Hope Lutheran Memorial Park
Buckholts, Milam County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Anticipating the needs of its members, the German Evangelisch Lutheran Hoffnung Church of Buckholts purchased the original 1.5 acres for this burial ground from Thomas and Eva Blinka in 1902. The graves of Josef Neuman (1902-1903) and J.C. Richter (1831-1904) date the cemetery's beginning use. In 1911, the deed for the land and access road was formally recorded. The Hope Lutheran Church Congregation has added acreage over the years and continued to make improvements. Since 1962, an association has overseen the affairs and upkeep of this site that chronicles much of the heritage of the Buckholts Community. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2001
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The German Evangelical Lutheran Hoffnung (Hope) Church of Buckholts bought the first acre and a half of this cemetery in 1902, anticipating its members' needs. The earliest graves, of Josef Neuman and J.C. Richter, date its use to 1902-1904, and the congregation formally recorded the deed in 1911. Expanded and cared for over the decades, and overseen by an association since 1962, the grounds preserve much of the German community's heritage.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a lasting record of the German Lutheran immigrants who settled and farmed the Central Texas prairie.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Buckholts Brethren Church
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Bohemian and Moravian immigrants of the Unity of the Brethren — a faith tracing to the Czech reformer Jan Hus — began arriving in Texas as early as 1848. Buckholts residents held their first Brethren services in the Czech language in 1894 and formally organized in 1907, raising a wooden sanctuary in 1913. Only around 1951, with a new building, did the congregation begin worshiping in English, adopting its present name in 1959.
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Urban Cemetery
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This cemetery bears the name of Julius Paul Urban, a Wendish immigrant who deeded just over an acre for burials in the late 1890s. Its oldest known grave dates to 1903, and many headstones carry German-language inscriptions that reflect the settlers' Old World roots. Though the Lutheran church and school that once served the Felton, Duncan, and Sharp communities are gone, the cemetery remains in use.