Canaan Baptist Cemetery
Crawford, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Canaan Baptist Church established an adjoining burial ground in 1894. Heinrich Engelbrecht donated land for the cemetery in 1895 and additional land in 1902. The earliest marked grave is for Franz Massirer, an Austrian immigrant who died in 1900. No records exist to document earlier burials or their exact locations. In 1928, a steel fence replaced the original barbed wire fence. Engelbrecht, who fought in the Civil War, is the oldest of more than a dozen veterans interred here and honored with a memorial marker. Grave markers include concrete, fieldstone, granite, marble and metal. In 1970, the Canaan Baptist Cemetery Association established perpetual care for the cemetery and received the property from the church. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2010
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Canaan Baptist Church opened this burial ground in 1894 on land donated by German settler Heinrich Engelbrecht, in a McLennan County community shaped by central European immigration. The earliest marked grave belongs to Austrian immigrant Franz Massirer, who died in 1900. Engelbrecht, a Civil War veteran, is the oldest of more than a dozen veterans buried here, and the cemetery earned Historic Texas Cemetery status in 2010.
Why it matters
The cemetery reflects the German and central European immigrants who settled central Texas farmland and the generations of veterans among them.
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Related people
- · Heinrich Engelbrecht
- · Franz Massirer
Themes & tags
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