Machu Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker for Machu Cemetery is the source of this story, and here's how Duane tells it. Out in Williamson County, about five miles southeast of Granger, a farm sits at the center of a story that starts with generosity and ends with a cemetery that has outlasted the very land it was born on. Pavel and Rozina Machu, her maiden name Trlica, settled in Williamson County in 1878 and got to work contributing to the agricultural life of that community.

Hard-working people, the kind who build things that last. And they built something they never quite planned on. In 1883, a woman came through during her journey, and her husband died along the way.

Now, what do you do in a moment like that? Machu made a decision. He offered to bury that man on a two-acre section of the Machu farm.

Just like that, a cemetery had begun. No grand announcement. No formal consecration.

A neighbor in need, and a piece of good ground given over to something permanent. The first recorded burial, though, came later. That was Katarina Safarik, in 1892.

From that point forward, the ground received descendants of Pavel and Rozina themselves, veterans, and other citizens of the surrounding community. People who had built lives in that same corner of Williamson County. Now here is where the story takes a turn.

That original two-acre section, that quiet patch of farm ground five miles southeast of Granger, it couldn't stay where it was forever. In 1976, before construction of the Laneport Dam, the entire cemetery was relocated to this site. The dead were moved so the living could build, and the Machu family made sure not a soul was left behind.

Designated a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2011, the place endures. And the Machu family, to this day, continues to maintain it. Pavel offered a stranger's husband a resting place back in 1883, and his family is still keeping that promise.

What the marker says

MACHU CEMETERY PAVEL AND ROZINA (TRLICA) MACHU SETTLED IN WILLIAMSON COUNTY IN 1878 AND CONTRIBUTED TO THE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMMUNITY. THE CEMETERY BEGAN IN 1883 WHEN MACHU HELPED A WOMAN BURY HER HUSBAND WHO DIED DURING THEIR JOURNEY. MACHU OFFERED TO BURY HIM ON A TWO-ACRE SECTION OF THE MACHU FARM LOCATED ABOUT FIVE MILES SOUTHEAST OF GRANGER. THE FIRST RECORDED BURIAL WAS THAT OF KATARINA SAFARIK IN 1892. BURIALS INCLUDE DESCENDANTS OF PAVEL AND ROZINA, VETERANS AND OTHER CITIZENS OF THE COMMUNITY. THE CEMETERY WAS RELOCATED TO THIS SITE IN 1976 BEFORE CONSTRUCTION OF THE LANEPORT DAM. MEMBERS OF THE MACHU FAMILY CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY - 2011