The History of the Trinity
Lutheran Church Cemetery
Milton Hawkins
Member of the Cemetery Committee
Co-Chair of the Property Committee
Trinity Lutheran Church
October 9, 2001
The Trinity Lutheran Church cemetery is located on the grounds of
Trinity Lutheran Church, alongside Ranch Road 1 about two miles east of
Stonewall, in Gillespie County, Texas. The church property is
surrounded on all sides by land belonging to the Lyndon B. Johnson
State Historic Park; the cemetery itself directly adjoins park land on
the north and west.
The history of the Trinity Lutheran Church Cemetery is bound up in the
history of Trinity Lutheran Church, which traces its beginnings to the
early years of the last century.
Settlers came to the Stonewall area as early as 1860. As
life in their settlement developed, so did their concern over the lack
of a place of worship and regular spiritual instruction for their
growing families.
The Lutheran congregation in Fredericksburg, and especially the
congregation at North Grape Creek (later known as Cave Creek), had a
number of members living too far away to attend regularly. On
April 8, 1899, the congregation at North Grape Creek gave permission to
its pastor to hold church services for those members in their own
area. Services were held at the Junction Schoolhouse and the
Albert Schoolhouse. 3
The services were well attended, and the people were more than ever
determined to build a Lutheran church in the area. On Trinity
Festival in 1902, a group of settlers held an organizational meeting in
the schoolhouse in Albert. 4 It was decided to
found an Evangelical Lutheran Congregation to be called Evangelical
Lutheran Trinitatis-Gemeinde zu Albert, Texas. A committee was
named to work on establishing the congregation.
On June 19, 1902, another meeting was held at the Junction Schoolhouse,
during which participants discussed a plan for building the church
beside the Pedernales River on a piece of land that Christian Lindig
had offered. 5 In July of 1902, many community
families pledged their support for building a church by making
donations. 6
The issue of whether the church was to be located on the north or the
south side of the Pedernales was resolved by voting. The members
favored the south side, where the church stands today. The
congregation selected three trustees, who purchased three acres for the
building site from Christian Lindig on August 13, 1902. 7
The men of the community built the church, which was formally dedicated
on the second Sunday in October of 1902. 8 The
congregation grew rapidly, and in 1903, planning was already underway
for a new, larger church. In addition, church records indicate
that a cemetery “was to be laid out near the church” 9
on a 2 ½-acre plot bordering the church grounds on the
west. This land was also to be purchased from Christian Lindig.
(The second church was completed in June of 1904 and dedicated on July
31, 1904. 10 The cornerstone of the present
church was laid on February 14, 1928, and the church was dedicated on
May 20, 1928. 11 An Official Texas Historical Marker was
dedicated on September 16, 1990. The church will celebrate its
100th Anniversary on October 13, 2002, the second Sunday in October.)
A May 31, 1904, deed records the purchase, for $60, of an additional 2
½ acres from Christian Lindig. The deed, which was not
filed until January 28, 1905, 12 must have
been drafted well after the parties had reached agreement, for the
cemetery had already been dedicated by February 23, 1904, when Mrs.
Friedrich Arhelger, nee Bertha Behrens, became the first person to be
buried in the Trinity cemetery. 13
At present, the cemetery contains 307 graves. Among these are the
graves of twenty-three veterans, including one, Private Ernest F.
Knoll, who was killed in battle during World War II. 14
Over the years, changes have been made in the cemetery. In 1935,
workers leveled the cemetery by raising graves on one side and lowering
them on the other. 15 In the beginning, graves
were dug by hand, but in 1953, that responsibility was turned over to
the funeral homes. 16 Fences have been erected
and replaced, most noticeably in 1968 by the nine-foot game fence the
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department erected on the west side. 17
In 1968, the congregation accepted a proposal to name a cemetery
committee and establish a cemetery fund in order to make the cemetery
self-supporting. The interest from that fund is used today to
maintain the cemetery. The proposal states that “free grave
space” will be provided for each active member of Trinity Lutheran
Church. 18
A guideline approved in 1971 requires that graves be dug “to the depth
of 5 ½ feet due to the possibility of the river overflowing its
banks and washing topsoil away.” 19 In 1983,
the congregation considered a proposal to discontinue the use of
curbing on future grave plots, 20 and in 1986, the
congregation voted to have two sections in the cemetery, one with
tombstones and curbing, the other with ground-level markers only. 21 In 1989, the congregation approved “Rules,
Restrictions, and Requirements” for the cemetery. 22
In 1991 and 1992, officers of the Congregation Council tried to obtain
two additional acres of land for the cemetery, pointing out that in
1969 the church had helped the Texas Highway Department develop a
roadside park by selling it approximately two acres of land for $2,000.
23 However, officials of the Parks and Wildlife
Department were not inclined to give up any land. 24
In 1995, the Council voted to end the policy of selling cemetery plots
to non-members. 25
Today, in accord with the By-Laws of Trinity Lutheran Church, the
Cemetery Committee is responsible for the operation of the
cemetery. The Committee consists of four church members appointed
to four-year terms by the Congregation Council. Each year in
February one member’s term expires and a new member is appointed.
The Committee is governed by the Cemetery Proposal of 1968 and any
amendments to that proposal made by the congregation at a legally
called and conducted congregation meeting.
Notes
1 Trinity Lutheran Church Chronicle, p. 1.
The Church Chronicle, which consists of personal accounts written by a
succession of Trinity pastors, covers the period from 1899 through 1950
and, together with the written Minutes of the Congregation Council and
congregational meetings, offers the fullest, most authoritative
information on the history of the church and cemetery.
2 Stonewall Centennial Book, p. 5.
3 Church Chronicle, p. 1.
4 Church Chronicle, p. 1.
5 Church Chronicle, p. 1.
6 Church record, 24 July 1902.
7 Gillespie County Deed Records, Vol. 13, p.
337. The transaction was filed on September 25, 1907.
8 Church Chronicle, p. 1. An account of the
dedication service appears in the Fredericksburg Wochenblatt, October
15, 1902.
9 Church Chronicle, p. 2.
10 Church Chronicle, p. 2. See also accounts
appearing in the Fredericksburg Wochenblatt, July, 1902.
11 Trinity Lutheran Church, Stonewall, Texas,
1902-1977, p. 5.
12 Gillespie County Deed Records, Vol. 11, pp. 130-31.
13 Obituary (translated from the German),
Fredericksburg Wochenblatt, February 23, 1904.
14 Gravestone inscriptions and cemetery records.
15 Church Chronicle, p. 8.
16 Minutes of the Annual Congregational Meeting,
January 4, 1953.
17 Minutes of the Congregation Council, March 14,
1968.
18 Minutes of the Congregation Council, March 14,
1968.
19 Minutes of the Congregation Council, January 10,
1971.
20 Minutes of a Special Congregational Meeting, March
14, 1983.
21 Minutes of the Annual Congregational Meeting,
January 19, 1986.
22 Minutes of the Annual Congregational Meeting,
January 15, 1989.
23 Minutes of the Congregation Council, September 14,
1992.
24 Minutes of the Congregation Council, January 11,
1993.
25 Minutes of the Congregation Council, October 10,
1995.
Bibliography
Cemetery and Church Records, Trinity Lutheran Church.
Fredericksburg Wochenblatt, July and October, 1902; February, 1904.
Gillespie County Deed Records. Fredericksburg, Texas:
Fredericksburg Publishing, 1971. Vols.
11 and 13.
Minutes of the Congregation Council, Trinity Lutheran Church.
Minutes of Congregational Meetings, Trinity Lutheran Church.
Stonewall Centennial Book, 1860-1985. Fredericksburg, Texas:
Dietel & Son Printing, 1985.
Trinity Lutheran Church Chronicle. Translated from the German by
Ella Gold, 1974.
Trinity Lutheran Church, Stonewall, Texas, 1902-1977.
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