Frnka Family Cemetery
New Ulm, Austin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1926, Jan Jindrich Frnka (d. 1935) and his wife, Cecilie (Kroulik) (d. 1933), conveyed property to three trustees for use as a family burial ground. J.J. and Cecilie Frnka were parents of thirteen children; all of the children, with the exception of one daughter, are interred here, along with most of their spouses. Distinctive features of the burial ground include obelisks, unmarked graves, curbing and grave slabs. Frnka Family Cemetery is still used today. It continues to serve descendants and relatives of Jan and Cecilie Frnka and remains as a record of the family's history. Historic Texas Cemetery-2008
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1926, Czech immigrants Jan Jindrich Frnka and his wife Cecilie set aside land near New Ulm for a family burial ground and placed it in the care of three trustees. The couple raised thirteen children, and all but one daughter are buried here alongside most of their spouses, beneath obelisks, curbed plots, and grave slabs. The cemetery still serves the family's descendants today.
Why it matters
The cemetery reflects the tight-knit Czech farming families who settled Central Texas and the enduring family and cultural bonds they carried from the old country.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The rolling farmland around New Ulm, in Austin County, was settled in large part by immigrants from Central Europe, and among them were Czechs who came to Texas in search of land and a better future. Drawn by the promise of fertile ground, these families built one of the most enduring ethnic communities in the state, carrying their language, faith, and customs across the Atlantic and planting them in the Texas soil.
By the 1920s, when this cemetery was established, that immigrant world had matured into settled farming communities bound together by kinship, church, and shared heritage. Family was the center of life, and the ties among relatives ran deep and wide.
In such communities, the connection between the living and the dead was not an afterthought. A family burial ground was a natural expression of a people who understood themselves as generations linked together — a place where the family would remain gathered even after death.
People & events
In 1926, Jan Jindrich Frnka and his wife, Cecilie — her maiden name was Kroulik — set aside a piece of their land as a family burial ground, conveying it to three trustees so that it would be cared for beyond their own lifetimes. It was a deliberate act of foresight, ensuring the family would always have a place of its own.
The Frnkas were the parents of thirteen children, and the cemetery tells the story of that large family with quiet eloquence. All of the children but one daughter are buried here, and most of their spouses lie beside them. Cecilie died in 1933 and Jan Jindrich in 1935, the founders laid to rest in the ground they had set apart.
The burial ground carries the marks of its makers' care and taste: obelisks rising above the plots, curbing that outlines family spaces, grave slabs, and — poignantly — a number of unmarked graves. Together these features make the cemetery a physical record of a family across generations.
Its place in the American story
America's small immigrant cemeteries are among its most honest archives. Where written records are thin, the stones remain — recording names, dates, and family bonds, and preserving the presence of communities that helped build the country from the ground up. The Frnka Family Cemetery holds the memory of the Czech settlers who became part of the American story.
Czech immigration helped shape Texas in lasting ways, and family burial grounds like this one reflect the values those settlers carried with them: devotion to kin, continuity across generations, and a determination to keep the family whole. Recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery, this plot stands for countless others like it.
That the cemetery is still in use, still serving the descendants and relatives of Jan and Cecilie, gives it a living significance. It is not a relic but a continuing thread, tying present-day Americans to the immigrant forebears who crossed an ocean and made a home.
If you visit
A family cemetery like this asks for a quiet, respectful visit. As you look across the plots, notice the obelisks and the curbing that frames the family's spaces — deliberate choices that speak to how much this ground meant to those who shaped it.
The unmarked graves deserve a moment of their own. Each represents someone whose name the stone no longer tells, a reminder that a burial ground holds more stories than its inscriptions can capture. Around them lie the founders and nearly all of their thirteen children, a family gathered together across the decades.
Set in the gentle farm country near New Ulm, the cemetery fits a road trip through the Czech-settled heart of central Texas, where towns, churches, and family plots still carry old-country names. Because this is an active family cemetery, treat it as you would any resting place — but let it move you to think about the immigrant families whose bonds outlasted generations.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Jan Jindrich Frnka
- · Cecilie Frnka
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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