Grassyville Cemetery
Paige, Bastrop County, Texas
Marker Inscription
German immigrants settled the Grassyville community in the 1850s and organized a Methodist church. Many gravestones in this cemetery are lettered in German script. The two earliest burials, Auguste D. Hamff and Bertha Kunkel, are both dated 1871. Seven Confederate veterans who served in Creuzbaur's-Welhausen's battery during the Civil War (1861-1865) are buried in the 1.5-acre graveyard. Although the village has disappeared, the burial ground continues in use. There are 130 graves tended by Grassyville Cemetery Association, which was established in 1963. (1977)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
German immigrants settled the Grassyville community in the 1850s and organized a Methodist church, and many of this cemetery's gravestones are lettered in German script. The two earliest burials date to 1871, and among those resting here are seven Confederate veterans who served in a Texas artillery battery during the Civil War. Though the village itself has vanished, the burial ground remains in use.
Why it matters
The German-inscribed stones preserve the immigrant roots of central Texas and testify to a community that endured long after its village disappeared.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Lee County
Giddings, TX
Straddling the Old San Antonio Road on land first surveyed for Moses and Stephen F. Austin's colony, Lee County became in 1854 the heart of Wendish settlement in America, when Pastor Johann Kilian led his Sorbian-speaking congregation from Central Europe to a new home here. Their school was the only one in the United States to teach in Wendish, a Slavic language that survives in the modern world chiefly here and in Australia. The county was organized in 1874 and named for Confederate general Robert E. Lee, with Giddings as its seat.
Burger Home
Bastrop, TX
Richard Burger left Germany around 1859 and, after riding with Terry's Texas Rangers during the Civil War, settled into life as a Bastrop tailor and merchant. He bought this newly built Greek Revival house and raised a family here with his wife Clara, whose skill in German 'hair art' reflected the community's Old World traditions. Burger helped anchor local culture as an original stockholder in a town gathering place called 'The Casino.'
Serbin
Serbin, TX
In 1854, some 588 Wends—Slavic Lutherans from what is now eastern Germany—sailed to Texas under the Rev. John Kilian and founded this trilingual settlement, naming it Serbin for their Serbian ancestry. Perched on the Smithville-Houston oxcart road, the town boomed from 1865 to 1890 with stores, tradesmen's shops, doctors, dentists, and a busy trade sending out cotton and hauling in staples. When the railroads passed several miles away around 1890, the little Wendish capital began its slow decline.
Serbin
Serbin, TX
In 1854, some 600 Wends—a Slavic people from the borderlands of Germany—crossed the Atlantic under the leadership of the Reverend John Kilian and founded Serbin, the first Wendish settlement in Texas. Like so many who came before, they were seeking the freedom to worship as they chose. Their colony became the heart of Wendish culture in America, anchored by the Lutheran faith that had drawn them across the ocean.