Cedarvale Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The Cedarvale Cemetery in Matagorda County carries a story that starts the way a lot of Texas stories start, with something going wrong out in the field. The year was 1896, and a man named Rufus A.

Mathis was killed in a hunting accident. He was buried on land owned by a man named D. P.

Moore. Now here's the thing that'll stay with you. At the very moment of his death, Mathis and other community leaders were already in the process of establishing a cemetery for their community.

He was working to build the place, and then he became one of its first. Moore, for his part, made it official. On March 14, 1896, he deeded four acres of land for a cemetery.

Four acres to hold the memory of a community. That date, that deed, that act of a neighbor making something permanent out of something tragic. By 1906, the Cedarvale Cemetery Association had been established to care for the grounds, and subsequent purchases were made over time to enlarge the burial grounds further.

Today, many of Bay City's early settlers are buried there, in ground that was set aside in the wake of loss, on a date in March, because a man named Rufus Mathis never got to see the work finished.

What the marker says

The Cedarvale Cemetery traces its history to 1896, when Rufus A. Mathis was killed in a hunting accident and buried on land owned by D. P. Moore. At the time of his death, Mathis and other community leaders were in the process of establishing a cemetery for the community. Moore officially deeded four acres of land for a cemetery on March 14, 1896. By 1906 the Cedarvale Cemetery Association was established to care for the cemetery and subsequent purchases were made to enlarge the burial grounds. Many of Bay City's early settlers are buried here. (1992)