Industry Pilgrims Rest Cemetery
Industry, Austin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Soon after Friedrich Ernst and Charles Fortran came to the area at the western side of Stephen F. Austin’s grant in 1831, now Austin County, the town of Industry became the first permanent German settlement in Texas. Following the Gotier Trace, many traveled through Industry on their way to points further west, but many made Industry their home. On April 26, 1873, Wilhelmina Schroeder, daughter of Friedrich Ernst, sold acreage to the trustees of the mutual cemetery graveyard for a community cemetery. The land was used as a burial ground long before Wilhelmina’s donation; pioneers who died while passing through industry on their way west were likely buried there in unmarked graves. The oldest marked grave is that of Max Schmidt from 1853. Many German settlers of the area are buried here, including Friedrich Ernst’s wife and multiple members of their family. The tombstone of Louise Ernst Stoehr, married to Ernst until his death in 1848, describes her as “the first German settler in Texas. 1800-1889.” Wilhelmine Schroeder’s tombstone has similar language. Cemetery records show the burials of veterans, including Jacob Wolters, Austin colonist and republic of Texas and confederate soldier. Adjacent to the Industry Pilgrims Rest Cemetery is the cemetery of the United Methodist Church, located along the south property line. In 1960, a perpetual care fund was established and in 1964 the Industry Pilgrims Rest Cemetery Association formed. Additional land was acquired in 1985 and 1990 to allow for expansion. Although small in size, Industry played an important role in the settlement of Texas, reflected in the burials of this historic cemetery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Friedrich Ernst and Charles Fortran settled at the western edge of Stephen F. Austin's colony in 1831, the town of Industry became the first permanent German settlement in Texas. Travelers on the Gotier Trace passed through on their way west, and many stayed; the cemetery, formally deeded in 1873 by Ernst's daughter, held graves long before that, including Louise Ernst Stoehr, remembered on her tombstone as "the first German settler in Texas." German pioneers, Austin colonists, and Republic of Texas soldiers rest here together.
Why it matters
Industry's cemetery marks the beginning of German immigration to Texas, a wave that reshaped the state's culture, farms, and towns.
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Related people
- · Friedrich Ernst
- · Louise Ernst Stoehr
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Industry
Industry, TX
In 1831 Friedrich Ernst, a native of Varel in Oldenburg, Germany, settled here and founded what became the first permanent German settlement in Texas—then still part of Mexico. The town was formally laid out in 1838, and Ernst lived out his life here until his death in 1858. His glowing letters home helped spark a broad German migration to Texas.
Charles Fordtran
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Charles Fordtran, a German of Huguenot descent, joined Stephen F. Austin's colony in January 1831 and earned a league of land surveying for Austin's partner Samuel May Williams. He fought in frontier clashes, rode with the "Spy Rangers" protecting fleeing families during the Texas Revolution, and raised fourteen children on his land near Industry. Arriving well before the great wave of German immigration, he was among the first Teutonic settlers in Texas.
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Bryan Daughtrey, a veteran of the War of 1812, came to Texas in 1822 as part of Stephen F. Austin's Second Colony and settled here in present Austin County. When his wife Anna died in 1847 he buried her on this spot, beginning a cemetery later used by the German Sternenberg family who bought the land. The community, its burial ground, and a school that ran until 1928 all took the name Star Hill—the English translation of Sternenberg—and descendants of those pioneer families still tend the graves.
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