Antonio López Family Cemetery

Duane's take

The way this story comes down to us is straight off the official marker for the Antonio López Family Cemetery, out in Duval County, and I'm gonna do my best to give it the telling it deserves. Now, every good ranch has a founder, and Rancho San José had one worth remembering. His name was José Antonio López, born in 1830, and the people who knew him just called him Antonio.

He came into this world in San Pedro, the town that would later be known as Ciudad Miguel Alemán, Mexico. And in 1866, he and his wife, María de los Santos González, born in 1832, packed up everything they had and emigrated north. They didn't plant their flag right away.

The family moved around some before they finally found their ground, and in 1875 they purchased nearly thirteen hundred acres right here in what would become their legacy. Now picture that land as they first found it. Wild horses running loose across it.

Antonio and his family started by trapping those horses and raising sheep. In time, they moved into farming cotton and ranching cattle. That is the quiet, relentless work of people who intend to stay.

But hardship came calling, as it does. María de los Santos González died sometime between 1878 and 1884. The marker doesn't fix the exact year, and maybe that uncertainty is its own kind of sorrow.

Antonio kept going. He kept building Rancho San José, leaning on his adult children to help him do it. And in 1886, he married Dominga Peña.

Antonio López died in 1903, the same year this cemetery began. He divided his land between his children and his wife, and then, according to family lore, each one of them gave back a small portion of what they had inherited. That was how Antonio's wish got fulfilled.

He had wanted a family cemetery, and his heirs made it so. They set aside one acre at the southwest corner of his homestead, and they buried him there, on his beloved Rancho San José. That original one-acre burial ground is still marked today by a chain-link fence.

And the record of it, officially put down on paper, came in 1924, when son Margarito made it formal. Antonio does not rest alone. Buried alongside him are his children Jesús, Pedro, Margarito, Gregoria, who married into the Sáenz family, María, who married into the García family, and José Moreno.

His second wife, Dominga Peña, is there too. His first wife and two of his sons, Francisco and Fermán, rest in other familial cemeteries. The story didn't stop with Antonio's generation.

In 1964, his grandson Rosendo López donated an additional one and three-quarter acres, expanding the cemetery to hold what the family kept becoming. That's the thing about a family cemetery. It doesn't just hold the dead.

It holds the proof that people were here, that they worked this land, that they kept their promises to one another across generations. The Antonio López Family Cemetery in Duval County is exactly that kind of proof, and it is still standing.

What the marker says

In continuous use since 1903, this cemetery is the final resting place of Rancho San José founder José Antonio Lopéz (1830-1903), known as Antonio, along with generations of his descendants and their families. Antonio and his wife, María de los Santos González (b. 1832), emigrated from San Pedro (now Ciudad Miguel Alemán), Mexico, in 1866. The family eventually settled here on nearly 1,300 acres purchased in 1875, first trapping wild horses and raising sheep, then later farming cotton and ranching cattle. María died sometime between 1878 and 1884. Antonio continued to develop Rancho San José with help from his adult children, and he married Dominga Peña in 1886. In 1903, Antonio died, dividing his land between his children and wife. Per family lore, each contributed a small portion of their inherited acreage to fulfill Antonio’s wish of creating this family cemetery. He was buried here on his beloved Rancho San José. A chain-link fence demarcates the original one-acre burial ground set aside by Antonio’s heirs at the southwest corner of his homestead, which was officially recorded in 1924 by son Margarito. Interred here with their father are children Jesús, Pedro, Margarito, Gregoria (Sáenz), María (García) and José Moreno, and second wife Dominga Peña. Antonio’s first wife and sons, Francisco and Fermán, rest in other familial cemeteries. In 1964, the cemetery was expanded by 1.75 acres donated by grandson Rosendo López. As the final resting place for Rancho San José’s founder and his descendants, the Antonio López Family Cemetery remains a tangible reminder of the heritage of the area. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2018