New Ulm Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of New Ulm Cemetery — and it starts with a name that didn't stick. Back in 1841, a man named James C. Duff acquired title to a piece of ground in what is now Austin County, Texas.

The little settlement that grew up around that site took on his name — Duff's Settlement. Simple enough. But a settlement needs a post office before it really becomes a town, and when that post office finally began operation in 1853, something else happened along with it.

The name changed. The community rechristened itself New Ulm, in honor of Ulm — a city in the province of Württemberg, Germany — the homeland of many of the early settlers who had made their way to this corner of Texas. Now, the original town took root near a spot one mile north of where you'll find New Ulm today.

And sitting right there, close to where those first settlers planted themselves, is New Ulm Cemetery. The earliest recorded burial there is that of C.J. Schuette, interred in 1853 — the very same year that post office opened and the town got its new name.

Also resting in that cemetery is Josef Lidumil Lesikar, remembered as a leader in bringing early Czech settlers to America. The ground holds a long memory. Now, about that shift in geography — in 1892, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad Company of Texas laid tracks, streets, and lots one mile south of the existing New Ulm for a new townsite.

One mile south. And just like that, the settlers abandoned the former location and followed the railroad. That's how a whole town picks up and moves, folks — the railroad points and the people follow.

The cemetery, though, stayed put. And it very nearly lost its earliest history altogether. The earliest land and burial records for New Ulm Cemetery were lost in a fire.

Gone. But what survived tells us that property was sold to the New Ulm Cemetery in 1889, and that the New Ulm Cemetery Association was already in existence by 1915. That association kept things going, kept the ground honored.

And they've been honoring it with a decoration day every single year since at least 1919. Every year. The tradition hasn't broken.

It still goes on today, with services alternating between St. John Lutheran Church of New Ulm and the Industry United Methodist Church — two congregations sharing the weight of remembrance. Over the years, the cemetery itself has grown more substantial.

An impressive entrance was constructed in 1924. A storage building went up in 1933. And in 2002, they added a chapel.

The place has been tended, cared for, and built upon by people who understood what it meant to keep faith with the dead. And those dead include veterans — men and women who served in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Generation after generation, from one American conflict to the next, laid to rest in the same ground where C.J.

Schuette was buried all the way back in 1853. Duff's Settlement became New Ulm. The old town moved one mile south and left the cemetery behind.

But that cemetery never stopped being the center of something — a decoration day that hasn't missed a year, a chapel built in the twenty-first century, and the names of the fallen stretching across more than a century of American wars. Some places just refuse to be abandoned, no matter where the railroad goes.

What the marker says

The town of New Ulm was originally called Duff's Settlement at the time of its founding, and was named for James C. Duff, who in 1841 acquired title to the site upon which the sttlement was founded. A post office began operation in 1853. At that time, the town's name was changed to New Ulm in honor of Ulm, a city in the province of Württemberg, Germany, which was the homeland of many early settlers. The orignal town was established near the site of New Ulm Cemetery, one mile north of the present town of New Ulm. In 1892, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad Company of Texas laid tracks, streets and lots one mile south of the existing New Ulm for a new townsite, and settlers soon abandoned the former location. The earliest recorded burial in New Ulm Cemtery is that of C.J. Schuette, who was interred in 1853. Also buried at New Ulm Cemetery is Josef Lidumil Lesikar, who was a leader in bringing early Czech settlers to America. The earliest land and burial records for New Ulm Cemtery were lost in a fire, but existing records show that property was sold to the New Ulm Cemetery in 1889, and the New Ulm Cemetery Association was already in existence by 1915. A decoration day has been scheduled every year since at least 1919. The annual decoration day is still held, with services alternating between St. John Lutheran Church of New Ulm and the Industry United Methodist Church. Many improvements have been made to the cemetery throughout the years, including the construction of an impressive entrance in 1924, a storage building in 1933, and a chapel in 2002. Burials in New Ulm Cemetery include veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Historic Texas Cemetery-2008