George West Cemetery
George West, Live Oak County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The George West Cemetery was originally part of the George West Ranch. The ranch dates to the 1880s, when George Washington West (1851-1926) and his wife, Kitty Searcy West (1858-1939), purchased 140,000 acres in Live Oak County. On March 4, 1916, George set aside six acres of his vast ranch for use as a community and Live Oak County Cemetery. Management remained with George West and family until his death in 1926. The estate gifted the cemetery to the citizens of the county as a free burial ground. It was administered through a committee appointed by the Live Oak County Commissioners Court. Acreage added by West heirs and W. Hale Canfield expanded the cemetery to more than 20 acres. The first legible headstone is for Espetasion Garza (1900-1916) and is inscribed in Spanish. Many early headstones are illegible. Notable burials include civic leader William Hale Canfield (1907-1991) and his wife, Mable Frances (Lamm) Canfield (1913-2004). Judge William “Bill” Scott Kendall (1913-1990) was a World War II veteran. Ramiro Garcia (1912-2000) was a lifelong George West citizen and owner of the successful T&T Café, along with his wife, Lena (Chapa) Garcia (1912-2004). Burials also include veterans, medical personnel, ranchers, business owners, educators, laborers and others from the area. All helped shape the landscape of George West and Live Oak County. Improvements to the cemetery were made over the years, including a water well, electricity, caliche roads, and a stone gate. Since 1926, the George West Cemetery Association has maintained the cemetery, preserving this chronicle of early George West and Live Oak County heritage. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2018
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This cemetery began as part of the sprawling George West Ranch, founded in the 1880s when George Washington West and his wife Kitty bought 140,000 acres in Live Oak County. In 1916 West set aside six acres as a community and county burial ground, and after his death his estate gave it to the county's citizens as a free cemetery. Its graves—the earliest legible one inscribed in Spanish—hold ranchers, veterans, café owners, educators, and laborers who together built the town and county.
Why it matters
It chronicles the birth of a Texas ranching town from a single vast spread, preserving the diverse community of people who settled and shaped it.
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Related people
- · George Washington West
- · Kitty Searcy West
Related events
- · 1916 dedication of the community cemetery
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Live Oak County Courthouse
George West, TX
Live Oak County was created in 1852 with its seat at Oakville, but the railroad era reshuffled the map: cattleman George Washington West, master of a 200,000-acre ranch, platted a new town and lured the county seat to it in 1919. He promptly deeded a full block, and the 1920 courthouse rose in dignified classical revival brick and cast stone—among the last works of noted San Antonio architect Alfred Giles, who died before it was finished. For more than a century it has hosted not only trials but weddings, rallies, and county celebrations.
City of George West
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George West was quite literally willed into being by the rancher whose name it carries. In 1913, George Washington West secured a railroad route through Live Oak County and donated municipal buildings and lots to seed a new town along the line. Within six years it had wrested away the county seat, and it grew into a busy market and shipping point for the region's cattle and cotton.
Charles and Emma Tullis
George West, TX
Charles "Mr. Charlie" Tullis and his wife Emma carried deep Texas roots: his forebears walked from Tennessee in 1834 and gave sons and supplies to the San Jacinto campaign, while her ancestor John McGloin died in the Goliad Massacre. Born in 1873, Charlie served as Live Oak County sheriff from 1909 — known for delivering tax notices without a gun — through the county seat's move from Oakville to George West, and later spent thirty-eight years as founding president of the First National Bank of George West. He and Emma married in 1913 and are buried among the Irish Catholic pioneers at Gussettville.
George West First United Methodist Church
George West, TX
Protestant worship in George West began in 1914 with Methodist circuit riders, and by 1916 a small band of charter members organized formally on land donated by town founder George W. West. Through droughts, floods, and the ups and downs of a South Texas ranching economy, the congregation raised money in inventive ways—running a tea room and even growing and selling cotton—to build and expand its church. Over the decades national mergers reshaped its name and reach, from a rural Methodist mission to a congregation supporting causes as far away as Korea and Africa.