Warncke Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Warncke Cemetery, out in Guadalupe County. Now settle in, because this one starts an ocean away and ends with a name carved in stone on the other side of the world. Heinrich Warncke, born in 1839, and Elisabeth Eitzmann Warncke, born in 1844, packed up their two children and left Germany for Ohio in 1868.

That's a long way to travel with young ones, and Ohio wasn't even the final destination. Within several years, the family kept growing, and that growing family joined other German settlers in a place called New Berlin. They were putting down roots, and when German settlers put down roots in Texas, they tend to do it thoroughly.

Between 1876 and 1882, Heinrich and Elisabeth purchased nearly four hundred acres of land. Four hundred acres. And out of all that ground, they set aside a piece of it for something quieter.

A cemetery. The earliest dated burial there is a child, one-year-old Anna Helmke, who died in 1880. Five graves remain unidentified to this day, which is its own kind of weight to carry.

The land remembers people whose names it no longer knows. Now the story takes a turn that reaches far beyond Guadalupe County. The Warnckes' grandson, Elmer G.

Bloch, born in 1918, became a World War II casualty and was buried overseas. He is honored at this cemetery, even though the ground here does not hold him. That detail has a way of staying with you.

A family sets aside land for their own, and generations later, a grandson falls in a war far from home, and they honor him here anyway, in the place his people made. The site continues to serve the descendants of Guadalupe County's pioneers. Some stories don't end.

They just keep adding names.

What the marker says

Heinrich Warncke (1839-1908), Elisabeth Eitzmann Warncke (1844-1921) and their two children emigrated from Germany to Ohio in 1868. Within several years their growing family joined other German settlers in New Berlin. Between 1876 and 1882 they purchased nearly 400 acres of land out of which they set aside this cemetery. Five graves remain unidentified, but the earliest dated burial is that of one-year-old Anna Helmke who died in 1880. The Warnckes' grandson, Elmer G. Bloch (1918-1943), a World War II casualty buried overseas, is honored here. The site continues to serve the descendants of Guadalupe County's pioneers. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2001