Sociedad Cementerio Union Mexicana Cemetery
Nordheim, DeWitt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Situated along Cabeza Creek, the Sociedad Cementerio Union Mexicana Cemetery, also known as Saint Ann Cemetery, is the final resting place for the Mexican American population of Nordheim. This area was patented to Robert Galletty in 1841 and later sold to H. Runge & Co. and Vachel Weldon. In the late 1890s, German settlers bought property and began to farm the land. Many Hispanic sharecroppers began working for the farm and ranch owners and, therefore, needed a cemetery for burials. Due to segregation, acreage was purchased in 1906 for the Mexican American and African American population. The transfer of ownership was witnessed by two founding members of the cemetery, F.A. Hernandez and Telesporo Garza. According to ledgers, the cemetery was established on February 13, 1907. The cemetery contains more than 500 burials. The first burial is that of Rafael Hinojosa on July 2, 1907. Rafael is listed as one of the original thirty members of the cemetery society. A number of early burials are infants and children who died from flu epidemics and lack of medical attention. Numerous burials are attributed to an F-4 tornado that swept across this region of Texas on May 6, 1930. Eighteen of the twenty-seven people killed in the storm are buried here. In addition, veterans from World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War are buried here. No burial records exist for the African American cemetery and only 17 gravestones are visible. Throughout the years, the community maintained the cemetery until 2003, when the Saint Ann Cemetery Association was established to care for this historic cemetery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When German farmers settled the Nordheim area in the 1890s, they relied on Mexican American and African American laborers who, under segregation, were barred from white cemeteries. In 1906 land was purchased for their burials, and the Sociedad Cementerio Union Mexicana was formally established in 1907, growing to more than 500 graves. Early burials include infants lost to flu epidemics and eighteen of the twenty-seven people killed by an F4 tornado in 1930; veterans of four wars rest here, while the adjoining African American cemetery survives with only seventeen visible stones and no records.
Why it matters
This burial ground is a stark record of segregation's reach into death itself, preserving the memory of the Mexican American and African American families whose labor built the South Texas farm economy.
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Related people
- · Rafael Hinojosa
- · Telesporo Garza
Related events
- · 1930 Nordheim tornado
Themes & tags
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