Humphreys Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Humphreys Cemetery, out there in Caldwell County. Now settle in, because this one reaches back a good long ways. In the 1850s, members of the Jennings and Humphreys families came and put down roots in the Martindale area.

They were the kind of folks who didn't just build homes, they built permanence. And one of the ways you know a family means to stay is when they set aside ground for the ones who won't be leaving. Joseph Humphreys bought the land in 1855, and on a raised piece of that ground, they established a cemetery.

It sat beside some two thousand acres that those settling families called their own. Two thousand acres. That's a lot of sky, and a lot of story.

The first person laid to rest there was Randolph Reed Jennings, who died in 1854. The marker says he reportedly died of yellow fever, on his way to Martindale. Never quite made it to the place he was heading.

And yet, in a way, here he is, the very first soul in that ground, as close to Martindale as a person can get. Among the stones still standing, the grave marker of Agnes Jennings, who died in 1869, bears the earliest birth year recorded in that cemetery: 1783. Think about that.

A life that began in 1783, carried all the way to the Texas frontier. When the Humphreys family plot took shape, it was marked by two obelisks, and Joseph Humphreys himself, who died in 1864, was the first of his family buried there. Those obelisks stand like sentinels, pointing straight up at a Hill Country sky.

Now, the marker doesn't let us forget something harder. Tradition holds that a number of unmarked graves in that cemetery belong to former slaves of the pioneer families. No obelisks for them.

No carved birth years. Just the ground, and the tradition that remembers them at all. Among the notable burials the marker calls out, there's Jemima Crunk, born in 1799 and died in 1876, remembered as an early settler.

And there's George N. Martindale, born in 1842 and died in 1892, son of the very founder of the community that bears his family's name. The cemetery was enlarged in 1946, and today, families and descendants of those buried there meet regularly and keep the place up.

They tend it. That's not nothing. That's a community saying this ground still matters.

A link to the area's early settlers, the marker calls it, a symbol of Martindale and its rich history. And maybe that's exactly right. From Randolph Reed Jennings, who never finished his journey, to the unnamed souls in unmarked graves, to two obelisks standing watch over a family plot, this raised piece of Caldwell County ground holds more than the people buried in it.

It holds the whole shape of how a place becomes a place.

What the marker says

Members of the Jennings and Humphreys families settled in the Martindale area in the 1850s. They established a cemetery on land bought by Joseph Humphreys in 1855. Set aside on this raised area, the burial ground initially served family members who had settled the 2,000 acres adjoining the site. Randolph Reed Jennings (d. 1854), who reportedly died of yellow fever on his way to Martindale, was the first buried here, and the grave marker of Agnes Jennings (d. 1869) bears the earliest birth year, 1783. Joseph Humphreys (d. 1864) was the first buried in the Humphreys family plot, denoted by two obelisks. Tradition holds that a number of unmarked graves belong to former slaves of the pioneer families. Notable burials include the graves of early settler Jemima Crunk (1799-1876) and George N. Martindale (1842-1892), son of the community's founder. Today, families and descendants of those buried here meet regularly and maintain the cemetery, which was enlarged in 1946. This burial ground, a link to the area's early settlers, remains a symbol of Martindale and its rich history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003