Lorena Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Lorena Cemetery. Now, some places grow up around a courthouse, or a crossroads, or a well somebody dug. This one grew up around a railroad deal and a name.

And before the town of Lorena had barely drawn its first breath, it already had a place set aside for the dead. That's how serious the pioneers of McLennan County were about putting down roots. You don't plant a cemetery unless you mean to stay.

The original two-acre tract was set aside for the pioneer settlers of the area by Daniel Aerl himself, and Daniel Aerl is interred right there among them. On December 12, 1881, the establishment of this cemetery happened in conjunction with something else entirely: the sale of sixty acres of land to a financier by the name of General Grenville M. Dodge.

Dodge had the property platted for a town, and that town would develop along a line of his Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. Now, a man like Dodge, putting a town on the map, gets to give it a name. And the name he chose was Lorena, after Lorena Westbrook Robertson, born in 1861 and laid to rest in 1952, the daughter of local land owner C.

A. Westbrook. She is buried in this very cemetery.

The land itself had come partly from the Westbrook families, which gives that connection a certain quiet weight. The first burial at this site was that of Lemuel Crook, the infant son of S. J. and G.

S. Crook, who died in 1882. Then two years later, the cemetery received a nine-year-old boy named Jacky Pool.

Those early graves remind you that the frontier did not spare the young. Over time, the ground came to hold pioneer area families, early leaders of the community, and many veterans of military action. Additional land was acquired from the Westbrook families and from the family of Walter Evans, Sr., so the cemetery kept growin as the community did.

In 1914, the Lorena Cemetery Association was established to provide funds for the maintenance of the site. And in 1970, the organization set up a perpetual care trust fund, making sure the place would be looked after long into the future. Daniel Aerl set aside two acres for settlers who meant to stay.

Turns out, they did.

What the marker says

The original two-acre tract of this burial ground was set aside for the pioneer settlers of the area by Daniel Aerl, who is interred here. The establishment of the cemetery on December 12, 1881, was in conjunction with the sale of sixty acres of land to financier Gen. Grenville M. Dodge. He had the property platted for the town of Lorena,which developed along a line of his Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. Dodge named the village for Lorena Westbrook Robertson (1861-1952), also buried here, who was the daughter of local land owner C.A. Westbrook. The first burial at this site was that of Lemuel Crook, the infant son of S.J. and G.S. Crook, who died in 1882. The cemetery was next used two years later for the interment of a nine-year-old boy, Jacky Pool. Other graves include those of pioneer area families, early leaders of the community, and many veterans of military action. Additional land for the cemetery was later acquired from the Westbrook families, and from the family of Walter Evans, Sr. The Lorena Cemetery Association was established in 1914 to provide funds for the maintenance of the site and in 1970 a perpetual care trust fund was set up by the organization.