Link Family Cemetery
Palestine, Anderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery was established when John and Mary Otelia Link buried their young daughters Annie and Allean at this site within a week of each other in July of 1887. Both children died of diphtheria. At that time no Catholic cemetery existed nearby and local tradition suggests the children were buried near their home because transportation of unpreserved bodies over a long distance in the heat was impractical. John Link died in 1888 and was buried next to his daughters. The Links practiced burial procedures commonly used in rural Texas in the 19th century. The deceased was washed and laid out on a cooling board with bags of saltpeter or silver coins placed over the eyes in an undertaking shared by friends and neighbors. Pallbearers lowered the locally manufactured casket with the use of three traditional cotton straps. After the burial, participants gathered at the home of the deceased to eat and express sympathy. John and Mary's eldest son Andrew B. Link formally set aside the cemetery in a deed transferring family land to his youngest brother John F. Link in 1919. Of the 32 burials currently in the cemetery, 11 are of children under the age of 6. The Link Family Cemetery is maintained by an association of family members. (1993)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This family burial ground began in July 1887 when John and Mary Otelia Link buried two young daughters, both dead of diphtheria within a week of each other; with no Catholic cemetery nearby and the summer heat making distant transport impractical, the children were laid to rest near home. John Link joined them in 1888. The graves preserve the burial customs of rural nineteenth-century Texas—cooling boards, saltpeter, locally made caskets, and neighbors gathering afterward to share food and sympathy.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a poignant record of frontier family life, where epidemic disease, high child mortality, and folk burial traditions shaped how rural Texans met death.
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Related people
- · John Link
- · Mary Otelia Link
Themes & tags
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