DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Solis Cemetery, out there in Cameron County. Now every family tree has a root deep enough that you almost can't see it, and for the Solis family in this corner of South Texas, that root has a name: Juan Jose Solis. He was the grantee of Porción 107 in Starr County and the founder of El Soliseño, Mexico — a man who cast a long enough shadow that generations later, people were still living inside it.
His grandson Francisco, born in 1801 and gone by 1876, and Francisco's wife Anastacia Rivas de Solis, born in 1808, were early residents of Point Isabel and Brownsville before the family put down roots in La Feria. That's the geography of a life in motion — coast to river town to the brush country in between. Now Francisco and Anastacia had a son named Lazaro, born in 1840.
And Lazaro, it turns out, was a man with an eye for land and a brother-in-law named Ysabel Cantu, born in 1849, who apparently shared that eye. In July of 1898, the two of them bought about five thousand acres of the La Feria Grant and established the Solis Ranch. Five thousand acres.
That's not a farm — that's a world unto itself. Within those boundaries, they raised cattle, horses, and goats and grew several crops. But here's where the story takes a turn, as stories about land and family always seem to do.
Lazaro died suddenly while visiting family in Point Isabel. And when a man like that dies away from his land, well — his body was brought back to the ranch for burial. The marker tells us that was a common practice in that era, and it carried a weight of meaning: you belong to the place you built.
Lazaro's is the first burial in what would become Solis Cemetery, also known as San Francisco Cemetery. In 1905, Lazaro's widow Francisca — born in 1853, who would herself pass in 1911 — partitioned Lazaro's land among herself and her seven children. Seven children.
A ranch divided is still a ranch remembered. And here's a detail that stops you cold if you let it. The hand-lettered concrete grave marker for Lazaro and Francisca — written in Spanish, signed in concrete — carries the names Juan, Mateo, and Gumercindo, with the phrase del mísmo appelído.
Sons of the same last name. Three boys signing their parents into eternity with their own hands and the name they all shared. In 1929, the cemetery was surveyed and platted, and a public road was developed to provide access.
The ground had grown into something that needed a proper way in. Today, Solis Cemetery covers more than three acres, sparsely shaded by mesquites and other native trees. More than three hundred graves lie within it, most marked with wood, stone, bronze, or concrete.
It holds the remains of people of Hispanic, Anglo, and African-American descent — known and unknown alike — and as many as five generations of the Solis family. Veterans of World War II and the Korean War are buried here. The marker calls this burial ground testimony to generations of local ranching and family traditions, and that's exactly right.
From Juan Jose Solis to that hand-signed concrete marker to three hundred graves in the South Texas brush — every one of them a chapter in a story that started with one man and five thousand acres and a family that never really left.
What the marker says
JUAN JOSE SOLIS, GRANTEE OF PORCIÓN 107 IN STARR COUNTY AND FOUNDER OF EL SOLISEÑO, MEXICO, WAS PATRIARCH OF THE SOLIS FAMILY IN THIS AREA. HIS GRANDSON FRANCISCO (1801-1876), AND HIS WIFE ANASTACIA RIVAS DE SOLIS (b. 1808), WERE EARLY RESIDENTS OF POINT ISABEL AND BROWNSVILLE, LATER SETTLING IN LA FERIA. THEIR SON LAZARO (1840-1904) AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW YSABEL CANTU (b. 1849) BOUGHT ABOUT 5,000 ACRES OF THE LA FERIA GRANT IN JULY 1898, ESTABLISHING THE SOLIS RANCH. WITHIN ITS BOUNDARIES THE MEN AND THEIR FAMILIES RAISED CATTLE, HORSES AND GOATS AND GREW SEVERAL CROPS. WHEN LAZARO DIED SUDDENLY WHILE VISITING FAMILY IN POINT ISABEL, HIS BODY WAS BROUGHT BACK TO THE RANCH FOR BURIAL, A COMMON PRACTICE IN THAT ERA. HIS IS THE FIRST BURIAL IN SOLIS CEMETERY, ALSO KNOWN AS SAN FRANCISCO CEMETERY. IN 1905, LAZARO’S WIDOW FRANCISCA (1853-1911) PARTITIONED LAZARO’S LAND AMONG HERSELF AND HER SEVEN CHILDREN. LAZARO AND FRANCISCA’S HAND-LETTERED CONCRETE SPANISH-LANGUAGE GRAVE MARKER IS SIGNED “JUAN, MATEO AND GUMERCINDO DEL MÍSMO APPELÍDO” ([SONS] JUAN, MATEO AND GUMERCINDO OF THE SAME LAST NAME). IN 1929, SOLIS CEMETERY WAS SURVEYED AND PLATTED AND A PUBLIC ROAD WAS DEVELOPED TO PROVIDE ACCESS. THE CEMETERY IS AN ACTIVE FAMILY BURIAL GROUND OF MORE THAN THREE ACRES. SPARSELY SHADED BY MESQUITES AND OTHER NATIVE TREES, THE CEMETERY HAS MORE THAN 300 GRAVES, MOST OF WHICH HAVE MARKERS OF WOOD, STONE, BRONZE OR CONCRETE. SOLIS CEMETERY IS THE FINAL RESTING PLACE OF KNOWN AND UNKNOWN PEOPLE OF HISPANIC, ANGLO AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN DESCENT, AND AS MANY AS FIVE GENERATIONS OF THE SOLIS FAMILY. VETERANS OF WORLD WAR II AND THE KOREAN WAR ARE BURIED HERE. THIS BURIAL GROUND IS TESTIMONY TO GENERATIONS OF LOCAL RANCHING AND FAMILY TRADITIONS. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2002