LAVACA COUNTY, TEXAS
A large number of tombstones in Lavaca County have been moved from one cemetery to another. In some cases the bodies were reinterred, but often just the marker was moved.
The Hallettsville Memorial Park has a lot of markers lying in slabs of concrete and it's believed that many of these were moved into Hallettsville from rural burial grounds in an attempt to "save" them. Similarly, a large number of markers were moved to the Hallettsville City Cemetery after it opened in 1890 from the Hallettsville Memorial Park which was poorly kept at the time. That's how some markers in the new cemetery have death dates that predate the cemetery.
There are several cases in Sammy Tise's cemetery books where a person is listed in two cemeteries. We also know of several cases where markers were moved to another county.
Please contact Rox Ann Johnson if you can contribute to this list of displaced markers.
Name Birth Death From Cemetery To Cemetery Notes and SourceAshby, Dorathe E. 11 Nov 1833 8 Oct 1834Kallus Farm Hallettsville Memorial Park 1 Ashby, John Henry Pertle 3 Aug 1835 22 Aug 1835Kallus Farm Hallettsville Memorial Park 1 Ashby, Mary Garnet 4 Apr 1795 12 Aug 1835Kallus Farm Hallettsville Memorial Park 1 Ashby, Sowel Harris 17 May 1820 4 Jul 1833Kallus Farm Hallettsville Memorial Park 1 Blashchke, Belva W. 24 Dec 1906 17 Dec 1916 Bunjes Shiner City Marker only; 2 Blaschke, Benhold H. 19 May 1898 25 Sep 1910 Bunjes Shiner City Marker only; 2 Bonorden, Agnes 4 Jun 1870 11 Aug 1904 Pagel Settlement Hallettsville City Marker only; 3 Bonorden, Albert 16 Jan 1859 8 Sep 1940 Pagel Settlement Hallettsville City Reinterred; 3 Bonorden, Bernhard M. 4 Nov 1832 13 Dec 1883 Pagel Settlement Hallettsville City Marker only; 3 Bonorden, Carl 28 Jun 1903 20 Dec 1903 Pagel Settlement Hallettsville City Marker only; 3 Bonorden, Karl 27 Jan 1877 10 Nov 1880 Pagel Settlement Hallettsville City Marker only; 3 Bonorden, Martha 4 Sep 1864 15 Aug 1948 Pagel Settlement Hallettsville City Reinterred; 3 Bonorden, Mary 22 Aug 1838 1 Oct 1908 Pagel Settlement Hallettsville City Marker only; 3 Bonorden, Otto C. 27 Jan 1875 28 Jan 1891 Pagel Settlement Hallettsville City Marker only; 3 Bullard, Elizabeth 17 Nov 1905 27 Jun 1911 Willow Creek Cheatham at Sheridan Marker only; 4Byer, K. 10 Nov 1832 4 Aug 1914Pagel Settlement Hallettsville City Adjacent to Bonorden markers; 12 Cox, Nathaniel H. ca 1835 Feb 1873 Bennett possibly Cuero Marker only; 5Dickey, Samuel E. 26 May 1860Hallettsville Memorial Park Broken; 7 Force, Frances L. Branon 17 Oct 1819 20 Feb 1881Hallettsville Memorial Park Wife of S. V. Force; Aged 31 yrs, 4 m, 1 day; 7 Green, Damaris 4 Nov 1849 20 Jul 1880 Hallettsville City Green, Lucretia 21 Mar 1824 21 Jan 1887 Hallettsville City Greer, Lena 3 Oct 1888 29 Mar 1889 Hallettsville CityHallett, Margaret 1787 1863Hallett Hallettsville Memorial Park 2 Hanzlik, Frantiska 3 Oct 1837 12 Apr 1910St. Anthony's St. Mary's 11 Kasten, Eva 9 Feb 1888 10 Feb 1888Hallettsville Memorial Park 7 Knox, Hetta Wilkins before 1860cemetery in Alabama Knox Cemetery 13 Kuykendall, Charlie D. 1 May 1820 21 Jul 1871 Hallettsville City Mertz, Dietrich 24 Jun 1842 10 Sep 1885 Bock Hallettsville City Markers in both cemeteries; 6 Mertz, Heinrich K. (Henry) 16 Mar 1872 19 Aug 1888 Bock Hallettsville City Markers in both cemeteries; 6Miller, Luise 25 Apr 1839 10 Nov 1907Keilers Smoothing Iron Markers in both cemeteries; 8 Mueller, Dorothea 9 Mar 1827 21 Jul 1899 Bunjes Shiner City Markers in both cemeteries; 2 Neuhaus, Henry W. 10 Aug 1882 25 Oct 1882 Old Sacred Heart Hallettsville City Listed on Old Sacred Heart map; 6Rabb, Mary Pauline 4 Nov 1880Hallettsville Memorial Park Broken; 7 Riemenschneider, Henry V. 14 Feb 1830 15 Jul 1871 Hallettsville CitySelph, Taft Overstreet unknown 26 Apr 1908Geiger Cheatham,
Colorado County15 Shoemaker, Henry M. 18 Feb 1839 12 Jan 1880 Hallettsville City Shoemaker, Mrs. J. M. 13 Oct 1847 19 Jul 1886 Hallettsville City Speary, Bertha 23 Feb 1882 30 Jun 1883 Hallettsville City Stindt, Gerhardine J. 20 Jul 1849 9 Mar 1895 Bunjes Shiner City Markers in both cemeteries; 2 Stindt, Hugo D. 16 Nov 1839 14 Aug 1915 Bunjes Shiner City Markers in both cemeteries; 2 Stindt, Rudie 27 Feb 1899 21 Jul 1899 Bunjes Shiner City Markers in both cemeteries; 2Streich, Henry 22 Nov 1868 1 Feb 1869Hallettsville Memorial Park 7 Streich, William 22 Nov 1868 31 Jan 1869Hallettsville Memorial Park On same marker as Henry; 7 Tkac, Anezka 28 Dec 1884 21 Jun 1887 Velehrad Weimar Odd Fellows Probably marker only; 9 Tkac, Anna 24 Jul 1850 21 Dec 1888 Velehrad Weimar Odd Fellows Probably marker only; 9 Tkac, Frantisek Dec 1846 24 Nov 1903 Velehrad Weimar Odd Fellows Probably marker only; 9 Tkac, Julie 14 Apr 1888 29 Jan 1896 Velehrad Weimar Odd Fellows Probably marker only; 9Viser, Dr. W. C. Hallettsville City 2 Watkins, Col. J. S. Hallettsville City 2 Whitehead, Lucian C. (Paganin) 28 Nov 1852 20 Dec 1877grave in Lavaca County Whitehead, Liberty Hill 14 York, James Allison 4 Jul 1800 6 Feb 1869 Sweet Home area Texas State Cemetery Republic of Texas Veteran; 10 Zumwalt, Gabriel 1 May 1809 29 Nov 1885 Hallettsville City
1. All four Ashby names are on one marker that was moved from a Kallus farm (possibly owned by Joe Kallus) above either Mossy Grove or Ezzell to the Hallettsville Memorial Park. According to her marker, Mary Garnet Ashby was born in Woodford County, Kentucky to Benjamin and Mary Wolfork Garnet and was married to John M. Ashby on March 1, 1810. She came to Texas April 7, 1831. Information on original location provided by Brenda Fisseler.
2. Brenda Fisseler at the Friench Simpson Library in Hallettsville provided this information.
3. Tom Bonorden provided information regarding the Bonorden markers that were removed to Hallettsville. If you have a photograph of the markers while still at Pagel Settlement, please contact him.
4. Regena Williamson states that Elizabeth Bullard's marker was moved to the Cheatham Cemetery in Colorado County by her brother. Her parents were Dora Brisco and Willard Bullard.
5. Gay Bethel states that the marker was taken up by one of Nathaniel Cox's relatives for safe keeping after his wife's marker couldn't be found in the cemetery, which was in poor condition at the time. Nathaniel Cox's marker was broken and half buried. Mrs. Bethel was told by Cox's late granddaughter, Rebecca Youngkin, that it was taken to "the cemetery at Yoakum." Another person thinks it may be in Cuero, DeWitt County. Later Mrs. Cox's marker was found buried just beneath the soil's surface and it remains in the Bennett Cemetery. She was Leanna Permelia Bennett Cox, 30 Jan 1835 - 5 Aug 1870.
6. Sammy Tise's Lavaca County, Texas Cemeteries, Volume II, lists a marker for this person in the Hallettsville City Cemetery. The date of death is before that cemetery was established in 1890.
7. The Hallettsville Memorial Park has a lot of markers lying in slabs of concrete. It's believed that many of these were moved into Hallettsville from rural burial grounds in an attempt to save them. Please contact Rox Ann Johnson if you have information about where these markers originally stood. Photo of Frances Branon Force marker from June Draper. Click on it for a larger view.
8. Sammy Tise's Lavaca County, Texas Cemeteries indicates there are markers in two cemeteries. It's unclear which marker was placed first.
9. Dorothy Albrecht reported that the Tkac markers were moved from Lavaca County to the Weimar Odd Fellows Cemetery in Colorado County. Janie Bucek provided information that the markers were moved from the Velehrad Cemetery. The bases for Anezka and Julie's markers are still at Velehrad.
10. Texas State Cemetery website: http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/database.htm
11. Sammy Tise listed Frantiska Hanzlik in St. Anthony's Cemetery neary Breslau in his December 6, 1980 survey and stated hers was the oldest marker there; however, she is now listed by the Victoria Diocese as being buried in St. Mary's Cemetery.
12. Listed on E. F. Smith inventory of Pagel Settlement Cemetery made before 1967. "Her end was peace." This was Katherine Molik Miller Byer or Beyer, mother of Martha Miller Bonorden. She was first married to F. Miller and second to Fritz Beyer. More than likely, she still lies buried at Pagel Settlement. Please contact Rox Ann Johnson if you have information about this person or where this marker originally stood.
13. Information from Janet Saylor. See Knox Cemetery near Sweet Home for more details.
14. Lucian C. Whitehead, son of Henry S. and Elizabeth Veal Whitehead, was born in Lavaca County. He drowned in the Lavaca River when he was twenty-five and was buried in Lavaca County. His family had moved to the Liberty Hill area in Williamson County in 1873 where his sister, Minnie, died in September 1877 and was buried on their property. Their father reinterred Lucian's body in the same burial ground, now known as the Whitehead Cemetery. Information from Penny Odom. Click on photo for larger view.
15. His obituary in the Weimar Mercury says Taft Overstreet Selph was interred at the Geiger Cemetery, yet his marker is located at the Cheatham Cemetery in Colorado County. Was he reinterred?
Related Links
Bennett Cemetery
Bock Cemetery
Bunjes Cemetery
Cheetham Cemetery, Colorado County, TX
Hallettsville City Cemetery
Hallettsville Memorial Park
Pagel Settlement Cemetery
Shiner City Cemetery
Vsetin Cemetery
Weimar Odd Fellows Cemetery, Colorado County, TX
Willow Creek Cemetery