New Braunfels Cemetery
New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Dedicated at the burial of Mrs. Elise Peter, on June 23,1845, a few months after New Braunfels was founded. This cemetery gave rest to many colonists in early years of hardship that besieged the German Emigration Company. Gerlach Peter, husband of the first tenant, was buried in July as one other of the 20 fatalites of 1845. There were 348 bruials in 1846. A ferry operator, Johann Justus Kellner (1821-51), has the oldest stone. There are 753 marked and hundreds of unmarked graves. The last vacant lot was sold in 1945. No burials are allowed except in lots purchased before 1946.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Dedicated in June 1845 at the burial of Mrs. Elise Peter, this cemetery opened just months after New Braunfels was founded by the German Emigration Company. It became a resting place for the many colonists who died during the settlement's hard early years, with 20 fatalities in 1845 alone and 348 burials the following year. The oldest surviving stone belongs to ferry operator Johann Justus Kellner, and the grounds hold 753 marked graves and hundreds unmarked, sold out by 1945.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a somber ledger of German immigration to Texas, recording the steep human cost paid by the colonists who built one of the state's enduring immigrant communities.
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Related people
- · Elise Peter
- · Gerlach Peter
- · Johann Justus Kellner
Related events
- · Founding of New Braunfels, 1845
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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First United Methodist Church
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As Methodism spread across south Texas in the 1850s, circuit rider Rev. Henry P. Young organized a New Braunfels congregation in 1853 within a circuit of German-speaking churches. Rev. J.W. Devilbiss, based in the town, trained ministers and gathered German-speaking converts, and a church building went up in the Comaltown area in 1858. Over the following century the congregation shifted from German to bilingual to English, grew past a thousand members, and in 2005 sponsored a daughter church in nearby Gruene.
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