DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Prairie Lea Cemetery, Washington County. Now, most cemeteries have a story, but this one — this one has several, and they go deep.
Graves here date all the way back to the 1840s. But the Brenham Cemetery Association didn't formally set aside this property until 1871, and the reason they moved when they did tells you something about what this region had just been through. The older Masonic Cemetery was running out of room — and it was running out of room fast, on account of the large number of yellow fever victims in the late 1860s.
That's the kind of detail that stops you cold. Yellow fever moved through communities like a reaper with a schedule to keep, and Brenham felt it. So the trustees acted.
They purchased the initial twenty-two point seven seven acres from a man named J. D. Giddings, and Prairie Lea Cemetery came into operation.
Now, hold that Giddings name in your mind, because it comes back. Among the people laid to rest here are veterans of military conflicts reaching all the way back to the Texas Revolution. This ground holds that kind of history — the kind that goes back to before Texas was a state, before it was a republic even fighting to become one.
Then there are the Giddings brothers — Jabez Demming and Dewitt Clinton Giddings. Brothers, both of them. Prominent lawyers, bankers, railroad promoters, politicians.
The kind of men who had a hand in just about everything that shaped a community, and this community knew it. The religious figures buried here carry their own weight. Carl A.
Urbantke, born in Austria, became a Methodist minister, and he was instrumental in the formation of what eventually became Blinn College. Think about that — a man who crossed an ocean ends up shaping higher education in central Texas. Then there's Robert Alexander, also a Methodist preacher, and a founder of Texas University in Georgetown — which was the forerunner of Southwestern University.
Two ministers, two institutions that are still with us. Thomas B. Dwyer came from Ireland, aided Catholic missionaries, helped establish St.
Mary's Parish, and started a reading room and Free Library Association that led — eventually — to the Brenham Public Library. One man from one country, and he left the whole town a place to read. James Paul Buchanan is buried here too — a powerful U.S.
Congressman, and the man for whom Lake Buchanan on the Colorado River in central Texas is named. And then there is Confederate General John David McAdoo, who also served as a Texas Supreme Court Justice. Walk through Prairie Lea and you're walking through the whole arc of this region — its wars, its faiths, its politics, its immigrant roots.
You'll find tombstones with German inscriptions, a quiet reminder of the heritage that shaped early Brenham. And standing in the middle of it all is Rest Chapel, built in 1897, still there, still marking the ground. This cemetery isn't just where Brenham buried its dead.
It's where Brenham kept its story.
What the marker says
Graves in this historic cemetery date from the 1840s, although trustees of the Brenham Cemetery Association did not formally set aside the property until 1871. It came into operation following concern the earlier Masonic Cemetery would soon reach capacity, given the large number of yellow fever victims in the late 1860s. Trustees purchased the initial 22.77 acres here from J.D. Giddings. Among those buried in Prairie Lea are veterans of military conflicts dating to the Texas Revolution. Notable gravesites include those of brothers Jabez Demming and Dewitt Clinton Giddings, prominent local lawyers, bankers, railroad promoters and politicians. Influential religious leaders buried here are Carl A. Urbantke, an Austrian-born Methodist minister instrumental in formation of what became Blinn College, and Robert Alexander, also a Methodist preacher, and a founder of Georgetown's Texas University, forerunner of Southwestern University. Others interred here are Thomas B. Dwyer, a native of Ireland who aided Catholic missionaries, helped establish St. Mary's Parish and started a reading room and Free Library Association that led to the Brenham Public Library; powerful U.S. Congressman James Paul Buchanan, for whom Lake Buchanan on the Colorado River in central Texas is named; and Confederate General John David McAdoo, a Texas Supreme Court Justice. Interesting features in Prairie Lea Cemetery include tombstones with German inscriptions, reflecting the area's early heritage, and Rest Chapel, built in 1897. Both contribute to the site's significance as a valued historical landmark. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006