Shillerville Cemetery

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of Shillerville Cemetery. Back in 1894, several Czechoslovakian families made their way to this stretch of Victoria County. Among the first to arrive was a man named Jan Shiller, and it was his name that the farm community took for its own.

Shillerville. A place built from scratch, on new ground, by people who brought their language and their customs with them all the way from the old country. You can still feel that in the cemetery, if you know where to look.

Some of those early grave markers are inscribed in Czech. Not English. Czech.

These folks were not letting go of who they were. Three years after the community got its footing, in 1897, the graveyard received its first burial. That was Rosalie Balcar Jirasek.

The land she and those who followed her were laid to rest on was given freely, donated by Josef Lesikar and his wife, Terezie Marek Lesikar. Generous people, the Lesikars. In fact, the graveyard carried their name for a time, known either as the Lesikar or the Bohemian Burial Ground, before Shillerville stuck as the name that would last.

The story did not end there. In 1954, additional land was donated, bringing the cemetery up to a full acre. One acre holding generations of families who crossed an ocean and planted roots in South Texas soil.

The Czech inscriptions on those early stones are still there, quiet and stubborn, saying: we were here, we mattered, and we did not forget where we came from.

What the marker says

The community of Shillerville began when several Czechosovakian families came to this area in 1894. Among the first settlers was Jan Shiller, for whom the farm community was named. The first burial, that of Rosalie Balcar Jirasek, took place in 1897 on land given by Josef Lesikar and wife, Terezie Marek Lesikar. The graveyard was originally known as the Lesikar or Bohemian Burial ground. Additional land was donated in 1954 which increased the size of the cemetery to one acre. Some of the early grave markers are inscribed in Czech. (1986)