DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Campacuas Cemetery, out in Hidalgo County. Now, some stories start with a man and a piece of land. This one starts with a man, a piece of land, and a lake with a name old enough to make you stop and listen.
Antonio Cano was born in 1811. In 1836, he established Rancho Guadalupe at a place called Campacuas. And that same year — same year — he wed Mauricia Fernandez in Reynosa, Mexico.
She was born in 1814. Together they had five children, and together they built something that would outlast almost everything around it. The ranch itself sat on part of the Llano Grande royal land grant.
It fronted the Rio Grande and stretched north about fifteen miles. Fifteen miles of South Texas ground, enlarged through the years from that original footprint. Cano set up his headquarters on the wooded shores of Campacuas Lake — a resaca, one of those old oxbow waters that define this part of the state.
That lake had once been known as Tampacuas Lake, named for the Tampacuaze Indians who frequented the area. The name changed. The water stayed.
Cano didn't just work that land. He gave pieces of it away for things that mattered. He donated land along the lake for a schoolhouse, for a chapel, and for a cemetery.
That cemetery is what the marker's here to tell you about. The first person buried there was Antonio Montelongo, who died in 1836 — the very same year the ranch was founded and the wedding bells rang in Reynosa. The ground received the dead even as the living were just getting started.
The oldest marked grave, though, belongs to Antonio Cano himself, who died in 1877. His grave features a bóveda — an above-ground crypt. Mauricia Fernandez Cano lived on until 1906.
The cemetery around them grew across the decades. Gravestones range from handmade markers to tall monuments, a whole spectrum of remembrance carved in stone and wood. But the wooden ones — many of them didn't make it.
Early twentieth century floods washed them away. The Rio Grande giveth and it taketh back. Much of the Cano land eventually sold off for commercial farms, and part of it became the town of Mercedes.
The ranch headquarters, the chapel, the schoolhouse — time and commerce moved through all of it. But the cemetery remains. Family and an association maintain the burial ground, and every November they come back to clean and decorate the graves.
Annual homecomings, they call them. Because that's what it is — a coming home to the people who made the place. Antonio Cano set a stake in the ground in 1836.
The land changed hands. The lake changed names. The wooden markers washed away in the floods.
But every November, the descendants still come. Some stories don't end. They just keep getting tended.
What the marker says
Antonio Cano (1811-1877) established Rancho Guadalupe at Campacuas in 1836. That year, he wed Mauricia Fernandez (1814-1906) in Reynosa, Mexico. The couple had five children. The original Cano Ranch, enlarged through the years, was on part of the Llano Grande royal land grant, and it fronted the Rio Grande and extended north about 15 miles. Cano established ranch headquarters on the wooded shores of Campacuas Lake, a resaca originally known as Tampacuas Lake for the Tampacuaze Indians who frequented the area. He donated land along the lake for a schoolhouse and chapel, as well as a cemetery. Antonio Montelongo (d. 1836) was the first to be buried here, but the oldest marked grave is that of Antonio Cano. It features a bóveda, or above-ground crypt. Other gravestones range from handmade markers to tall monuments. Many wooden markers washed away in early 20th century floods. Much of the Cano land was sold for commercial farms and part of Mercedes, but the cemetery remains. Family and an association maintain the burial ground and conduct annual homecomings each November to clean and decorate the graves. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003