San Geronimo Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the San Geronimo Cemetery in Guadalupe County. Now, most cemeteries grow up alongside a town. They come along after the church, after the courthouse, after the general store.

But the ground along San Geronimo Creek had other ideas. This cemetery was already receiving the dead before the community around it had even settled on a name. Let's go back to where it starts.

William Beard first came to Texas in 1831, part of the Stephen F. Austin Colony. That's early.

That's frontier-early, before Texas was a republic, before it was a state, before most folks back East even knew how to spell the word Guadalupe. After the death of his first wife, Martha, who was born a Harris, William married a woman named Margaret Bridges. And in 1838, William and Margaret Beard moved to this stretch of land to help start a community called Walnut Springs.

The following year, 1839, that community was renamed Seguin. Now, the Republic of Texas, in 1845, deeded William fifty acres right here. His farm, his land, his home.

And then, as the land sometimes does, it became something more permanent. In 1846, William and Margaret Beard were both buried on that family farm. Both of them, one day apart.

The ground that had been their farm became Beard's Burial Ground. That's what they called it then. But here is the thing that stops you when you read that marker.

William and Margaret were not the first burials in the cemetery. The oldest known grave is thought to belong to a ten-year-old boy named Stephen A. Johnson, who died in 1839.

The same year Walnut Springs became Seguin. A child, buried on this creek bank, while the community around him was still figuring out what to call itself. The cemetery kept growing.

Kept receiving. And in 1883, five men were named as its first trustees, charged with its care. A.L.

Baker. I.B. Dibrell, Jr.

I.E. Legette. A.T.

Woods. And W.M. Lay, who was the grandson of William and Martha Beard, that first wife.

A grandson, tending the ground where his grandparents' story began. In 1897, the cemetery got the name it carries today: San Geronimo Cemetery, taking it from the creek that runs along its banks. The markers standing in this cemetery read like a roll call of Guadalupe County's foundations.

Henry Eustace McCulloch. Elijah Valentine Dale. George Washington Lonis.

Robert D. McAnelly. John H.

Sowell. Andrew Jackson Sowell and Lucinda Turner Sowell. And the family names of the early founders and settlers of the area, Weinert, Blumberg, Dibrell, Erskine, Woods, are written in stone out there.

Veterans, too, from the Texas Revolution period all the way through the Gulf War era, rest in this same soil. One of the oldest cemeteries in Guadalupe County, older than the community that grew up around it, San Geronimo Cemetery remains, as the marker puts it, a source of pride to the Seguin community today. And you can see why.

Some places hold history. This one held it first.

What the marker says

Located on the banks of the San Geronimo Creek, this cemetery was originally known as Beard's Burial Ground when William and Margaret (Bridges) Beard were buried on their family farm in 1846. William Beard first came to Texas as part of the Stephen F. Austin Colony in 1831. After the death of his first wife, Martha (Harris), William married Margaret Bridges and together they moved to this area in 1838 to help start the community of Walnut Springs, later renamed Seguin in 1839. Their farm was part of 50 acres deeded to William by the Republic of Texas in 1845. Both William and Margaret Beard died just one day apart in 1846, though they were not the first burials in the cemetery. The oldest known grave in the cemetery is thought to be for 10-year-old Stephen A. Johnson who died in 1839. The first five trustees to care for the cemetery beginning in 1883 were: A.L. Baker, I.B. Dibrell, Jr., I.E. Legette, A.T. Woods, and W.M. Lay, grandson of William and Martha Beard. In 1897, the cemetery was renamed San Geronimo Cemetery. The cemetery holds many markers commemorating individuals and their service to the state: Henry Eustace McCulloch, Elijah Valentine Dale, George Washington Lonis, Robert D. McAnelly, John H. Sowell, Andrew Jackson Sowell and Lucinda Turner Sowell. Many of the early founders and settlers of the area and of Guadalupe County such as Weinert, Blumberg, Dibrell, Erskine and Woods, as well as several veterans dating from the Texas Revolution period through the Gulf War era, are buried here. One of the oldest cemeteries in Guadalupe County and predating the existence of the surrounding community, San Geronimo Cemetery remains a source of pride to the Seguin community today. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY - 2016