DUANE
Get the App
Duane's take
Here's my telling of the official marker for St. Paul Lutheran Church Cemetery out in Phillipsburg, Austin County. Now, every good story has a beginning, and this one starts in 1890, when the residents of Phillipsburg came together and formed the St.
Paul Lutheran Church. That same year, a man named Henry Stern deeded eight acres of land, enough for a church and a school, and set aside one more acre for a cemetery. One acre.
Quiet ground. And it didn't stay empty long. Before the year was out, the infant son of Mr. and Mrs.
Carl Engeling was laid to rest there. The exact date of that burial, and the exact location within that acre, are unknown. Lost to time, the way so many tender things are.
But that child was the first. Then came the first recorded burial, a name worth saying slow: Rudolph Friederick August Scharff, buried on June 27, 1891. After that, the years kept coming, and so did the graves.
Veterans rest in this rural cemetery, men who answered when the country called, reaching across World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Generation after generation, pioneer families and early settlers of Austin County, all of them carrying struggles we can only begin to imagine. That one acre Henry Stern set aside has held all of it.
The grief, the service, the names. And it's still holding.
What the marker says
IN 1890, PHILLIPSBURG RESIDENTS FORMED THE ST. PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH. LATER THAT YEAR, HENRY STERN DEEDED EIGHT ACRES OF LAND FOR A CHURCH AND SCHOOL AND ONE ACRE FOR A CEMETERY. THE FIRST BURIAL IS THAT OF THE INFANT SON OF MR. AND MRS. CARL ENGELING IN 1890. THE EXACT DATE AND LOCATION OF THIS BURIAL ARE UNKNOWN. THE FIRST RECORDED BURIAL IS THAT OF RUDOLPH FRIEDERICK AUGUST SCHARFF ON JUNE 27, 1891. MANY VETERANS ARE BURIED AT THIS RURAL CEMETERY AND DATE TO WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II, THE KOREAN WAR AND THE VIETNAM WAR. THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY SERVES AS A REMINDER OF THE STRUGGLES ENDURED BY PIONEER FAMILIES AND EARLY SETTLERS OF AUSTIN COUNTY.