St. Joseph Cemetery
Beeville, Bee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery has served the Catholic population of Beeville since the late 19th century, when the town experienced impressive growth. Noted bishop Peter Verdaguer of the Brownsville Diocese purchased land here from T.H. Nott in 1891, and the first burial occurred two years later. The St. Joseph Cemetery Association organized in 1920 to maintain the grounds. Beeville residents buried here include philanthropists, ranchers, cattlemen, veterans, and civic and business leaders. Men and women who emigrated here from a number of countries are also among those interred. Today, the Diocese of Corpus Christi and volunteers provide care for the grounds. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This Catholic cemetery has served Beeville since the late 19th century, when the town was growing rapidly. Bishop Peter Verdaguer of the Brownsville Diocese bought the land from T.H. Nott in 1891, and the first burial followed two years later; a cemetery association organized in 1920 to tend the grounds. Among those interred are ranchers, cattlemen, veterans, civic leaders, and immigrants from many countries, with the Diocese of Corpus Christi and volunteers caring for the site today.
Why it matters
The cemetery quietly records the Catholic and immigrant roots of a South Texas ranching town, preserving the resting places of the pioneers and newcomers who built it.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Bishop Peter Verdaguer
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Baptist Church of Mathis
Mathis, TX
Organized in 1905 by the Rev. Isaac Willingham and seven charter members, First Baptist Church of Mathis grew alongside the new railroad town, meeting first in a borrowed building and a hall above a store. In 1939 it began a ministry to the local Hispanic community that grew into a mission the church purchased and staffed, eventually constituted in 1980 as Primera Iglesia Bautista. The congregation built a long record of charitable giving across Texas and beyond.
Kenedy Alien Detention Camp Cemetery
Kenedy, TX
During World War II the United States interned not only its own residents of German, Japanese, and Italian ancestry but also civilians seized from Latin American nations, holding many as bargaining chips to exchange for Americans trapped overseas. The camp at Kenedy opened in April 1942 and passed more than 3,500 internees through its fences over thirty months before becoming a branch prisoner-of-war camp for Fort Sam Houston. Five people who died in confinement lie buried here, their graves marked by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1976 and the ground designated a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2005.
Mount Calvary Cemetery
Refugio, TX
This cemetery began in grief: the burial of soldiers massacred during the Texas Revolution of 1836, among them the men of Capt. Amon King, whose bones lay scattered on the prairie until Refugio citizens gathered them. The site was later forgotten and rediscovered in 1934. Irish colonists of the Power and Hewetson grants rest here too, including empresario James Power, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Empresario James Power
Refugio, TX
Born in Ireland, James Power reached Mexican Texas in 1823 and, with fellow Irishman James Hewetson, won empresario contracts to plant Irish Catholic and Mexican families along the coastal plain between the Guadalupe and Nueces. His recruiting voyage from Ireland ended in sickness and shipwreck, yet the colony endured. A friend of Sam Houston, Power signed the Texas Declaration of Independence and Constitution and later served in the Republic's Senate.