Machemehl Cemetery
Bellville, Austin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
MICHAEL MACHEMEHL, A MEMBER OF THE GERMAN FORTY-EIGHTERS, CAME TO AMERICA FROM ANNABERG, SAXONY IN 1849 WITH HIS WIFE, MARY BUBASH, AND THEIR SON, JOHANN. LAND PURCHASED BY THE FAMILY CONSISTED OF 800 ACRES AND WAS DIVIDED AMONG FATHER AND SON. THE CEMETERY CAME INTO EXISTENCE IN 1850 WITH THE DEATH OF JOHANN’S WIFE, HENRIETTA BOREL MACHEMEHL. SIX YEARS LATER, JOHANN’S DAUGHTER, ANNETTE, PASSED AND WAS BURIED AT THE FAMILY CEMETERY. A LARGE LIMESTONE MONUMENT AT THE CENTER OF THE CEMETERY LISTS THE NAMES AND DATES OF EIGHT MEMBERS OF THE MACHEMEHL FAMILY BURIED IN THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY. THIS BURIAL GROUND SERVES AS A REMINDER OF THE SACRIFICES MADE BY IMMIGRANT PIONEERS OF THE AREA.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Michael Machemehl was one of the German "Forty-Eighters"—emigrants who left in the wake of the failed 1848 revolutions—arriving in America from Saxony in 1849 with his wife and son. The family bought 800 acres in Austin County and divided it between father and son. The cemetery began in 1850 with the death of a daughter-in-law, and a central limestone monument now records eight family members buried here.
Why it matters
The Forty-Eighters brought both farming ambition and liberal political ideals to Texas, and family cemeteries like this mark the roots they put down.
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Related people
- · Michael Machemehl
Themes & tags
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