DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Santa Anna Cemetery, out in Coleman County. Now, before a town can truly call itself a town, it needs two things: a reason to be there, and a place to put the ones who don't make it. Santa Anna, Texas got its reason in 1886, when the Santa Fe Railroad came through and the town grew up fast around it — cattle shipping point, railroad crews, all the commerce and commotion that follows steel rails across open country.
But the cemetery, according to oral history, had already claimed its first soul before the railroad was even finished. That first burial was a man named W.C. Brooks.
No grave marker stands for him today, but the story holds. And it was his son, Lewis Brooks, who made it official — giving the first section of land for the cemetery, so his father could have a proper home ground. That's a son doing right by his daddy in the most permanent way a man can.
The oldest dated monument in the place belongs to Mary E. Ashley, born in 1869, gone in 1885 at sixteen years old. Sixteen.
Some stones just stop you cold, and that's one of them. Among the notable names resting there, you'll find L.V. Stockard — born 1858, died 1923 — who served as the first railroad station agent of Santa Anna.
The railroad brought this town to life, and the man who first worked that station is buried in its soil. His wife, Cora Willett Stockard, born 1860, died 1907, lies beside him. And then there are the lawmen.
John R. Banister, born 1854, died 1918 — Texas Ranger and county sheriff — is buried here alongside his wife Emma D. Banister, born 1871, died 1956.
So is fellow Texas Ranger John Benecke Bachman, born 1820, died 1906. Rangers on both ends of the century. Men who rode hard country and, eventually, came to rest in it.
The grounds themselves are what you'd call traditionally Texas — concrete, fieldstone, granite, and sandstone markers standing among natural and cultural trees, shrubs, and groundcover. It's a landscape that belongs to the land it sits on. But if you want to understand the full weight of this place, consider this: the Santa Anna Cemetery holds twenty-eight known Civil War veterans.
Twenty-eight. The oldest among them is George Williams, born 1848, died 1897, who served with the Tennessee Cavalry, C.S.A. And the generations don't stop there.
Graves mark veterans of the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Nearly every American conflict from the 1860s onward has a representative lying in Coleman County ground. The cemetery also has fraternal sections — Free Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the World, and the Order of the Eastern Star — each with their own corners, their own traditions, their own ways of marking who belonged to what brotherhood.
The Santa Anna Cemetery Association was formed in 1943, and they're still at it — volunteer workdays, events, keeping the grounds. That's more than eighty years of neighbors deciding this place is worth tending. From W.C.
Brooks, buried before the railroad ever arrived, to veterans of Vietnam — this cemetery didn't just grow alongside Santa Anna. In many ways, it kept the record the town itself couldn't always hold. That's what a good cemetery does.
It remembers.
What the marker says
SANTA ANNA CEMETERY WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SANTA FE RAILROAD IN 1886, THE TOWN OF SANTA ANNA GREW RAPIDLY AND DEVELOPED AS A CATTLE SHIPPING POINT. ACCORDING TO ORAL HISTORY, W.C. BROOKS WAS THE FIRST PERSON BURIED IN THE SANTA ANNA CEMETERY BEFORE THE RAILROAD WAS COMPLETED, ALTHOUGH NO GRAVE MARKER IS PRESENT. MR. BROOKS’ SON, LEWIS BROOKS, GAVE THE FIRST SECTION OF LAND FOR THE CEMETERY FOR HIS BURIAL. THE OLDEST DATED MONUMENT BELONGS TO SIXTEEN YEAR-OLD MARY E. ASHLEY (1869-1885). L.V. STOCKARD (1858-1923), THE FIRST RAILROAD STATION AGENT OF SANTA ANNA, IS ALSO BURIED AT THIS SITE, ALONG WITH HIS WIFE, CORA (WILLETT) STOCKARD (1860-1907). OTHER NOTABLE BURIALS INCLUDE TEXAS RANGER AND COUNTY SHERIFF JOHN R. BANISTER (1854-1918) AND HIS WIFE, EMMA D. BANISTER (1871-1956), AS WELL AS FELLOW TEXAS RANGER, JOHN BENECKE BACHMAN (1820-1906). THE LANDSCAPE OF THE SANTA ANNA CEMETERY IS TRADITIONAL WITH CONCRETE, FIELDSTONE, GRANITE, AND SANDSTONE GRAVE MARKERS WITH A VARIETY OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL TREES, SHRUBS, AND GROUNDCOVER. THIS HISTORIC BURIAL GROUND IS HOME TO TWENTY-EIGHT KNOWN CIVIL WAR VETERANS WITH THE OLDEST BELONGING TO GEORGE WILLIAMS (1848-1897) OF THE TENNESSEE CAVALRY CSA. ADDITIONALLY, GRAVES MARK THE BURIALS OF VETERANS FROM THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II, THE KOREAN WAR, AND THE VIETNAM WAR. FRATERNAL SECTIONS OF THE CEMETERY REPRESENT BURIALS OF FREE MASONS, MEMBERS OF THE INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS, WOODMEN OF THE WORLD, AND MEMBERS OF THE ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR. THE SANTA ANNA CEMETERY ASSOCIATION, FORMED IN 1943, CONTINUES TO CARE FOR THE CEMETERY WITH VOLUNTEER WORKDAYS AND EVENTS. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2009