DUANE
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Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's how I pass this story along to you. Out here in Jim Wells County, there's a cemetery that carries a name heavy enough to make you slow down and listen. Las Calaveras.
The Skull Lagoon. And it didn't get that name from a storybook. When the Valadez family settled this land, they found skeletal remains on the site, remains believed to belong to members of an Indian tribe who faced a major flood in this area.
That's the name the place carried forward, and that's the name it carries still. Now let's back up to where this story begins. José María Valadez was born in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico.
In 1864, he purchased land in this area and moved here with his wife, Josefa Garcia Hinojosa. The two of them put down roots in ground that had already seen things most folks would rather not think about. The family got to work.
They operated two ranches in the area, raising cattle and sheep, cultivating corn and cotton. The ranch right here, on this particular stretch of earth, was named La Laguna de las Calaveras, for those skeletal remains they found when they arrived. The earliest marked grave in the cemetery belongs to Daniel Valadez, who died in 1878.
Generation after generation of the Valadez family has been laid to rest here since. And over time, the graveyard opened itself to the Ben Bolt community as well. A family's private ground became something shared, something larger.
That's the thing about a place named for bones in the earth. It tends to remind everyone, sooner or later, that we're all just passing through.
What the marker says
José María Valadez, born in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, purchased land in this area in 1864, moving here with his wife, Josefa Garcia Hinojosa. The family operated two ranches in the area, raising cattle and sheep, and cultivating corn and cotton. The ranch in this area was named La Laguna de las Calaveras for skeletal remains found on the site believed to be from members of an Indian tribe who faced a major flood in the area. The earliest marked grave in the cemetery is that of Daniel Valadez (d. 1878). The graveyard, used by generations of the Valadez family, is also used by the Ben Bolt community. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2002