Santa Anna Cemetery
Santa Anna, Coleman County, Texas
Marker Inscription
SANTA ANNA CEMETERY WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SANTA FE RAILROAD IN 1886, THE TOWN OF SANTA ANNA GREW RAPIDLY AND DEVELOPED AS A CATTLE SHIPPING POINT. ACCORDING TO ORAL HISTORY, W.C. BROOKS WAS THE FIRST PERSON BURIED IN THE SANTA ANNA CEMETERY BEFORE THE RAILROAD WAS COMPLETED, ALTHOUGH NO GRAVE MARKER IS PRESENT. MR. BROOKS’ SON, LEWIS BROOKS, GAVE THE FIRST SECTION OF LAND FOR THE CEMETERY FOR HIS BURIAL. THE OLDEST DATED MONUMENT BELONGS TO SIXTEEN YEAR-OLD MARY E. ASHLEY (1869-1885). L.V. STOCKARD (1858-1923), THE FIRST RAILROAD STATION AGENT OF SANTA ANNA, IS ALSO BURIED AT THIS SITE, ALONG WITH HIS WIFE, CORA (WILLETT) STOCKARD (1860-1907). OTHER NOTABLE BURIALS INCLUDE TEXAS RANGER AND COUNTY SHERIFF JOHN R. BANISTER (1854-1918) AND HIS WIFE, EMMA D. BANISTER (1871-1956), AS WELL AS FELLOW TEXAS RANGER, JOHN BENECKE BACHMAN (1820-1906). THE LANDSCAPE OF THE SANTA ANNA CEMETERY IS TRADITIONAL WITH CONCRETE, FIELDSTONE, GRANITE, AND SANDSTONE GRAVE MARKERS WITH A VARIETY OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL TREES, SHRUBS, AND GROUNDCOVER. THIS HISTORIC BURIAL GROUND IS HOME TO TWENTY-EIGHT KNOWN CIVIL WAR VETERANS WITH THE OLDEST BELONGING TO GEORGE WILLIAMS (1848-1897) OF THE TENNESSEE CAVALRY CSA. ADDITIONALLY, GRAVES MARK THE BURIALS OF VETERANS FROM THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II, THE KOREAN WAR, AND THE VIETNAM WAR. FRATERNAL SECTIONS OF THE CEMETERY REPRESENT BURIALS OF FREE MASONS, MEMBERS OF THE INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS, WOODMEN OF THE WORLD, AND MEMBERS OF THE ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR. THE SANTA ANNA CEMETERY ASSOCIATION, FORMED IN 1943, CONTINUES TO CARE FOR THE CEMETERY WITH VOLUNTEER WORKDAYS AND EVENTS. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2009
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When the Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1886, Santa Anna boomed as a cattle-shipping point, and this cemetery grew with it—its oldest dated monument marking sixteen-year-old Mary Ashley, who died in 1885. Among the buried are the town's first station agent and Texas Rangers John R. Banister and John Benecke Bachman, along with veterans from the Civil War through Vietnam. Fraternal sections for Masons, Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the World, and the Eastern Star reflect the social fabric of the community.
Why it matters
Santa Anna Cemetery is a layered record of a Texas railroad and ranching town, its graves tracing generations of frontier lawmen, settlers, and soldiers across more than a century of American conflicts.
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Related people
- · John R. Banister
- · Emma D. Banister
- · L.V. Stockard
Themes & tags
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