Needville Methodist Church Cemetery

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm drawing straight from the official marker for the Needville Methodist Church Cemetery in Fort Bend County. Here's what it says. The land itself was purchased by the Needville German Methodist Church from the State of Texas in 1896.

A piece of Texas, bought fair and square, set aside for a community and its faith. But the cemetery, that didn't begin right away. It waited.

Seven years, the ground lay quiet. Then 1903 came, and with it a grief no congregation wants to carry. The infant son of the church's own pastor, William Sievers, and his wife Alma, was buried near the church building.

That is how a cemetery begins. Not with a grand plan, but with the smallest of losses. A pastor's child.

A family's sorrow. A plot of earth that suddenly meant something different than it had the day before. By 1905, two more families had brought their grief to that same ground.

Children of the Busch family and children of the Kielman family were buried here. And then in 1907, the Zich family began burying relatives in the graveyard as well. One family, then another, then another.

The ground collecting the names of a community the way a community collects its years. This little cemetery sits adjacent to the Needville Public Cemetery, and it has historically served the members of the Methodist church, which moved into the town of Needville in 1927. Two cemeteries, side by side, each with its own story, each with its own people.

This one was funded, in the end, by the estate of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Bacica. Their names on the base of the marker, a final act of keeping the memory intact.

What the marker says

Located on land purchased by the Needville German Methodist Church from the State of Texas in 1896, this small cemetery began in 1903, when the infant son of the church's pastor, William Sievers, and his wife Alma was buried near the church building. By 1905 children of the Busch and Kielman families also were buried here, and the Zich family began burying relatives in the graveyard in 1907. Adjacent to the Needville Public Cemetery, this plot has historically been used by members of the Methodist church, which moved into the town of Needville in 1927. Incise on base: Funded by the Estate of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Bacica