Abshier Cemetery
Hankamer, Liberty County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The families of Benjamin and Hannah (Weed) Abshier and Benjamin and Sarah (Hanks) Weed came to this area of Texas from Louisiana in 1843. The extended families purchased land and established farms in this vicinity. In June 1852 the Abshiers' 27-year-old daughter, Lucinda Abshier Higginbotham, died, leaving a husband and six children. She was laid to rest on the Abshier family farm, in a plot of land which would become a family graveyard. Since that time, members of many generations of Abshier, Weed, and related families have been interred in the cemetery. Among those buried here are veterans of the War of 1812, the Texas Revolution, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and Korea. A number of unusual and elaborate grave markers can be seen, including tree-trunk-shaped monuments of the Woodmen of the World Lodge, a 19th-century fraternal organization. There are also a number of unmarked burials. Established in 1896, a cemetery association maintains the historic graveyard. The original two-acre plot was enlarged to three acres in 1938. The cemetery continues to serve as a reminder of early Liberty County pioneers. (1990) Historic Texas Cemetery
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When the Abshier and Weed families came from Louisiana in 1843 to farm this corner of Liberty County, they could not have known the family plot begun with Lucinda Abshier Higginbotham's burial in 1852 would grow into a community graveyard spanning generations. Those laid to rest here served in nearly every American conflict from the War of 1812 through Korea, and their graves include striking tree-trunk monuments of the Woodmen of the World. A cemetery association has tended the grounds since 1896.
Why it matters
A single family burying ground becomes a roll call of American service across a century and a half, preserving the memory of the pioneer families who settled the Texas Gulf Coast.
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Related people
- · Lucinda Abshier Higginbotham
Themes & tags
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