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COLLEGEPORT CEMETERY I am G. W. Franzen, grandson of Collegeport pioneers Gust and Ellen Franzen who settled here in 1909. I would like you to step back in time with me. We would see endless vistas of prairie grass, a broad, clear horizon uncluttered by power lines and cell towers—a simpler time. There were no railroads, nor were there any roads to travel. These were the ranch lands of J. E. and A. B. Pierce. Burton D. Hurd had promoted the sale of these lands through development schemes that drew prospects from the North. The developers built a grand hotel on the bay shore and advertised this area as an ideal health and pleasure resort in both summer and winter for boating, bathing, hunting and fishing. Car loads of prospectors were brought down by rail and were shown the benefits of the healthful climate and bountiful lands. My grandparents bought into this dream, sold all they had and moved to Collegeport with their two young children. Many other families did the same. Amid dreams and ambitions, there is always a certainty in life. My grandmother said that the first night they spend in Collegeport, a Mrs. Palmer died and that she was buried at the Cemetery. G. M. Magill had held in trust this dedicated land, just a mile North of here, until the King’s Daughters organization assumed the operation of the cemetery at Collegeport. The cemetery has always been tended by local folks, and until 1958, was operated by the King’s Daughters. At that time the Collegeport Cemetery Association was formed. I want to tell how this marker and dedication came about. For one of the Distinguished Service Award projects, the Matagorda County Historical Commission set out to document a historic cemetery in the county. I was newly appointed to the Commission, and not knowing any better – said, “We could do Collegeport.” This well-oiled machine, the Cemeteries Committee, a sleuthy bunch of women went to work recording gravestone inscriptions, gathering obituaries, death certificates and burial records on both marked and unmarked graves in the cemetery. I was swept along! They said, “G. W. just find what you can about the Cemetery and we will work from there. Since many of the records were lost in Hurricane Carla, only sketchy accounts and vague memories remained. The result of this documentation produced a map plotted with a Global Positioning System, a list of burials of both marked and unmarked graves, and a catalog with a page for each known burial with an accompanying obituary if it was recorded in area newspapers. The other night, probably in anticipation of this talk, I awoke thinking of Mrs. Jackson who is buried at the cemetery. I read her obituary and then proceeded to read the rest of them as well. I read accounts of tragedy and grief. Imagine the sorrow of a woman who loses a young son and a sister to drowning in the bay, or the terror of a father whose young daughter dies as the result of an accidental fire in the family home. Epidemics of diphtheria took young lives in several families. There were accounts of how friends of our town’s developer, Burton D. Hurd, assisted in building a cover at the graveside to brave the bitter weather for his funeral. That history lesson in the early hours made me remember how this community draws together in times of crisis, and what rich heritage we have. Following this program, we celebrate our 95th Collegeport Day, and what better occasion to dedicate this marker to the memory of those who are a part of that rich heritage.
THANK YOU. |
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