Georg Heinrich Buchsenschutz Family Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Georg Heinrich Buchsenschutz Family Cemetery out in Bexar County. Now, some family stories start with a bang and end with a whisper. This one starts with a war and ends with a patch of ground that's still open to anyone who carries the name.

Let me lay it out for you. Georg Heinrich Buchsenschutz was a Mexican War veteran, and in 1850 he came to Texas. That right there tells you something about the man.

He'd already seen enough of the world to know where he wanted to plant his feet. And plant them he did. In 1860, he bought more than two hundred acres of farmland in this very area.

That same year, he wed Friederike Schulmeier. Two hundred acres and a marriage, all in the same year. Georg Heinrich was not a man who did things halfway.

Together, he and Friederike had ten children. Ten. You start to understand why a man needs two hundred acres.

Now, the story takes its first hard turn with their oldest daughter, also named Friederike. In 1881, she died at the age of fifteen, and she was buried right there on the homestead. The first of the family to rest in that ground.

Her father, Georg Heinrich himself, was interred near her in 1895. You get the sense he knew exactly where he belonged. And then, between 1910 and 1946, eleven more family members were buried at the cemetery.

Generation after generation, finding their way back to that same patch of Bexar County farmland. The site remains open to family descendants to this day. Some ground, once it takes a family in, just doesn't let go.

What the marker says

Mexican War veteran Georg Heinrich Buchsenschutz came to Texas in 1850. He bought more than 200 acres of farmland in this area in 1860, the same year he wed Friederike Schulmeier, with whom he had ten children. Their oldest daughter, Friederike, died at the age of fifteen in 1881 and was buried on the homestead. Her father was interred near her in 1895. Between 1910 and 1946, eleven other family members were buried at the cemetery. The site remains open to family descendants. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2001