Edens Cemetery

Duane's take

Now, I'm tellin' this one straight from the official marker, the way the record has it laid down. Pull up a seat and let me tell you about a patch of Bexar County ground that's been holdin' family memory since before the Civil War even started. This is the story of Edens Cemetery, out near Selma on Cibolo Creek.

It begins, as so many Texas stories do, with a family movin' toward something new. The John Edens family were early Anglo settlers to Texas. They arrived in Houston County in 1831, and that's as far back as the record takes us on them.

But the branch of the family we're really following is John's son, Banister Edens. Banister, his wife Mary Walker Edens, and their family pulled up and moved to Bexar County in 1855. By 1856, Banister had acquired 350 acres of land near Selma on Cibolo Creek.

Three hundred and fifty acres. Room to breathe, room to work, room to build a life. But some stories don't wait for a life to be fully built before they ask something hard of you.

Mary Edens died on January 10, 1856. She was buried close to the family farmhouse that once stood near this very site. And that grave, that one quiet marker in the ground beside the farmhouse, that became the beginning of the family cemetery.

One burial, one woman, one winter. Then came the war. Banister's son Napoleon Augustus Edens served as a Civil War veteran, and when the war was done, he came back.

In 1866, Napoleon and his wife Mary Faith Grigsby Edens moved to the family farm. They joined Banister and his stepmother in ranching and farming, and in time Napoleon and Mary Faith bought the farm outright. For thirty-five years they stayed.

Thirty-five years on that land, working it, raising family, living out their days in the shadow of Cibolo Creek. And during those thirty-five years, five more burials took place in the family graveyard. The cemetery grew slow, the way family cemeteries do, one loss at a time.

The last known burial came in 1902. That was W.K. Kella, son-in-law of Napoleon and Mary Faith Edens.

The farm itself had already been sold the year before, in 1901, but here is the part that tells you everything you need to know about this family. When they sold the farm, they kept the cemetery. Held onto it.

The land could go, but the ground where their people lay was not for sale. And to this day, the site and the grounds are maintained by Edens family descendants. Some things, once you put them in the earth, you don't let go of.

What the marker says

Early Anglo settlers to Texas, the John Edens family arrived in Houston County in 1831. John's son Banister Edens, along with his wife Mary Walker Edens and their family, moved to Bexar County in 1855. By 1856 Banister Edens had acquired 350 acres of land near Selma on Cibolo Creek. Mary Edens died January 10, 1856, and was buried close to the family farmhouse that once stood near this site. Her grave marks the beginning of this small family cemetery. Civil War veteran Napoleon Augustus Edens, son of Banister and Mary Edens, and his wife Mary Faith Grigsby Edens moved to the family farm in 1866. They joined his father and stepmother in ranching and farming, and later bought the family farm. During the thirty-five years that Napoleon and Mary Faith Edens remained on the farm, five more burials took place in the family graveyard. The last known burial, in 1902, was that of W.K. Kella, son in law of Napoleon and Mary Faith Edens. When the Edens farm was sold in 1901, the family retained ownership of the small cemetery. The site and the grounds are maintained by Edens family descendants. (1996)