Kothmann Homesite and Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Heinrich Conrad Kothmann was born in 1798, and by the time his story reaches Mason County, Texas, it has already crossed an ocean. He and his wife, Ilse Katherine Pahlmann, born in 1810, packed up their family and sailed from Germany all the way to Indianola, Texas, in 1845.

Now, Indianola was the landing point, but the Kothmanns didn't stop there. They pushed on and became among the first families to settle in Fredericksburg. And not long after that, in 1848, they were issued a 640-acre land grant in Mason County.

Six hundred and forty acres. That's a lot of promise in a place that had plenty of ways to humble a man. Then in 1856, they moved again, out to Art, and found themselves once more among the first immigrant families in that area.

You get the sense these folks had a taste for frontier. Now here is something worth pausing on. Heinrich Conrad Kothmann came to all this ranching life as a trained cabinetmaker and musician.

A man who worked with fine wood and played music somehow found himself building a cattle operation in the Texas Hill Country. He acquired another 640-acre tract of land on top of the first. The ranch grew.

The family grew. Their son Karl, the first of the Kothmann children born on Texas soil, grew up on that land. But time has a way of reducing even the most solid things down to their essentials.

The Kothmanns are gone from that homestead now. The house is gone. The ranch structures are gone.

What remains, sitting on one quiet acre of their former land, is the Kothmann Cemetery. Five graves. That's all.

The graveyard began with Heinrich Conrad Kothmann himself, laid to rest there in 1881. Beside him is Ilse, who outlasted him by a considerable stretch, living until 1905. Their son Karl is buried there too, along with his wife Katherine, born a Hoerster.

And then there is a fifth grave, unmarked, thought to be that of a grandchild. Thought to be. Nobody knows for certain, and the marker doesn't pretend otherwise.

After Ilse died in 1905, most of the land was sold. But the family held onto one acre. Just one.

The acre with the graves. After 1937, a concrete wall and slab were constructed to protect those five resting places and make them easier to tend. And the family tends them still.

One acre, five graves, a cabinetmaker who became a rancher, and a woman who sailed from Germany in 1845 and didn't leave Texas until 1905. That one acre says more about what a family holds onto than any 640 acres ever could.

What the marker says

Heinrich Conrad Kothmann (1798-1881) and his wife Ilse Katherine Pahlmann (1810-1905) and their family sailed from Germany to Indianola, Texas in 1845. Among the first families to settle in Fredericksburg, the Kothmanns were issued a 640-acre land grant in Mason County in 1848. In 1856 they moved to Art and were among the first immigrant families in this area. A trained cabinetmaker and musician, Kothmann began ranching and acquired another 640-acre tract of land. Located on their former homestead, the Kothmann Cemetery is all that remains of the original ranch site. Containing only five graves, all of Kothmann family members, the graveyard began with the burial of Heinrich Conrad Kothmann in 1881. His wife Ilse is buried beside him. Their son Karl, the first of their family born in Texas, is buried here along with his wife Katherine (Hoerster) Kothmann. A fifth unmarked grave is thought to be that of a grandchild. Though most of the land was sold after Ilse's death in 1905, the family retained one acre including the cemetery property. The concrete wall and slab were constructed after 1937 to provide protection and ease in maintenance for the five graves. The family maintains the cemetery. (1996)