Upper Yorktown Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in DeWitt County, there's a piece of ground that's been holding the stories of a whole lot of lives for well over a century, and the woman who made it official was no small figure herself. Her name was Ann Friar, born in 1802, and in 1872 she formally established what became known as Upper Yorktown Cemetery, sometimes called Friar Cemetery.

She was setting aside ground to honor, among others, her husband, a rancher and businessman by the name of Daniel Boone Friar, born in 1800, who had died back in 1858. Local masons and others found their rest there too, and the place kept growing. Now, the origins of this cemetery are something worth sitting with for a moment, because they're about as varied as Texas itself.

Anglo, German, and Hispanic settlers all came to rest here, and then in 1949, a woman named Barbara Respondek, born in 1882 and who herself passed that same year, donated one acre to the east so that African-American residents of the community would have a place as well. That gift, made at the very end of her life, widened the ground in more ways than one. The burials here read like a cross-section of everything this part of Texas lived through.

There are Friar family members, of course. There are settlers Gotlieb Heissig, born in 1790 and gone by 1867, and his wife Marie, also born in 1790, who followed him in 1869. There's Timothy Sullivan, a Union sailor, born in 1836 and laid to rest in 1909.

War veterans. Local pioneers whose names the land still carries. And then there are the ones whose stories carry a particular weight.

Dr. Philip Brassell, born in 1827, and his son George, born in 1855. Both of them are listed here as victims of the 1876 feud.

Father and son. The same year. You let that land where it needs to.

This cemetery was designated a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2001, but the ground had been doing its work long before anyone put a name on it. Ann Friar saw to that.

What the marker says

Upper Yorktown Cemetery In 1872, Ann Friar (1802-1899) formally established Upper Yorktown (Friar) Cemetery, where her husband, rancher-businessman Daniel Boone Friar (1800-1858), local masons and others were interred. In 1949, Barbara Respondek (1882-1949) donated one acre to the east for African-American residents, adding to its diverse Anglo, German and Hispanic origins. Noted burials include: Friar family members; 1876 feud victims Dr. Philip Brassell (b. 1827) and son, George (b.1855); settlers Gotlieb (1790-1867) and Marie (1790-1869) Heissig; Union sailor Timothy Sullivan (1836-1909); and numerous war veterans and local pioneers. Historic Texas Cemetery-2001