Coletoville Cemetery
Victoria, Victoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
When an epidemic of diphtheria hit the German settlement of Steinerville, established in 1849, two of August and Thekla Spitzer's children died. Ten-year-old Henry and six-year-old Robert were buried by their parents in 1872 on this site. In May of 1872, the Spitzer's deeded the land to the trustees of the new school and evangelic German church of the German community of Steinerville. The community was later renamed Coletoville for the nearby Coleto Creek. Both Thekla and August Spitzer are buried in the cemetery. The oldest birth dates are those of Eva Voigt and Joseph Weiser, both born in 1812. Several veterans of major American and international conflicts are interred here. In 1970, the church, now called Martin Luther Lutheran Church, deeded the cemetery land to the Coletoville Cemetery Association. The church and cemetery became two separate institutions for the first time, though community members of all faiths have traditionally been buried here. Burial sites are marked in rows and spaces rather than in plots, and graves are arranged in consecutive order by date. Many of the oldest markers were originally made of sandstone. A 1997 count revealed 623 marked and 78 unmarked graves. (1997)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When diphtheria swept the German settlement of Steinerville in 1872, August and Thekla Spitzer buried two young sons on this ground and soon deeded the land to trustees of the community's new German church and school. Renamed Coletoville for nearby Coleto Creek, the settlement grew a cemetery whose oldest residents were born as early as 1812 and whose graves are laid out in rows by date rather than family plots. A 1997 survey counted more than seven hundred graves, including several veterans.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a durable record of German immigrant community life in 19th-century Texas, where church, school, and burial ground grew together as one institution.
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Related people
- · August Spitzer
- · Thekla Spitzer
- · Henry Spitzer
- · Robert Spitzer
Related events
- · 1872 diphtheria epidemic
Themes & tags
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