit.
Surveyors: James and Mary Elizabeth Hopkins
Date surveyed: February 13, 1972
Auditors: Bill Stein
Date audited: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 5
Harvey's Creek Cemetery
See: Pleasant Hill Cemetery
Hasse Family Cemetery
Origin of name: after Hasse family
Location: About one half mile west of FM 155, about one third of a mile north of its intersection with County Road 230, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic.
Map: 2996-321, Oakland Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 715081E, 3276535N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1876
Earliest known year of birth: 1812
Most recent known burial: 1876
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery was apparently started in 1876, when the two earliest known burials occurred. At the time, Charles Siegmund Boeer owned the land. On September 30, 1897 he sold the land to his son, Charles August Boeer. Four years later, on November 2, 1901, the younger Boeer sold the land except "the Graveyard lot 22 x 40 ft." to Henry L. Rathke (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 17, pp. 266-268, Book 23, pp. 320-322).
Surveyors: Butch Strunk
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 2
Hebrew Benevolence Society Cemetery
Origin of name: after a common Jewish lodge name
Source of name: inscription on cemetery gate
Location: in Columbus, on the southwest corner of Montezuma Street and FM 806
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 735770E, 3287809N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1879
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1809
Most recent known burial: 1992
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. The cemetery is on one acre of property deeded by Ben F. Toliver on July 24, 1879 for $35. It was created as a burial ground for the local Jewish population. Though many cities around Texas contained Hebrew Benevolence Societies, it is believed that no such formal organization ever existed in Columbus. Columbus did, however, have a chapter of the B’nai B’rith. That chapter, the Naomi Lodge No. 313, was organized in 1879, and was certainly the body which created this cemetery (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book V, p. 30; Colorado Citizen, May 1, 1879.).
2. Interest in the cemetery was revived in the late 1980s, when Joe L. Williams induced a troop of boy scouts to clean out the incredible thicket of weeds, bushes, and trees, and to repair the fence. Williams then spearheaded an effort to erect a historical marker on the site, which went in place in early 1990. In 1992, when Sarah Ann Caplan was buried there, the cemetery saw its first funeral since 1938.
Surveyors: Lee Nesbitt
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Bill Stein
Date audited: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 11
Hehr Cemetery
Origin of name: after Hehr family
Location: about one third of a mile east of FM 155, about 1.75 miles south of its intersection with Interstate 10, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-324, Weimar Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 715636E, 3285525N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1891
Earliest known year of birth: 1822
Most recent known burial: 1892
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Butch Strunk
Date surveyed: October 12, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 2
Heinsohn Cemetery
Origin of name: after Heinsohn family
Location: about 250 feet north of Stokes Road, about .4 miles northwest of its intersection with Buxkemper Road, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-344, Industry Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1882
Earliest known year of birth: 1829
Most recent known burial: 1909
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Teddy Schultz, Allen Ruhmann, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: March 10, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 5
Himly Cemetery
Origin of name: after Himly family
Location: north of Bostik Road
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 751333E, 3301649N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1885
Earliest known year of birth: 1907
Most recent known burial: 1814
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Carolyn Skopik and Gary McKee visited the cemetery on April 1, 2007 and made these remarks: There is a chain link fence surrounding the cemetery approximately ten feet square. One stone is in good shape. The cemetery is in the back yard of a private home.
Surveyors: Larry Uhlig
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 2
Hinks Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Location:
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 751230E, 3301998N (NAD83/WGS84)
Comments: There is an iron fence which has been destroyed by the growth of a large cedar tree. No stones are visible.
Surveyors: Carolyn Skopik and Gary McKee
Date surveyed: April 1, 2007
Number of known burials to date: 0
Hoppe Cemetery
Origin of name: after Hoppe family
Location:
Map:
Earliest known year of death: 1996
Earliest known year of birth: 1927
Most recent known burial: 2001
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery was established by the Hoppe family in 1996. Both persons who are memorialized at the site by tombstones were cremated. The tombstones stand in the back yard of what was once their home.
Surveyors: none, all burials known through obituaries
Date surveyed: none
Number of known burials to date: 2
Hurr Cemetery
Origin of name: after Hurr family
Location: on the west side of Hurr Road, about .2 miles south of its intersection with Braden Road.
Map: 2996-244, Sheridan NE Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 735982E, 3261559N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1977
Earliest known year of birth: 1939
Most recent known burial: 2011
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Esther Curry
Date surveyed: March 24, 1994
Number of known burials to date: 2
Ijams Cemetery
See: Pleasant Grove Cemetery
Independent Methodist Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Source of name: sign on gate
Location: about one tenth of a mile southeast of the northernmost point at which County Road 250 turns west
Map: 2996-324, Weimar Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 709217E, 3281562N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1885
Earliest known year of birth: 1820
Most recent known burial: 1986
Racial mix: all black
Comments: 1. The cemetery was established on October 22, 1885, when A. B. Kerr deeded four acres "for Burial purposes" to a group of trustees (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 2, p. 491).
2. One grave is marked with only a footstone reading "J. A. A." Because of its location in the cemetery, within a group of people named "Arthur," it has been assumed that the stone marks the site of the burial of a person by that name. That person was probably Jack Arthur, who is known to be buried in the cemetery.
3. November 2006, remarks by Gary E. McKee: The graves are spread over the four acres, some in the trees next to an old road bed and some in pasture. There are many different styles of markers. The Independent Methodist Church is approximately one mile to the west.
Surveyors: Butch Strunk and Mary Elliott
Date surveyed: October 4, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 35
Jacobs Cemetery
Origin of name: after Jacobs family
Location: on Lehrmann Road, about .25 miles to the south of its intersection with FM 949
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 752964E, 3295554N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1886
Earliest known year of birth: 1838
Most recent known burial: 1886
Racial mix: all white
Comments: There are two stones on the site, though one is only partially intact. Both appear to be for the same individual.
Surveyors: Larry Uhlig
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Bill Stein
Date audited: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 1
Johse Cemetery
Origin of name: after Johse family
Location: on the west side of FM 949 less than a mile north of its intersection with Cat Spring Road
Map: 2996-432, Cat Spring Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 755480E, 3300275N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1892
Earliest known year of birth: 1833
Most recent known burial: 1923
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The map cited above erroneously calls the cemetery the "Jokse Cemetery."
Surveyors: Larry Uhlig
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 3
Jokse Cemetery
See: Johse Cemetery
Judyville Cemetery
Origin of name: after the community in which it is located
Location: on the east side of County Road 255, about nine-tenths of a mile north of its intersection with Highway 90A
Map: 2996-311, Rock Island Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 735628E, 3266995N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1935
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1874
Most recent known burial: 1940
Racial mix: all black
Comments: The cemetery is enclosed by a barbed wire fence, about sixty by forty feet. It has three grave markers, two of stone, neither of which contain any text, and one cross made of pipe. According to Emily Taylor, the cemetery once had several more markers, all of which were removed by one of her relatives because they had been handmade by one of her ancestors. Ms. Taylor said there were a dozen persons buried on the site, including Dan Thomas (a preacher who died about 1930), Fred Thomas, and Reuben Green. The last remembered burial was in about 1945, when a man who was visiting the area unexpectedly died. According to Ms. Taylor, the sheriff investigated the death and directed those present to wrap him in a sheet and bury him.
Surveyors: Emily Taylor, Laverne Taylor, Harold Taylor, Regena Williamson, Norma Hooper, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: May 10, 2006
Number of known burials to date: 2
Kaiser Cemetery
Origin of name: after Kaiser family
Location: on the west side of Brune's Mill Road, less than one-tenth of a mile south of its intersection with Dungen Mill Road
Map: 2996-341, Frelsburg Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 731609E, 330267N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1860
Earliest known year of birth: 1808
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006 and made this note: The cemetery contains one unique, homemade marker, a slab of stainless steel.
Surveyors: Bill Stein
Date surveyed: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 81
Kansteiner Cemetery
Origin of name: after Kainsteiner family
Location: about .75 miles north of a point on Kansteiner Road that is about one half a mile west of its intersection with Reese Lane, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1866
Earliest known year of birth: 1835
Most recent known burial: 1917
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The U. S. G. S. Topographic Map cited above shows a second cemetery just northeast of the Kansteiner Cemetery. Neither a search of the grounds or interviews with locals turned up any other evidence that this cemetery exists.
Surveyors: Dianna Foster
Date surveyed: November 1991
Number of known burials to date: 9
Kainsteiner 2
Origin of name: after Kansteiner family
Location: about one-third of a mile north of Piney Woods Road, at a point about 1.5 miles down the road from and west of its intersection with Mentz Road
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1882
Earliest known year of birth: 1830
Most recent known burial: 1914
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 3
Kelch Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Location: on the east side of Winslow Road, about two-tenths of a mile east of its intersection with FM 949
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 751848E, 3289246N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1873
Earliest known year of birth: 1849
Most recent known burial: 1904
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Tracey Wegenhoft
Date surveyed: April 6, 1994
Number of known burials to date: 4
Kellner Cemetery
See: Bretschneider Cemetery
Kollmann Family Cemetery
Location: On the south side of Kollmann Lane, about two-tenths of a mile east of its intersection with FM 109
Map: 2996-341, Frelsburg Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 737208E, 3293470N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 2007
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery was created in 2007 for the burial of Joshua Thomas Kollmann.
Number of known burials to date: 1
(from Colorado County TXGenWeb Project website)
Kretzschmar Cemetery
Origin of name: after Kretzschmar family
Alternate name: Gaedecke Cemetery
Source of alternate name: U. S. G. S. Topographic Map
Location: on the west side of Reichardt Lane near the county line
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 752515E, 3301233N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1880
Earliest known year of birth: 1815
Most recent known burial: 1911
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Just three of the people listed, Dorothea Sophie Kordt, Christian Korth, and Paula Kretzschmar, have tombstones. The others are said to have been buried there by family members.
Surveyors: Larry Uhlig
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Larry Uhlig, Anders Saustrup, and Bill Stein
Date audited: March 15, 1990
Number of known burials to date: 6
Laas Cemetery
Origin of name: after Laas family
Source of name: U. S. G. S. Topographical Map
Location: about nine tenths of a mile north of FM 532, about 1.4 miles east of its intersection with FM 2144, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-321, Oakland Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 712535E, 3278353N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1855
Earliest known year of birth: 1814
Most recent known burial: 1885
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. The visible evidence of the existence of the cemetery was reportedly destroyed by a landowner in the 1980s, with the tombstones being buried near the site. An exploration of the known site of the cemetery by Butch Strunk on October 4, 1992 revealed that the cemetery had indeed been destroyed. However, new landowners in 2005 discovered five stones on the site, all laying on the ground and broken into pieces.
2. Elizabeth, Sarah, and William Tooke were said to be buried at the site by James W. Holt, the son of Elizabeth Tooke, in a brief reminiscence of his life. No other evidence of their burial has been found.
3. Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006 and made these remarks: The stones are still on the ground. The site is on a hilltop in a grove of trees.
Surveyors: Butch Strunk
Date surveyed: July 7, 1983
Number of known burials to date: 8
Lakeside Cemetery or Lakeside Latin Cemetery
Origin of name: after the community near which it is located
Location: on the east side of FM 102, just south of Eagle Lake
Map: 2996-421, Eagle Lake Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 758252E, 3274653N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1868
Earliest known year of birth: 1814
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: white, Hispanic, and black
Comments: 1. The September 29, 1868 edition of the Houston Daily Times contains a report on the death and burial of Thomas Scott Anderson at Eagle Lake. The opening paragraph of that report reads, in part, he "was buried on Saturday evening, near the Lake, adjacent to the graves of the Confederate soldiers who died while encamped there during the war." As Ernest Mae Seaholm has pointed out, this is likely the origin of the Lakeside Cemetery.
2. The middle section of the southern part of the cemetery contains mostly Hispanic graves and is often referred to as the Lakeside Latin Cemetery or the Latin American Cemetery. Persons buried in this part of the cemetery are designated with the code "LakeLatin" while persons in the rest of the cemetery are designated "Lakeside." Note that there are Hispanic burials outside the Latin American part of the cemetery.
3. One grave is marked "Beloved infant Jane Doe Dec. 30, 1980 Mar. 28, 1981." This child was not the daughter of some family named Doe with a devilish sense of humor, but rather an unidentified child who was abandoned on the steps of the Eagle Lake Community Hospital on the day she was born. The infant was cared for at the Eagle Lake hospital, then transferred to Hermann Hospital in Houston, where she died. She was never named.
4. Ida Jewell Kuykendall, who was buried on August 7, 1999, was the first known black person to be buried in the cemetery.
Surveyors: Kathryn McRee and Robert Samuel Martin
Date surveyed: May 4 and October 11, 1975
Auditors: Bill Stein, Elizabeth Schoellmann, and Joe Fling
Date audited: April 30, May 7, May 13, and May 21, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 2697
Lehrer Memorial Cemetery
Origin of name: after a nearby church
Source of name: obituaries and death certificates
Alternate name: Garwood Methodist Cemetery, or German Methodist Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: after the nearby church's former name
Source of alternate name: U. S. G. S. Topographical Map
Location: on the east side of Highway 71, between 1.5 and 2 miles south of its intersection with County Road 111
Map: 2996-133, Garwood Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 750510E, 3264785N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1906
Earliest known year of birth: 1845
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery has only recently come to be known by its current name. Originally it was known as the German Methodist Cemetery, after the German Methodist Church of Vox Populi. The church was disbanded and the building sold and moved to Columbus for use as a private residence. The Lehrer Memorial Methodist Church, named after William K. and Dorothy Lehrer, who were members and benefactors, took over management of the cemetery in the 1970s.
Surveyors: Elizabeth Schoellmann
Date surveyed: September 1991
Number of known burials to date: 84
Lilie Cemetery
Origin of name: after Lilie family
Location:
Map: 2996-341, Frelsburg Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 729617E, 3303497N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1885
Earliest known year of birth: 1828
Most recent known burial: 1888
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Wayne Penello
Date surveyed: 2002
Number of known burials to date: 2
Live Oak Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Location: on the north side of FM 2434, near its intersection with County Road 222
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 720247E, 3283979N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1888
Earliest known year of birth: 1813
Most recent known burial: 2007
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in October 2006 and made these notes: Someone recently has made numerous small wooden crosses to document grave locations. The cemetery is in good shape. It is at the site of the old Live Oak School
Surveyors: Bill Stein
Date surveyed: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 76
Lostracco Cemetery
Origin of name: after Lostracco family
Alternate name: Mi Vida Cemetery
Location: on the east side of County Road 250, near the southernmost point at which it turns west
Map: 2996-324, Weimar Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 708535E, 3279897N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1983
Earliest known year of birth: 1942
Most recent known burial: 1983
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Butch Strunk and Mary Elliott
Date surveyed: October 4, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 1
Max Cemetery
Origin of name: after Max family
Location: about one-tenth of a mile north of a point on A. Braden Road that is about two-tenths of a mile from the southernmost place at which the road turns west.
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1873
Earliest known year of birth: 1804
Most recent known burial: 1892
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Susan Rogers and Bernice Rodgers
Date surveyed: April 24, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 3
McDowell Cemetery
Origin of name: after McDowell family
Alternate name: McDowell-Smith or Smith-McDowell
Source of name: death certificates
Location: On the south side of Brune's Mill Road, between .1 and .2 miles west of its intersection with FM 109
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 736220E, 3292653N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1912
Earliest known year of birth: 1853
Most recent known burial: 2011
Racial mix: all black
Comments: The cemetery is very informal. It is in a residential area, occupying most of the front yard of a house.
Surveyors: Duane Smith, Butch Strunk, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: March 27, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 15
McGrew Cemetery
Origin of name: after McGrew family
Source of name: death certificates
Location: about .4 miles east of Highway 71, about 2.5 miles south of its intersection with Highway 90A, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-422, Altair Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1940
Earliest known year of birth: 1874
Most recent known burial: 1990
Racial mix: all black
Surveyors: Ron Butler and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: March 18, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 17
McLeary Cemetery
Origin of name: after McLeary family
Location: about one-fourth of a mile east of County Road 204, about six-tenths of a mile north of its intersection with County Road 201
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 717808E, 3290940N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1872
Earliest known year of birth: 1816
Most recent known burial: 1884
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. There is at least one other grave on the site, marked with a heavy concrete slab. However, there is no inscription now visible on it.
2. Gary E. McKee visited the site in December 2006 and made these comments: The stones and markers are all in pieces, and the concrete slab was not visible.
Surveyors: Elizabeth McLeary McMahan, Sally Grey Weeks, and Elizabeth Grey Adkins
Date surveyed: March 1987
Auditors: Sally Grey Weeks and Bill Stein
Date audited: October 21, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 3
Mexican Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Source of name: U. S. G. S. Topographic Map
Location: on the west side of FM 102, about one mile north of its intersection with FM 949
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 749671E, 3284849N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1919
Earliest known year of birth: 1893
Most recent known burial: 1920
Racial mix: all Hispanic
Comments: 1. Several graves are marked with stones that have no inscriptions. One other stone has an inscription that successfully resisted our diligent efforts to read it. It appeared to catalogue the death of an individual who died in January 1939 at the age of 38.
2. Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006 and noted: The cemetery contains unique cultural stones. The site is in a yaupon thicket on the south side of the property line and a creek, and about 50 yards west of a right of way. It needs further documentation.
Surveyors: Tracey Wegenhoft and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: April 7, 1994
Number of known burials to date: 3
Meyer Family Cemetery
Origin of name: after Meyer family
Location: on the north side of New Ulm Road, about one and one half miles northwest of its intersection with FM 949 at Bernardo
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 750158E, 3296956N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1877
Earliest known year of birth: 1797
Most recent known burial: 1911
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Larry Uhlig
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 11
Miller Cemetery
Origin of name: after Miller family
Location: on the east side of County Road 215, just north of its intersection with County Road 215A
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 727056E, 3281696N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1883
Earliest known year of birth: 1818
Most recent known burial: 1909
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Gary E. McKee visited the site in October 2006 and made these notes: The area between the cemetery and the road has been fenced and cleared, and a green sign erected on the north side. The metal fence frame around the cemetery remains, but a chain link fence has been installed on the outside of the frame.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Jim Kearney, Anders Saustrup, and Bill Stein
Date audited: March 14, 1990
Number of known burials to date: 5
Gerhard Miller Cemetery
Alternate name: Miller 2
Origin of name: after the individual who owned the land on which the cemetery was established
Location: on the north side of G. Miller Road about six tenths of a mile east of its intersection with FM 109
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 737434E, 3291759N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1918
Earliest known year of birth: 1834
Most recent known burial: 1936
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Dorothy Jean Heine
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Frank Steitz and Bill Stein
Date audited: October 1, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 3
Miller Creek Cemetery
Origin of name: after the creek to its northeast
Location: at the intersection of County Road 210 and County Road 214
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 723236E, 3279794N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1878
Earliest known year of birth: 1813
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery was established on three acres deeded "for the purposes of a school house and a Lutheran Church" by Georg W. Stoneroad on September 5, 1872 (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book Q, pp. 168-169).
Surveyors: Bill Stein
Date surveyed: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 76
Miller High Hill Cemetery
Source of name: death certificates
Location: about 1.3 miles directly west of FM 109 and half a mile directly south of Zimmerscheidt Road
Map: 2996-341, Frelsburg Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 735885E, 3301744N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1918
Earliest known year of birth: 1852
Most recent known burial: 1975
Racial mix: all black
Comments: 1. The land around the cemetery has been excavated to a depth of six feet or more by gravel operators. The land on which the cemetery sits is quite rocky, so much so in fact, that one wonders how anyone ever dug a grave there.
2. Gary E. McKee visited the site in October 2006 and made these notes: The cemetery is now on the east side of the county road, which dead ends. The site is a mound in the center of a gravel pit. There are probably a lot more than seven graves.
Surveyors: Allen Ruhmann and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: September 29, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 7
Miller Oak Grove Cemetery
Source of name: obituary
Location: on Leaning Oaks Trail (a private road) about eight tenths of a mile south of its intersection with County Road 216
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 725051E, 3280733N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 2011
Earliest known year of birth: 1919
Most recent known burial: 2005
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery was created in 1997 as the eventual burial site of Arthur and Inda Miller. But their daughter, Kay Cates, died in 2005, and she became the first person buried on the site. The cemetery is a square, fifty by fifty feet, is fenced, and has a gate with a sign on it.
Number of known burials to date: 3
Mi Vida Cemetery
See: Lostracco Cemetery
Montgomery-Thatcher Cemetery
Origin of name: after Montgomery and Thatcher families
Location: on the east side of FM 950, about half a mile southwest of Matthews
Map: 2996-421, Eagle Lake Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 758473E, 3266798N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1890
Earliest known year of birth: 1815
Most recent known burial: 1926
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 17
Mount Zion Cemetery
See: Boykin Cemetery
Muckleroy Cemetery
Origin of name: after Muckleroy family
Location: about .2 miles east of Muckleroy Lane, about .75 miles north of its intersection with FM 109, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-344, Industry Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 737329E, 3311278N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1853
Earliest known year of birth: 1808
Most recent known burial: 1896
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery contains only one original tombstone. A stone commemorating the Muckleroys was erected by their grandchildren long after their death.
Surveyors: Teddy Schultz and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: March 10, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 4
Myrtle Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Source of name: obituaries and death certificates
Location: on FM 1693, about one half mile south of Rock Island
Map: 2996-311, Rock Island Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 735628E, 3266995N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1898
Earliest known year of birth: 1817
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all white
Comments: On May 7, 1902, Stephen Oscar and Oma M. Wheeless deeded five acres to the Myrtle Cemetery Association for use as a cemetery. One acre and five acre tracts were added to the cemetery on March 7, 1974 and March 14, 1984 respectively (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 24, p. 360, Book 324, p. 738, and Book 484, p. 5).
Surveyors: Esther Curry
Date surveyed: 1987
Number of known burials to date: 739
Nada Cemetery
Origin of name: after nearby community
Source of name: U. S. G. S. Topographical Map
Alternate name: Hahn Cemetery
Alternate name: National Cemetery
Location: on the north side of County Road 115, just over 2 miles west of its intersection with Highway 71 at Nada
Map: 2996-133, Garwood Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 750566E, 3254153E (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1895
Earliest known year of birth: 1856
Most recent known burial: 1994
Racial mix: all white
Surveyor: Elizabeth Schoellmann
Date surveyed: February 1991
Number of known burials to date: 23
National Cemetery
See: Nada Cemetery
Nativity Cemetery
Origin of name: after the Roman Catholic church in Eagle Lake
Location: in Eagle Lake, at the corner of South Austin Road and Old Altair Road
Map: 2996-421, Eagle Lake Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 756966E, 3276113N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 2001
Earliest known year of birth: 1913
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery was established in December 2001. Mike V. Duarte was the first person buried on the site.
Date audited: August 2009 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 67
New Bielau Cemetery
Origin of name: after the community in which it is located
Location: on the east side of FM 155, just south of its intersection with FM 2144
Map: 2996-324, Weimar Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 715581E, 3280323N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1890
Earliest known year of birth: 1812
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery adjoins the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. The graves are arranged, roughly, in chronological order, beginning in the northwest corner of the cemetery.
Surveyors: Bill Stein
Date surveyed: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 284
Oakes Cemetery
Origin of name: after the Oakes family
Location: on the east side of FM 106, about 7.5 miles, following the meanders, north of its intersection with Highway 90A
Map: 2996-311, Rock Island Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 731999E, 3277307N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1869
Earliest known year of birth: 1820
Most recent known burial: 1911
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery contains one footstone with the initials "L. S. T." for which no headstone could be found. There are informal markers for at least five more graves.
Surveyors: Vernon Rabel, Juanita Rabel, Regena Williamson, Norma Hooper, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: May 10, 2006
Number of known burials to date: 9
Oakland Cemetery
Origin of name: after the community in which it is located
Location: in Oakland, on the north side of Washington Street just west of Main Street
Map: 2996-321, Oakland Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 709850E, 3276658N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1929
Earliest known year of birth: 1858
Most recent known burial: 2013
Racial mix: all black
Comments: The cemetery was started when access to the Oakland Hill Cemetery became difficult because of the condition of the roads.
Surveyors: Butch Strunk and Mary Elliott
Date surveyed: October 21, 1992
Date audited: August 26, 2009 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 88
Oakland Hill Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Location: about 1.8 miles west of FM 2144 and about .4 miles north of the point at which the West Navidad River joins the East Navidad River, reachable only by an unnamed unpaved road
Map: 2996-321, Oakland Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 709112E, 3277643N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1905
Earliest known year of birth: 1824
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all black
Comments: Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006 and made these remarks: According to Butch Strunk, the site was originally used as a slave cemetery by Augustus B. Wooldridge. The cemetery was accessed from Oakland by a road along the Navidad River until a crossing was washed out. This cemetery was then abandoned, and the Oakland Cemetery used by the black community. The site is on a promontory and contains many different types of markers. There are probably many more than 50 burials.
Surveyors: Butch Strunk and Mary Elliott
Date surveyed: October 25, 1992
Date audited: August 26, 2009 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 60
Obenchain Family Cemetery
See: Pinchback Cemetery
Obenhaus Cemetery
Origin of name: after Obenhaus family
Source of name: obituary of Arnold Obenhaus
Location: about three fourths of a mile directly south of County Road 211 and about a half mile directly west of County Road 219, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1894
Earliest known year of birth: 1813
Most recent known burial: 1894
Racial mix: all white
Comments: There are no grave markers on the site, though the cemetery is fenced and a single stone with one word, "Obenhaus," on it, has been erected. The only known burial, that of Arnold Obenhaus, was detected via a newspaper obituary.
Surveyors: Jim Kearney and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: June 1990
Number of known burials to date: 1
Old Osage Cemetery
Origin of name: after the community in which it is located
Location: about three tenths of a mile west of County Road 208 and north of County Road 205, on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 721242E, 3292682N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1866
Earliest known year of birth: 1801
Most recent known burial: 1893
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. The cemetery apparently was created on February 1, 1868, when William Lucius Adkins deeded four acres, including a "two acre lot laid off as a grave yard," to the Missionary Baptist Church of Osage (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book N, pp. 472-473).
2. The size of the cemetery indicates that there are many more graves than are catalogued. Several stones are evident but illegible. Two footstones, one reading "G. B." and the other "B. G." can be read. The Taylor graves are enclosed by a four to five foot high stone wall that defines an area approximately 10 by 30 feet. There is no gate or other entry to the enclosed area, but there is a concrete stairway inside the enclosure by which one can reach the top of the wall.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Dorothy Albrecht and George D. Goode
Date audited: November 30, 1991
Number of known burials to date: 13
Osage Cemetery
Origin of name: after the community in which it is located
Location: at the intersection of County Roads 205 and 208
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 720878E, 3292198N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1860
Earliest known year of birth: 1788
Most recent known burial: 2012
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. On July 21, 1875, Rowan and Leonora Dixie Green deeded a single acre for the cemetery to the trustees of Osage Cemetery (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book S, p. 165).
2. William Bennett Scates and his wife, Sarah Ann Scates, were originally buried in the Osage Cemetery. Both were moved to the Texas State Cemetery in Austin in 1929. William B. Scates, who was born June 27, 1802 and died February 22, 1882, was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and a soldier at the Battle of San Jacinto. His wife, the daughter of John and Margaret (Edwards) McMillan, lived from July 28, 1819 until April 28, 1881. She married William B. Scates on March 25, 1850. Earlier she was married to a man named Wilson.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Bill Stein
Date audited: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 181
Paradise Gardens Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Location: on the south side of Highway 90, just west of Weimar, adjacent to the Weimar Odd Fellows and the Weimar Masonic Cemeteries, but separated from them by a fence
Map: 2996-324, Weimar Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 713373E, 327637N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1887
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1808
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all black
Comments: 1. The cemetery was created on September 11, 1888, when John H. Fisher deeded 3.1 acres adjacent to Weimar Odd Fellows Cemetery to the trustees of the Colored Grave Yard (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 5, p. 336).
2. The tombstone of Somon W. Simmons clearly, but obviously erroneously, reports that he died on October 32, 1940. A check of the death records at the Colorado County courthouse revealed the true date of death.
3. In 2006, the fence which separated this cemetery from the Weimar Odd Fellows cemetery was removed so that ordinary mowing and weeding would be easier. Some additional tombstones were discovered in the undergrowth.
Surveyors: Bill Stein and Elizabeth Schoellmann
Date surveyed: November 17, 18, and 21, 1994
Date audited: September 2004 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 890
Perry Cemetery
Origin of name: after Perry family
Location: about 1.4 miles north of a point on County Road 218 about .2 miles west of the point at which it turns west
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 729790E, 3289986N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1864
Earliest known year of birth: 1810
Most recent known burial: 1870
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Wayne Zimmerhanzel and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: March 20, 1995
Number of known burials to date: 2
Pest Camp Burial Grounds
Origin of name: death certificate of James Dickey
Location: about one mile east of Weimar, though the precise location is unknown
Earliest known year of death: 1918
Racial mix: all black
Comments: In April 1918, Weimar physician Adolph Hans Potthast diagnosed a case of smallpox on a farm near Borden. The sick man was identified as Ed Scott, and was a black man. Potthast and the county health officer, Josiah Hereford Payne, shortly established a quarantine camp, where other victims and potential victims were detained under round-the-clock guards. The camp, which was about one mile east of Weimar, became known as the pest house. For some reason, the two doctors did not feel that the disease was a threat to the white community, and all of the persons confined at the pest house were black. At least two people died of the disease. One certainly was buried on the grounds, and so apparently was the other. James Dickey's death certificate says that he was buried at the Pest Camp; Evan Scott's says that he died of smallpox and was buried near Weimar.
Surveyors: none, burials known from death records
Number of known burials to date: 2
(from Colorado County TXGenWeb Project website)
Pinchback Cemetery
Origin of name: after the Pinchback family, who once owned the land on which the cemetery was established
Alternate name: Obenchain Family Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: after the Obenchain family, many members of which are buried in the western half of the cemetery
Alternate name: Miller's Lake Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: after the nearby lake
Location: about nine tenths of a mile east of County Road 101, just south of Miller's Lake, on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 742265E, 3284068N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1864
Earliest known year of birth: 1808
Most recent known burial: 1946
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. The cemetery is on land that was once part of the Pinchback plantation south of town. James Pinchback bought the land on February 28, 1842. He sold it to his brother, John Pinchback, on June 22, 1844 (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book D, p. 21, Book E, p. 112).
2. Twenty-nine of the thirty known graves in the cemetery are inside a fence. The fenced area is divided by another fence. The grave of Clara C. Neal is just to the south of the fence. The eastern half of the fenced area contains the Pinchbacks, Howlands, and James Clifton Chapman. The western half contains the Obenchains, Walls, and other graves.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Bill Stein
Date audited: September 22, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 31
Pleasant Grove Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Source of name: deed records
Alternate name: Ijams Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: after Ijams family
Source of alternate name: U. S. G. S. Topographical Map
Location: on the south side of FM 2434, just west of its intersection with Rocky Hill Road
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 729350E, 3285267N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1858
Earliest known year of birth: 1803
Most recent known burial: 1991
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery was created on June 18, 1895 when Anna Ijams deeded two acres "Known as the Pleasant Grove Cemetery, or Grave Yard" to the Pleasant Grove Cemetery (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 12, p. 291).
Surveyors: Jon K. Loessin
Date surveyed: July 1988
Auditors: Bill Stein
Date audited: August 1988
Number of known burials to date: 95
Pleasant Hill Cemetery
Origin of name: after the adjacent church
Source of name: death records
Alternate name: Harvey's Creek Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: after a nearby creek
Source of alternate name: death records
Location: about .7 miles directly west of County Road 206 and 1.1 miles directly north of County Road 218, reachable only by an unpaved, unnamed road
Map: 2996-313, Borden Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 725104E, 3289986N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1907
Earliest known year of birth: 1862
Most recent known burial: 2009
Racial mix: all black
Comments: There are at least twenty apparent graves with either no or rudimentary or illegible markers at the site.
Surveyors: Butch Strunk and Mary Elliott
Date surveyed: January 16, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 25
Poenitzsch Cemetery
Origin of name: after Poenitzsch family
Source of name: obituary of Polly Ann McRoberts
Location: on the west side of FM 1890 (Shaws Bend Road), about 2.2 miles south of its northernmost intersection with Highway 71
Map: 2996-342, Ellinger Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 726292E, 3294510N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1877
Earliest known year of birth: 1873
Most recent known burial: 2006
Racial mix: unknown, presumed all white
Comments: The 1993 burial of Polly Ann (Poenitzsch) McRoberts was the first in the cemetery since 1878. Previously, only two people were known to be buried in the cemetery, Lyllian and James Carrell.
Surveyors: Bill Stein and Mary Annell Horndt
Date surveyed: April 28, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 6
Prause Cemetery
Origin of name: after Prause family
Location: about 1.8 miles almost directly north of Bernardo, on the Little San Bernard River, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1908
Earliest known year of birth: 1839
Most recent known burial: 1923
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Larry Uhlig
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 7
Private Colored Toland Chapel Cemetery
See: Gay Hill Cemetery
Reels Bend Cemetery
Origin of name: after the bend of the Colorado River in which it is located
Location: near the west end of Old Altair Road, less than fifty yards south of the road
Map: 2996-422, Altair Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 3277376N, 749211E (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1851
Earliest known year of birth: 1805
Most recent known burial: 1964
Racial mix: whites and blacks
Comments: William Brown, Matthews Stovall, and George Tillman were black men. Charlie Brown and John D. Rowe probably were as well.
Surveyors: Lee Nesbitt and Dorothy Albrecht
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Harrison Walker, Robert Davis, Ernest Mae Seaholm, and Bill Stein
Date audited: October 6, 1989
Number of known burials to date: 35
Rees Cemetery
Origin of name: after Rees (Reese) family
Location: on the west side of FM 155, about three tenths of a mile south of its intersection with County Road 270
Map: 2996-321, Oakland Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 715648E, 3273491N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1870
Earliest known year of birth: 1801
Most recent known burial: 1892
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006 and made these remarks: The site is in the property owner's back yard. A new structure has been built within ten feet of the graves, if the graves are where the stones are now. The stones are on the ground and propped up against a tree stump. The Rees’s must have been good farmers; there are chile pequins on the grave site and a small orange tree next to it.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Melvin Reue and Bill Stein
Date audited: July 4, 1990
Number of known burials to date: 5
Regla Cemetery
Origin of name: after the surname of the only person known to have been buried at the site
Location: about 400 yards south of Schobel Road, about .4 miles west of its intersection with Brunes Mill Road, and about .9 miles west of the point where Brunes Mill Road intersects with FM 109
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1901
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1873
Most recent known burial: 1901
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The single tombstone on the site was once enclosed in a short iron fence that has mostly fallen down. There is another, considerably larger area on the site that was once enclosed by a picket fence, most of which has also fallen down, but there was no evidence of any kind that anyone had ever been buried within it.
Surveyors: Robert L. Schobel and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: August 27, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 1
Reichardt Cemetery
Origin of name: after Reichardt family
Location: north of Bernardo near the county line, on the west side of Reichardt Lane
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 753156E, 3301526N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1876
Earliest known year of birth: 1822
Most recent known burial: 1889
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Carolyn Skopik and Gary McKee visited the cemetery on April 1, 2007 and made these remarks: The cemetery is surrounded by a twenty foot chain link fence. There is one stone for two graves, with names on each side of the stone. Another stone is in the opposite corner, in German. There are a lot of brambles and yaupon.
Surveyors: Larry Uhlig
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Anders Saustrup and Bill Stein
Date audited: March 15, 1990
Number of known burials to date: 4
Riesing Cemetery
Origin of name: after Riesing family
Location: southwest of Richter Road, about .1 miles north of its intersection with Highway 71
Map: 2996-342, Ellinger Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 729523E, 3295997N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1872
Earliest known year of birth: 1808
Most recent known burial: 2003
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Bill Stein
Date surveyed: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 45
Rising Star Cemetery
Origin of name: after a nearby church
Alternate name: White Cloud Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: after another nearby church
Location: about two-tenths of a mile north of Old Altair Road, about one-tenth of a mile west of its intersection with Henry Street and seven-tenths of a mile west of its intersection with Austin Road
Map: 2996-421, Eagle Lake Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 756093E, 3276960N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1935
Earliest known year of birth: 1862
Most recent known burial: 2012
Racial mix: all black
Comments: Most curiously and uniquely, one tombstone, that for Harriett Parker, has a sort of advertisement printed on it. Below her name and the dates of her birth and death is the inscription "This stone selected by Charlie Parker built by Butler Monument Wks. Slaton, Texas."
Surveyors: Tracey Wegenhoft and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: April 5, 1994
Date audited: September 2004 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 202
Rock Island Cemetery
Origin of name: after the community in which it is located
Alternate name: Richardson Homestead Cemetery
Location: in Rock Island, on the south side of Smith Street, about one-tenth of a mile east of its intersection with Cushen Street
Map: 2996-311, Rock Island Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 735762E, 3269059N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1901
Earliest known year of birth: 1867
Most recent known burial: 1901
Racial mix: all white
Comments: There are two markers at the site, one a crude stone on which the name "Ruth A. Humphrys" has been scratched, and one, the base of a larger stone, on which the name "Cook" appears. This cemetery appears be the one referred to on page 48 of Ethel Nicewander's small 1980 book Rock Island, Texas My Old Home Town. Nicewander reports that the first people who died in Rock Island were buried "in the old cemetery south of the Oscar Einkauf home. About 1900 the old cemetery was abandoned and many of the bodies were moved to the new cemetery [the Myrtle Cemetery]. The cemetery was moved because the old plot stood under water much of the time during heavy rains." There is a Ruth Alice Humphreys now buried in the Myrtle Cemetery. However, she died in 1915, suggesting that she is a different person than the Ruth A. Humphrys whose stone is at the site of the Rock Island Cemetery, or that Nicewander has her dates wrong. Only one person, Lee Reginald Taylor, is known to be still buried at the site and the exact location of his grave is unknown. The fact of his burial and the rough location of his grave was provided by Molly Taylor in 1992. She referred to the cemetery as the Richardson Homestead Cemetery.
Surveyors: Bill Stein and Molly Taylor
Date surveyed: May 18, 1992
Auditors: Regena Williamson, Norma Hooper, and Bill Stein
Date Audited: April 29, 2006
Number of known burials to date: 1
Ruhmann Cemetery
Origin of name: after Ruhmann family
Location: about one tenth of a mile west of Dungen Mill Road, just south of its intersection with Old New Ulm Road
Map: 2996-341, Frelsburg Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1869
Earliest known year of birth: 1803
Most recent known burial: 1869
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery contains two tombstones. One, the original stone for Edward Ruhmann, is in very poor condition and is barely readable. The other is a recently erected tombstone with the names of the three persons known to be buried on the site.
Surveyors: Allen Ruhmann and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: September 29, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 3
St. Anthony Catholic Cemetery
Origin of name: after the local Catholic church
Source of name: deed records
Location: in Columbus, on the northeast corner of Montezuma Street and FM 806
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 735861E, 3287936N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1930
Earliest known year of birth: 1866
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: white and Hispanic
Comments: The cemetery was created on March 25, 1946 when Antonia Hanak deeded 3.26 acres of land to the Archbishop of San Antonio for the use of St. Anthony's parish as a cemetery, but the cemetery was not formally laid out until some four years later. The first burials were transfers from other cemeteries in the fall of 1950. On April 13, 1954, a wedge shaped piece of land comprising .42 acres between the cemetery and FM 806, deeded to the archbishop by Texas Construction Materials Company, was added to the cemetery (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 129, pp. 407-408, Book 177, p. 451).
Surveyors: Bill Stein
Date surveyed: June 1989
Number of known burials to date: 831
St. Mary Catholic Cemetery
Origin of name: after the nearby church
Source of name: obituaries and death certificates
Location: in Nada, behind the Catholic church
Map: 2996-133, Garwood Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 754230E, 3255989N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1884
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1799
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: white and Hispanic
Comments: 1. Many of the older tombstones are in Czech and some are in German. The stone of Josef Kosa is inscribed with dates of birth and death in both Czech and English. However, the dates differ. The Czech dates translate to April 22, 1882 and June 15, 1909, but the English give us May 22, 1882 and September 15, 1909. In the cemetery records, this stone has been taken to represent just one burial, with the properly translated Czech dates regarded as accurate.
2. Many of the individuals cited herein as having been buried in this cemetery do not have headstones. Elizabeth Schoellmann extracted more than 100 such names from the parish records.
3. The actual name of the church after which the cemetery is named is Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but this has been shortened, if only by common usage, when reference is made to the cemetery.
Surveyors: Elizabeth Schoellmann and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: June 14, October 11, and November 12, 1991
Number of known burials to date: 1377
St. Michael Catholic Cemetery
Origin of name: after the church near which it is located
Location: on the corner of FM 155 and Huvar Street in Weimar
Map: 2996-324, Weimar Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 714704E, 3288893N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1881
Earliest known year of birth: 1811
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Bill Stein, Elizabeth Schoellmann, and Tracey Wegenhoft
Date surveyed: 1998, 1999
Number of known burials to date: 2293
Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery
Origin of name: after the church at which it is located
Location: in Frelsburg, just south of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church
Map: 2996-341, Frelsburg Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 737353E, 3306175N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1856
Earliest known year of birth: 1790
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Bill Stein, Travis Martinek, and Clint Ratliff
Date surveyed: August 10, 11, and 15, 1989
Number of known burials to date: 761
St. Roch Catholic Cemetery
Origin of name: after the church at which it is located
Location: in Mentz
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 747849E, 3293910N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1847
Earliest known year of birth: 1785
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: whites and Hispanics
Comments: In November 1942, the iron fence which had enclosed the cemetery for approximately fifty years was torn down and sold for scrap to aid the effort to win World War II.
Surveyors: Bill Stein, Elizabeth Schoellmann, and Geraldine Suber
Date surveyed: October 2 and 9, 1992, again in June 28, 2012 by Virgil T. Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 741
Sam Houston Cemetery
Origin of name: after nearby community school
Location: on the south side of FM 2144, about 1.2 miles west of its intersection with FM 155
Map: 2996-324, Weimar Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 713745E, 3280275N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1911
Earliest known year of birth: 1841
Most recent known burial: 1968
Racial mix: all black
Comments: 1. The cemetery was created on September 1, 1883, when W. H. Burnett deeded two acres to a group of trustees for a graveyard (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book Z, p. 514).
2. In addition to those catalogued, the cemetery contains eight to ten graves with illegible markers.
Surveyors: Melvin Reue and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: July 4, 1990
Number of known burials to date: 21
Shaw Cemetery
Origin of name: after the surname of the first person known to be buried at the site
Location: on a hill about .65 miles northeast of the point where County Road 201 turns to the northwest and about 1.15 miles east southeast of the point where County Road 201 turns west, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-342, Ellinger Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1859
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1787
Most recent known burial: 1997
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The birth date inscribed on Thomas Shaw's tombstone is partially obliterated. It can be determined that he was born on the 6th day of either February or July of some year in the 1780s. The cemetery contained only Shaw's grave, dating from 1859, until James Rorick Cravens was buried there in 1976.
Surveyors: Patsy Cravens and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: October 5, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 3
Shaws Bend Cemetery
Origin of name: after the community in which it is located
Location: on the west side of FM 1890 (Shaws Bend Road), about 1.5 miles from its northernmost intersection with Highway 71
Map: 2996-342, Ellinger Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 730619E, 3291861N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1904
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1836
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all black
Surveyors: Bill Stein and Mary Annell Horndt
Date surveyed: April 28, 1993z
Date audited: December 2009 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 22
Shepard Memorial Cemetery
Origin of name: possibly after Mary J. Shephard, who owned land in the area, and perhaps conveyed the land on which the cemetery was established
Source of name: sign at entrance
Location: on the south side of Interstate 10, just west of its intersection with FM 2434
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 732824E, 3287149N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1912
Earliest known year of birth: 1850
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all black
Surveyors: Bill Stein and Elizabeth Schoellmann
Date surveyed: April 8, 1993
Date audited: November 16, 2009 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 157
Sommerlatte Cemetery
Origin of name: after the family whose members are suspected to be buried there
Source of name: U. S. G. S. Topographic Map
Location: about .85 miles north of Kansteiner Road, at a point nearly directly north of its intersection with Reese Lane
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Comments: On June 24, 2001, longtime resident of the area Manly Leyendecker reported that he and others once knew the location of the cemetery, but that since the removal of landmarks, no one has been able to locate it. He also reported that no tombstones or markers of any kind were on the site.
Number of known burials to date: 0
Suggs Cemetery
Origin of name: after the family whose members are buried there
Location: unknown, though said to be some eight to ten miles south of Columbus
Map: unknown
Earliest known year of death: 1857
Earliest known year of birth: 1820
Most recent known burial: 1873
Racial mix: all white
Comments: John Kemp made the library aware that the cemetery existed in the 1990s, though its exact location was not known. Ed Corey submitted a list of persons buried there to the library via e-mail on November 27, 2003. Corey, who has never visited the cemetery, got the list from a relative of the Suggs family. Her list was accompanied by a note stating that the cemetery was on the "side of a hill near a road" and visible from the road. Both Kemp and Corey reported that they had heard the tombstones were in a creek bed.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: 1950s
Number of known burials to date: 3
Tait Cemetery
Origin of name: after Tait family
Location: about 1.6 miles directly east of Highway 71 and 2.75 directly north of Highway 90A, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-422, Altair Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 745415E, 3278202N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1849
Earliest known year of birth: 1812
Most recent known burial: 1953
Racial mix: whites and blacks
Comments: The Tait graves on the site are surrounded by a four foot high, stone and concrete wall. The Walker and Weaver graves are to the east of the enclosure, those of Maggett, Burton, Blakely, Glover, Roy, and Wilkerson to the west. The last five named people were blacks who worked for the Tait family at some time. There are also two quite substantial concrete crypts on the west side of the enclosure. It has been speculated that they were the children of Maggett, who was the plantation's overseer. Just a few steps to the northwest, there is a cluster of yucca bushes. Such plants are characteristic of rural black graveyards in this area, and, since they are the only such plants on the ranch, probably indicate the site of more graves.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Millie Cranek, Alice Tait, and Bill Stein
Date audited: September 30, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 15
Tanner Cemetery
Origin of name: after Tanner family
Source of name: usage
Location: about 100 yards east of Highway 71, between 1.5 and 2 miles south of its intersection with Interstate 10
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 739091E, 3284748N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1862
Earliest known year of birth: 1793
Most recent known burial: 1922
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Bill Stein, Dorothy Albrecht, Barrett Orsak, and Amber Burris
Date surveyed: August 3, 1989
Number of known burials to date: 14
Taylor Cemetery
Origin of name: after Taylor family
Location: about .2 miles north of Old 90, at a point about one mile east of its intersection with Highway 90
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1863
Earliest known year of birth: 1815
Most recent known burial: 1885
Racial mix: all white
Comments: One footstone contains the initials J. S. T. It probably denotes the grave of John S. Taylor, who was listed on the 1860 census as an 11 year old son of James Lee Taylor.
Surveyors: Gertrude Isgrig
Date surveyed: April 1972
Auditors: Bill Stein and Sidney Price
Date audited: March 10, 1994
Number of known burials to date: 6
Thomas Family Cemetery
See: Wind Chapel Cemetery
Tipp Cemetery
Origin of name: after Tipp family
Location: north of Bernardo, south of the intersection of Bostik Road and Cat Spring Road
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1866
Earliest known year of birth: 1827
Most recent known burial: 1947
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Larry Uhlig
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 8
Toland Cemetery
Origin of name: after Toland family
Location: about one-half mile south of a point on Schobel Road about three-fourths of a mile west of its intersection with Brunes Mill Road, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 734381E, 3292630N
Earliest known year of death: 1936
Earliest known year of birth: 1861
Most recent known burial: 1960
Racial mix: all black
Comments: The cemetery contains one group of six graves enclosed by a sturdy chain link fence, and six other apparent graves outside the fence.
Surveyors: Amanda Schobel, Tracey Wegenhoft, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: May 16, 1998
Number of known burials to date: 4
Trinity Lutheran Church Cemetery
Origin of name: after the church at which it is located
Location: in Frelsburg, at the Trinity Lutheran Church, north of FM 1291, just west of its intersection with FM 109
Map: 2996-341, Frelsburg Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 736674E, 3307065N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1859
Earliest known year of birth: 1800
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. The cemetery is on 3.9 acres of land deeded by William Frels to the trustees of the Protestant Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frelsburg on May 26, 1857 (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book J, pp. 419-420).
2. The part of the cemetery directly behind the church is often referred to as the Frels Cemetery.
3. Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006 and made these notes: There is new fencing around the cemetery and gates.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Bill Stein, Clint Ratliff, and Travis Martinek
Date audited: August 15 and 16, 1989
Number of known burials to date: 542
Uhlig Cemetery
Origin of name: after Uhlig family
Location: about one-half mile southeast of the intersection of Cat Spring Road and Bostik Road
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1997
Earliest known year of birth: 1931
Most recent known burial: 1997
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 3
Union Hill Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Source of name: deed records
Location: on the northwest side of Strickland Lane, about .4 miles southwest of its intersection with FM 102
Map: 2996-134, Bonus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 759401E, 3265981N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1927
Earliest known year of birth: 1837
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all black
Comments: The cemetery was established on ten acres of land purchased from Frank P. Herbert on July 15, 1921. Presently, it appears to contain more than twenty acres, making it probably the largest rural cemetery in the county (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 71, p. 208).
Surveyors: Joe Fling
Date surveyed: May 26, 1993
Date audited: January 2010 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 156
Vox Populi Cemetery
Origin of name: after community near which it is located
Source of name: death records
Location: about .5 miles east of the juncture of Highway 71 and Duncan Lane (County Road 111), just a few yards to the north of the Alexander Cemetery, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-422, Altair Quadrangle (marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1908
Earliest known year of birth: 1832
Most recent known burial: 1949
Racial mix: all black
Comments: A companion to the nearby Alexander Cemetery, like it, this cemetery has not been used for decades and is consequently in a dense thicket. The surveyors found it only with great difficulty and diligent effort, and were able to survey it only after chasing a copperhead off the premises. Only two readable stones and one unreadable metal funeral-home-type grave marker were found. According to local residents, the cemetery actually contains many more graves. Based on names provided by area resident Tony Williams, library staff searched the death records at the Colorado County courthouse and, despite the fact that his death certificate said he was buried at Garwood, decided to add one name, Edward Champ, to the list of those buried in the cemetery.
Surveyors: Glenda Henderson Jordan, Kerry Briggs, Marvin C. Farrow, and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: August 7, 1992
Date audited: August 26, 2009 by Virgil Thompson
Number of known burials to date: 18
Warner Cemetery
Origin of name: after Warner family
Location:
Map:
Earliest known year of death: 1889
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1825
Most recent known burial: 1889
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Butch Strunk
Date surveyed: November 14, 2001
Number of known burials to date: 2
Washington Cemetery
Origin of name: after Washington family
Source of name: usage
Location: southeast of Altair, beyond the east end of County Road 212, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-422, Altair Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1852
Earliest known year of birth: 1801
Most recent known burial: 1852
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Only one tombstone is evident. It catalogues two burials, reading: "To the memory of Julia B. Turner and her grandson, L. A. Washington, died August 12, 1852 in the space of two hours of each other. J. B. T. aged 51 years, 7 months, and 15 days. L. A. W. aged 11 years, 4 months, and 15 days." According to rumor, more stones are or were on the site.
Surveyors: Bill Stein, Frank Steitz, and Raymond McCausland
Date surveyed: June 1989
Number of known burials to date: 2
Wearden Cemetery
Origin of name: after Wearden family
Source of name: usage
Location: on the west side of Brune's Mill Road, about one tenth of a mile north of its intersection with Schobel Road
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 735575E, 3292989N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1915
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1869
Most recent known burial: 1916
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: Bill Stein
Date surveyed: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 3
Weimar Masonic Cemetery
Origin of name: after the lodge which started it
Location: on the south side of Highway 90, just west of Weimar, adjacent to and indistinguishable from the Weimar Odd Fellows Cemetery
Map: 2996-324, Weimar Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 713412E, 3287683N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1829
Earliest known year of birth: 1786
Most recent known burial: 2015
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery was created on February 28, 1877, when Daniel W. Jackson deeded two acres "for Burial & Graveyard purposes" to the local Masonic chapter. On March 20, 1916, John B. and Barbara Mazoch deeded an additional 1.78 acres to the cemetery. On March 15, 1956, the Weimar Cemetery Association, an organization "dedicated to the purpose of maintaining the Weimar Masonic Cemetery and the I. O. O. F. Cemetery at Weimar, Texas" was formed (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book T, p. 55, Book 60, p. 40, Book 191, p. 15).
Surveyors: Elinor McCormick Vinson
Date surveyed: February 1974 and August 1975
Auditors: Dorothy Albrecht, Jacklyn Marak Bartosh, Eunice Bittner, Harold Matthews, Elliott Koehn, Wilton Leppin, Sylvia Leppin, Doris Beken
Date audited: 2005
Number of known burials to date: 1923
Weimar Odd Fellows Cemetery
Origin of name: after the lodge which started it
Location: on the south side of Highway 90, just west of Weimar, adjacent to and indistinguishable from the Weimar Masonic Cemetery
Map: 2996-324, Weimar Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 713412E, 3287683N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1824
Earliest known year of birth: 1798
Most recent known burial: 2010
Racial mix: all white
Comments: The cemetery was created on May 3, 1875 when Daniel W. Jackson deeded 2 acres "for graveyard purposes" to the Weimar chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. On March 20, 1916, John B. and Barbara Mazoch deeded an additional 1.82 acres to the cemetery. On March 15, 1956, the Weimar Cemetery Association, an organization "dedicated to the purpose of maintaining the Weimar Masonic Cemetery and the I. O. O. F. Cemetery at Weimar, Texas" was formed. On May 7, 1959, the Odd Fellows deeded the entire cemetery to the Weimar Cemetery Trust (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book S, p. 103, Book V, p. 145, Book 60, p. 41, Book 191, p. 15, Book 210, p. 277).
Surveyors: Elinor McCormick Vinson
Date surveyed: February 1973
Auditors: Dorothy Albrecht, Jacklyn Marak Bartosh, Eunice Bittner, Harold Matthews, Elliott Koehn, Wilton Leppin, Sylvia Leppin, Doris Beken
Date audited: 2005
Number of known burials to date: 1062
Weishuhn Cemetery
Origin of name: after Weishuhn family
Location: on the south side of Zimmerscheidt Road, about
three miles east of its intersection with FM 109
Map: 2996-341, Frelsburg Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 741216E, 3300118N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1872
Earliest known year of birth: 1824
Most recent known burial: 1935
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. On August 16, 1895, Fredericke Weishuhn deeded the cemetery to her five children, Ernst, Elise, Bertha, Wilhelm, and Adolph (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 12, pp. 201-202). 2. There are five graves in the cemetery marked with stones that are unreadable.
Surveyors: Bill Stein, Clint Ratliff, and Travis Martinek
Date surveyed: August 16, 1989
Number of known burials to date: 9
Weishuhn 2
Edward Weishuhn Cemetery
Location: unknown
Map: unknown
Earliest known year of death: 1892
Earliest known year of birth: 1824
Most recent known burial: 1894
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 3
White Cloud Cemetery
See: Rising Star Cemetery
Williams Paradise
Chartie Williams Community Cemetery
Origin of name: after Chartie Williams, who donated the land
Source of name: Commissioners Court Minutes
Alternate name: Williams Paradise Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: unknown
Source of alternate name: death certificates
Location: about one-tenth of a mile west of Highway 71, between 3.5 and 4 miles south of its intersection with Highway 90A, or about one mile north of its intersection with Duncan Lane (County Road 111)
Map: 2996-422, Altair Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 748139E, 3268556N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1930
Earliest known year of birth: 1865
Most recent known burial: 2012
Racial mix: all black
Comments: 1. On August 23, 1954, Chartie M. Williams petitioned the Colorado County Commissioners Court to designate five acres of his property for use as a cemetery, specifying in the petition that the cemetery was to be called the Chartie Williams Community Cemetery. The commissioners voted to accept the cemetery on September 13, 1954, and recorded the land as such in Colorado County Deed Records, Book 180, p. 146. Since that time, the cemetery has more frequently been called Williams Paradise Cemetery.
2. Dora Dervin, an aged black woman, provided a list from her memory of persons she believes to have been buried in the cemetery. Many of the burials have been confirmed through other sources. These have not: Albert Banks, Ella Mae Banks (wife of Shirley Banks), Joe Bots, Ruth Calvin (daughter of Will Axel), Johnny Cotton, John and Lizzie Dabney and their sons Buddy, Henry, John, Neal, and Walter, Thomas F. Dervin (son of Richard Dervin), John Harris, Clem Johnson, Mattie Johnson (wife of Oran Johnson), Meady Johnson (nee Nichols, married Clem Johnson), Carlton Kuykendall, Clara Kuykendall (wife of Jim Kuykendall), Warren and Indy Lowe and their children Essie, George, Jim, and Plot, Leola McGrew (nee Turner), Nux McGrew, Wady Nichols, John Pettis, Laurie Indy Pettis (nee McGrew, married John Pettis), Jack Phoenix, Ethel Polk (wife of Will Polk), Liza Polk, Nora Polk, Will Polk, Clarence Robertson, Bill Shaver, Charles Shaver, Doris Shaver, Mathilda Shaver, Perline Shaver, Spencer Shaver, Stacy Shaver (daughter of John and Lizzie Dabney), Mattie Shelly (daughter of John and Lizzie Dabney), James Smith, Mary Smith (wife of James Smith), Emilie Turner, Jim Turner, Rosalie Turner, Jesse Ward, Jesse Ward (son of Jesse and Juanita Stapleton Ward), Mary Wick, Annie J. Williams (wife of Tuck Williams), Shelly Williams (son of Tuck and Annie J. Williams)
Surveyor: Bill Stein
Date surveyed: January 23 and February 10, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 243
Williams Paradise Cemetery
See: Chartie Williams Community Cemetery
Willing Workers Cemetery
Location: in Columbus, on the west side of Montezuma Street, just north of its intersection with FM 806
Map: 2996-314, Columbus Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 735648E, 3287748N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1940
Earliest known year of birth: 1855
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all black
Comments: 1. The cemetery was created by deed of six acres from the heirs of Tom and Mary Holloway to the trustees of the Willing Workers Cemetery on December 20, 1939 (see Colorado County Deed Records, Book 106, pp. 424-425).
2. There are two stones that contain only partial identifications. They read: "Mother / July 20, 1947" and "Thomas / Sep. 23, 195". No further information about these graves could be found.
3. Because we suspected that many persons buried in this cemetery did not have obituaries published in any local newspaper, on August 10, 2004, Virgil Thompson audited our list of burials. He added the names of 45 persons who had been buried in the cemetery since the library's 1990 survey.
Surveyors: Bill Stein, Michael Hawn, and Trey Scott
Date surveyed: June 14, 1990 and August 1990
Auditor: Virgil Thompson
Date audited: August 10, 2004 and September 2009
Number of known burials to date: 516
Wind Chapel Cemetery
Origin of name: unknown
Source of name: death certificate of Peter Thomas
Alternate name: Thomas Family Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: after Thomas family
Source of alternate name: death certificate of Louisa Thomas
Location: about two tenths of a mile north of FM 1291, about three tenths of a mile west of the point where it crosses Cummins Creek, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-344, Industry Quadrangle (not marked)
Earliest known year of death: 1928
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1851
Most recent known burial: 1967
Racial mix: all black
Comments: The cemetery contains eight graves which are distinctly marked, but not in a way that allows the identity of the occupant of the grave to be determined. There is also evidence of several other graves. The cemetery is encircled by a chain link fence.
Surveyors: Allen Ruhmann and Bill Stein
Date surveyed: September 29, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 5
Wooldridge Cemetery
Origin of name: after the Wooldridge family
Location: just southwest of the Oakland Hill Cemetery
Map: 2996-321, Oakland Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 709032E, 3277614N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1856
Earliest known year of birth: c. 1808
Most recent known burial: 1890
Racial mix: all white
Comments: Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006, and made these remarks: site is outside the fence of the Oakland Hill Cemetery under a large oak tree with palmettos growing.
Surveyors: Butch Strunk
Date surveyed: unknown
Number of known burials to date: 5
Wright Cemetery
Origin of name: after Wright family
Source of name: obituaries
Location: just south of Wolfpen Creek, about half a mile northeast of the easternmost point at which County Road 101 turns south, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 744660E, 3283548N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1852
Earliest known year of birth: 1806
Most recent known burial: 1983
Racial mix: all white
Comments: 1. The cemetery is atop a hill and is surrounded by an iron fence. The west half of the cemetery is now empty. Because it is known that members of the Stafford family were originally buried south of Columbus, because Robert Earl Stafford and James F. Wright were partners at one time, and because the obituaries of Laura Leona Stafford and Stella Louise Stafford both report their place of interment as "Wright Burial Ground," it is likely that this cemetery is the original burial site of the Stafford family. Most of the Staffords, including Stella Louise, were moved to Columbus at an unknown date, probably between 1900 and 1915, for an unknown reason. Only one of the several Staffords known to have been originally buried south of Columbus is not now buried in the Columbus Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery. She is Laura Leona Stafford, the wife of William Henry Stafford. Though she has no tombstone in the Wright Cemetery, it has been assumed that she was not reinterred elsewhere.
2. Wiley Marion Hamilton was the first burial in this cemetery since 1880. He was a truck driver who was a friend of local man Don Lasley. Lasley had custody of Hamilton's ashes, and buried them in the Wright Cemetery.
3. Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006 and made these remarks: The site has fallen into further disrepair, and has been mostly destroyed by cattle.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Deborah Petrofsky, Millie Cranek, Alice Tait, and Bill Stein
Date audited: September 30, 1992
Number of known burials to date: 23
Wright 2
Wright Family Cemetery
Origin of name: after Wright family
Location: about 100 yards west of Reese Lane, about one-tenth of a mile north of its intersection with Schultz Road
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 741714E, 3291359N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1867
Earliest known year of birth: 1837
Most recent known burial: 1906
Racial mix: all white
Comments: This cemetery is referred to as "Wright 2" because there is another Wright Cemetery in Colorado County.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Bill Stein and Florence Zajicek
Date audited: June 14, 1993
Number of known burials to date: 6
Wright 3
Samuel Wright Cemetery
Origin of name: after only known burial
Location: just south of Wolfpen Creek, about three-fourths of a mile west of the Wright Cemetery, but on private property and thus inaccessible to private traffic
Map: 2996-423, Alleyton Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 743430E, 3272312N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1922
Earliest known year of birth: 1862
Most recent known burial: 1922
Racial mix: all black
Comments: 1. Besides that of Samuel Wright, at least two other graves are on the site. One has a small marker inscribed "H. L. G. M. D." The other is enclosed by a fence.
2. Gary E. McKee visited the cemetery in November 2006 and made these notes: The site is presently on the grounds of the Texas Bible Institute. The original stones are gone, replaced by a concrete slab and marble marker with Sam’s name and date on it. The area was bulldozed and a wooden cross erected nearby for outdoor religious services. Sam is serenaded by Christian rock, hip-hop, and country music emanating from speakers throughout the campus.
Surveyors: Mindy Coleman and Jordana Garrett
Date surveyed: November 18, 1998
Number of known burials to date: 1
Zimmerscheidt-Leyendecker Cemetery
Origin of name: after Zimmerscheidt and Leyendecker families
Location: on the east side of FM 109, about 8 miles north of Columbus, but on private property and thus inaccessible to public traffic
Map: 2996-341, Frelsburg Quadrangle (not marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 738303E, 3300845N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1856
Earliest known year of birth: 1784
Most recent known burial: 2014
Racial mix: all white
Comments: According to family legend, the cemetery was established at a place where Frederick Zimmerscheidt shot a bear.
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Jean Gross, Anders Saustrup, and Bill Stein
Date audited: February 1990
Number of known burials to date: 46
Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery
See: Zoar Lutheran Church Cemetery
Zoar Lutheran Church Cemetery
Alternate name: Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery
Source of alternate name: U. S. G. S. Topographic Map
Alternate name: Bachelor Hill Cemetery
Origin of alternate name: after the community in which it is located
Location: on the east side of A. Braden Road just north of its intersection with Cat Spring Road
Map: 2996-432, Bernardo Quadrangle (marked)
Universal Transverse Mercator coordinates: 14, 747878E, 3298725N (NAD83/WGS84)
Earliest known year of death: 1908
Earliest known year of birth: 1816
Most recent known burial: 2015
Racial mix: all white
Surveyors: unknown
Date surveyed: unknown
Auditors: Bill Stein
Date audited: 1988
Number of known burials to date: 113