Midfield Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Midfield Cemetery, out there in Matagorda County. Now, there's a certain kind of place in Texas that exists precisely because of geography. Not a river crossing, not a railroad junction, not some founder's ambition.

Just the simple, stubborn fact of being in the middle. The community of Midfield developed at a location equidistant from El Campo, Palacios, Bay City, and Ganado. Four towns pulling in four directions, and Midfield sitting right there at the center of that tension, holding its ground.

By 1904, the community had its own post office. Ten years later, the town was a stop on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. And by that same time, the people of the Midfield area had already started burying their dead on this particular piece of ground.

No deed, no formal arrangement. Just a community doing what communities do, claiming a place for their grief. Then came a July afternoon in 1913.

Iva Nell Hale, born in 1896 to William and Eva Bennett Hale, died from appendicitis on July 17th of that year. She was buried here, in the ground her neighbors had already been using. Her father, William Hale, did something after that.

He went and talked to a man named W.B. Gaumer, who was the land agent and president of the Midfield State Bank, and he told him what the community needed. It needed this place to be real.

Official. Permanent. And Gaumer listened.

In August of 1916, he formally deeded this site as a graveyard. That's the moment an informal patch of ground became something that could be passed down. Decades rolled through.

Midfield's population waned in the latter part of the twentieth century, the way small Texas towns sometimes do. But the people who remained, and the people who remembered, weren't ready to let the cemetery go quiet. They organized an association to maintain the burial ground.

Their first organizational meeting was in 1980, and they have been caring for the site ever since. They also keep the records. The names of those buried here.

People who, in large and small ways, the marker says, contributed to Midfield's history. That line stays with me. Large and small ways.

Because most of history is small ways. A father speaking up for a proper graveyard after losing a daughter. A land agent signing a deed.

A group of neighbors showing up to a meeting in 1980 because somebody had to. That's how a place like Midfield Cemetery endures, not through grand gestures, but through people deciding, again and again, that it matters.

What the marker says

The community of Midfield developed at a location equidistant from El Campo, Palacios, Bay City and Ganado. In 1904, the community's post office opened, and ten years later, the town was a stop on the Texas & New Orleans Railroad. By that time, Midfield-area residents were using this site as a community burial ground. Iva Nell Hale, born to William and Eva Bennett Hale in 1896, died from appendicitis on July 17, 1913, and was buried here. Her father talked to W.B. Gaumer, land agent and president of the Midfield State Bank, about the need for a community cemetery, and Gaumer formally deeded this site as a graveyard in August 1916. It has remained in community use since then. As Midfield's population waned in the latter part of the 20th century, area residents organized an association to maintain the burial ground. The group held its first organizational meeting in 1980, and it continues to care for the site. Members also maintain records on those buried here -- individuals who in large and small ways contributed to Midfield's history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004