Brooks Cemetery
Shafter, Presidio County, Texas
Marker Inscription
George H. Brooks (1833-1911) served in a California volunteer unit during the Civil War before settling in Presidio County in the 1860s. In 1878 he married Mexican native Ygnacia Reza. This cemetery began with the burial of their son, Albion E. Brooks, in 1904. George and Ygnacia Brooks (d. 1948) and other members of the Brooks family, including former Texas Ranger and deputy sheriff Robert Speed (1878-1940), are buried here. Also interred here are friends and relatives of the Brookses in the Fuentes and Gonzales families. The cemetery remains active and is maintained by the Shafter community. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
George H. Brooks fought in a California volunteer unit during the Civil War before settling in remote Presidio County in the 1860s and marrying Ygnacia Reza, a native of Mexico. The family cemetery began in 1904 with the burial of their son Albion, and it grew to hold Brooks kin, a former Texas Ranger, and friends and relatives from the Fuentes and Gonzales families. Still active and tended by the Shafter community, it remains a living record of a borderland family.
Why it matters
Brooks Cemetery reflects the blended Anglo and Mexican families who settled the Big Bend borderlands, weaving two cultures into the fabric of far West Texas.
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Related people
- · George H. Brooks
- · Ygnacia Reza
- · Robert Speed
Themes & tags
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