Courtesy Photo
Descendants of Mexican-American families buried in St. Ann’s Cemetery in Nordheim, also known as Sementerio Union Mexicana, are being asked to support a Memorial Brick Fundraiser to construct a walkway and restore headstones.
The cemetery is at the intersection of Schuenemann Road or County Highway 379 and Cabeza Road or County Highway 324. It has about 500 graves that date back to 1907, according to the Historical Marker Database. It was the final resting place for Mexican-American families who worked for German farmers in Nordheim.
Ann Torrez Perry of the St. Ann’s Cemetery Association said the walkway will be built to encircle the graveyard’s Pavilion and a 1930s Tornado Victims Memorial. Many of the headstones in the cemetery have deteriorated over the years, and they need to be either cleaned, repaired or replaced, she added.
“Some have developed cracks, toppled over or broken apart,” Perry said. “Others are currently sinking into the ground or have already sunk. Sadly, a number of headstones have already disappeared with the passage of time.”
Perry said that she and Sara Baker Juarez are researching all graves and taking photographs to learn the identities of all individuals buried in the cemetery. Obituaries, death records and photographs are also being sought, and the use of a headstone cleaner has made inscriptions more legible for the research, she said.
“These unmarked or neglected graves raise one important question — what is their name,” Perry said. “Your name is the most important part of your being.”
Juarez said her research has revealed that the cemetery holds the graves of a whole family killed in the 1930s tornado, a mother of several children dying by suicide possibly brought on by post-partum depression, five children in a family dying of tuberculosis, a mother of 14 dying in the birth of twins and others of people living ordinary lives with ages up to100.
“The cemetery holds stories of hardworking tenant families in poor rural areas,” Juarez said. “They stuck close to each other in times of tragedy, sorrow and celebration. Many will say leave the past in the past, but without the past we forget their hardships and journeys that gave us the kind of freedom we have today.”
A Facebook page has been started for the cemetery in hopes of finding families that have ancestors buried in the cemetery, to keep followers updated on upcoming meeintgs and agendas. It is can be found at St. Ann’s Cemetery Association- Nordheim Tx.
Email joannperry2013@ gmail.com for information.
