Mc Lester Family Cemetery
Rockport, Aransas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
McLESTER FAMILY CEMETERY SITUATED AMONG HACKBERRY, MESQUITE AND LIVE OAK TREES, THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY HAS SERVED THE McLESTER FAMILY FOR OVER A CENTURY. CHARLES H. McLESTER, AN ENGINEER ON THE SAN ANTONIO AND ARANSAS PASS RAILROAD IN ARANSAS COUNTY, AND HIS WIFE, ELIZA ISABELLE ADAMS, INHERITED THIS LAND FROM ELIZA’S FOSTER PARENTS, GEORGE AND AMANDA COX, IN 1903. THE McLESTER FAMILY WAS ONE OF NUMEROUS VEGETABLE FARMERS IN THE SPARKS COLONY NEAR THE TURN OF THE CENTURY. THE FIRST BURIAL WAS CHARLES AND ELIZA’S THIRTEEN YEAR-OLD SON, BENNIE BELL McLESTER, WHO DIED IN 1909. MANY OTHER DESCENDANTS OF CHARLES H. AND ELIZA, EDUCATORS, CITY OFFICIALS AND VETERANS ARE BURIED HERE. THE FAMILY CONTINUES TO CARE FOR THE CEMETERY. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 1998
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Tucked among hackberry, mesquite, and live oak on Texas's Coastal Bend, this family burying ground dates to the turn of the twentieth century, when Charles H. McLester—an engineer on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad—and his wife Eliza inherited the land in 1903. The McLesters were among the vegetable farmers of the nearby Sparks Colony, and the first grave, dug in 1909, held their thirteen-year-old son Bennie. Generations of educators, city officials, and veterans followed, and descendants still tend the plot.
Why it matters
Family cemeteries like this one preserve the intimate social history of railroad-and-farming settlement that built rural Texas, one household at a time.
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Related people
- · Charles H. McLester
- · Eliza Isabelle Adams
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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