By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

How we honor our dead says a lot about who we are. It embodies what we believe and how we live and die. For Hispanic Heritage Month, the Sophienburg Museum and West Side Community Center and Library have partnered to focus on where local Hispanic families have laid to rest their loved ones. We have discovered many stories to share with New Braunfels at our second Fiesta Patria event, “Jardin de las Almas” or Garden of Souls. This free event will be held Saturday, September 10, 2022, on the Sophienburg grounds from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and will include food, entertainment, exhibits and activities for the kids.

The graves of men, women and children of Hispanic descent can be found in each of the five main city cemeteries: New Braunfels Cemetery, Comal Cemetery, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery, Panteon Hidalgo and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Cemetery. We started with the information recorded in Sexton records. With the incorporation of birth and death certificates, city land deeds, newspaper accounts, photographs, church records and Morales Funeral Home records, we began to build a story of early New Braunfels and how we lived — and died — together.

Concentrating on finding the oldest references and markers, many hours were spent this lovely warm Texas summer visiting, over and over, these places of history and culture. Each cemetery has its own unique identity.

New Braunfels Cemetery, located on West Nacogdoches between Peach and Grape streets, began in 1845 and received many of those early pioneers who founded NB. It also is the resting place for the almost 400 people buried in mass graves who died from hardship and illness like cholera. The oldest existing marker is of Johann Justus Kellner (1821-1851). The first recorded Hispanic burial was of the two-year-old son of Antonio Urdiales in 1885; four other Hispanics are recorded prior to 1900. Like so many of the souls in New Braunfels Cemetery, these are now unmarked. Many of the burial markers in this sacred ground have deteriorated over time and worse, been heavily vandalized. The identity of this relatively forgotten cemetery is one of perseverance through hardship.

Comal Cemetery is across town on Common Street and Peace Avenue. Located on land donated in 1868 by John Torrey, the first recorded burial was Fredrich (Fritz) Hartwig in 1873. However, people were using the nearby hillside covered with cedar trees (Die Peines) prior to that. A search in the sexton records revealed 33 people with Hispanic surnames were buried here between 1874 and 1900. Dionicio Lira (1879-1903) is the oldest existing marker and is located very near to Daniel Murchison’s (1809-1867) elaborate pink granite obelisk. Lira shares the immediate area with Martina Azares (1862-1906), Petro Hinojosa (1885-1919) and Pedro Dominguez (1899-1921). From its inception, Comal Cemetery’s layout made space for African Americans and Hispanics. Its identity is gracious and formal, rooted in its respect for each soul and their contributions to NB history.

Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church first had a cemetery in the late 1840s near New Braunfels Cemetery on the city’s west side. A lawsuit over polluted water resulted in a land trade that gave the church a new burial ground near Comal Cemetery. Located next to the NB Public Library on Common Street, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery was opened in 1889 with the internment of ten souls from the old cemetery. It is laid out on a strict grid with a center monument. The earliest part of the cemetery is the northern half which fronts Common Street. This half is divided equally between Hispanic and German/Anglo. This equality sparks joy!

More joy is found in the ways each half is culturally represented. The German/Anglo side is formal, dignified and focused on solemn remembrance. Their markers manifest the hard-won success of the citizens and honor them. The Hispanic half is less traditional. Honor is given but with a greater sense of creativity. Personality, color, and unique-shaped concrete markers with added decorative materials express the cultural inclination to celebrate life as well as honor death. The identity of this cemetery is one of freedom as the two cultures exist side-by-side through shared beliefs.

It wasn’t until after World War I, that the Hispanic community created their own cemetery. Panteon Hidalgo was begun through the efforts of a group of influential Hispanic men who saw the need to accommodate the growing population. Opened officially in 1920, Panteon Hidalgo is located across Dittlinger Street from the Catholic Cemetery and across Peace Street from Comal Cemetery. Hidalgo is a world of colorful tiles and artificial flowers with Its traditional concrete crosses crowded together. Unlike the German population, family plots here are rare, but it is rather fun to crisscross the cemetery finding family members and also seeing the graves of other old friends. Its identity is friendly and warm with remembrance.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church was begun in 1926 and by 1930 had grown to the point it decided to have its own cemetery. Perpetuo Socorro or Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cemetery was officially opened in 1931. This cemetery shares the block on Peace Street with Panteon Hidalgo and in many ways is similar in look and style to its neighbor. I think there are more flowers, more colored tiles, more family mementos and childrens’ toys which makes this cemetery feel very alive and cared for. It’s personal. Dignified but fun. Its identity is rooted in love of family.

We have gotten to know each of the cemeteries — each delightfully different. We have gained an understanding of how New Braunfels has grown from that early influx of pioneering Germans in the 1840s-1850s to include the African-Americans who became free in the 1860s and the Mexican citizens migrating up through Texas in the 1890s-1900s. The intensive look into our cemeteries has shown us that New Braunfels was built through the hard work and sweat of all its ethnicities. Together we have built New Braunfels and together we have died and been buried here.

Sources: Comal County Historical Commission, Sophienburg Museum & Archives

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

Last week Sylvia Segovia and I were walking through Hidalgo Panteon searching for the graves of several people. If you have never visited this charming little cemetery, you are in for a truly cultural treat. You will find rows and rows of concrete crosses and headstones of many designs. Most are whimsically personalized with multi colored tiles, marbles and seashells. Traces of paint, usually white, remain on many of the older monuments. Old photos of the cemetery reveal that at one time most all of the markers gleamed white. The names of the inhabitants were inscribed in the wet concrete and sometimes reveal not only names and dates, but place of birth, and relationships.

Color abounds in this cemetery and there is a feeling of celebration of life rather than grief of death. The names will be familiar as many of those early 1900 names are still present in today’s population. The land for Hidalgo Panteon was secured through the hard work of Francisco Estevez in 1918. Estevez was and still is well-known for his extreme efforts, in the early 1900s, to improve working conditions and better the lives of the Hispanic population in New Braunfels. Francisco Estevez also helped to preserve Mexican traditions and customs through participation in local organizations: The Association Cuahatemoc, the Hidalgo Lodge and the Comision Honorifica.

Walking and reading headstones, I stopped to take a photo and heard Sylvia shout, “Oh my God! There is a German man in here!” Sure enough, randomly leaning up against the fence that separates Hidalgo Panteon from Perpetuo Secorro (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) is a stone of crystalized white limestone with “Hier ruht Theodore Klaus, 1871-1885.”

Well, that is puzzling. First of all, there is the date of 1885. Hidalgo Panteon’s land wasn’t obtained until 1918. There are many headstones bearing death dates in 1919. Secondly, the headstone’s material is all wrong. Where is the concrete that even now dominates the gravesites in this cemetery? It sticks out like what it is, a German headstone.

Back at the Sophienburg, we dove “head first” into this “headstone” mystery. I went for family info while Sylvia got into Find-a-grave online. Theodore was listed as being buried in Hidalgo Panteon AND at the Confederate Cemetery in San Antonio! But wait, ”the plot” thickens.

I looked through the German Neu Braunfelser Zeitung and found a very descriptive obituary for Theodore Klaus:

Last Sunday afternoon between 3 and 4 o’clock, Theo Klauss, the son of Wilhelm Klauss, the well-known and popular postmaster of Danville, shot himself by accident. Theodore was on the hunt and was about to step over a stone fence, rifle in hand, when the gun went off and he was shot in the chest. The barrel of the rifle was so close to his body at the time the shot was fired that his clothing was burned. The dear boy lived for about one more hour. The burial took place on Monday afternoon at 4 o’clock in the afternoon in the New Braunfels Cemetery with many people attending. The pastor of the local Catholic parish held the funeral services according the rites of the Catholic Church. “Rest in peace poor boy.” We share heartfelt sympathy for the great pain of those left behind.

Not only is this a seriously tragic story about the death of a 14-year-old, but did you notice where Theodore was buried? New Braunfels Cemetery on the other side of town! Sheesh. Now he is in three cemeteries.

I grabbed the sexton records for burials in NB Cemetery (by the way, it’s the oldest public cemetery in town). Theodore was listed as burial #569 in 1885. I also found listings for a Klaus infant in 1876, a sister in 1902 and a father in 1902. Time for a field trip to this cemetery.

I found only one Klaus headstone. It belongs to Jacob Klaus (1830-1872) who was Theodore’s uncle. What happened to the others? Just slightly more disconcerting was that Jacob’s headstone is exactly the same design and size of my poor friend Theodore’s. I also noticed that the stone next to Uncle Jacob’s was the same design and size but was for another Danville area family; they were neighbors in life and in death.

Ok. I had to step back and rethink this mystery from a different angle. I contacted the Confederate Cemetery in San Antonio. That cemetery was first used in 1855, but was bought by Confederate veterans in 1885 and renamed, The Confederate Cemetery. It was to be utilized by Civil War Veterans, their dependents and later descendants. It also contains veterans from WWI and WWII. Unfortunately, there are no early written records for the cemetery. But it wasn’t a complete “dead end.” I was informed that near Theodore rest the remains of the father (plus wife) and the sister that had disappeared from the New Braunfels Cemetery, probably at the same time as Theodore.

For now, I can only surmise that sometime after 1902, the Klaus family (some of whom lived in San Antonio) must have reinterred Theodore, dad and sister in the Confederate Cemetery. I have someone looking into government records to see if Theodore’s father, Wilhelm, participated in the Civil War. But who knows?

My best guess is that the original Klaus Family headstones, including Theodore’s, were discarded after the remains were moved. Newer style monuments grace the graves in San Antonio. Like German Americans, Mexican Americans don’t like seeing good material wasted, so I wonder if someone didn’t just rescue the abandoned headstones for reuse. With that in mind, I made another trip to Hidalgo Panteon to take another look and Theodore’s headstone praying that on the back side I would find the remnants of reuse — maybe added writing?

Nope. I guess the travels of Theodore Klaus’s headstone across town will remain a mystery.

Sources: https://www.findagrave.com/; https://www.ccasatx.org/; Sophienburg Museum newspaper collection and family history collection; research materials for Hidalgo Panteon and New Braunfels Cemetery.

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