Cedarvale Cemetery, Bay City, Texas
 

A. C. BURKHART.

August 25, 1916

Matagorda, Texas. August 25.—Mr. A. C. Burkhart, who died at his home here Tuesday evening, after a protracted illness, was buried at the Matagorda Cemetery Wednesday afternoon.

There being no Episcopal minister, of which denomination the family belong. Rev. L. E. Selfridge, the Presbyterian divine of Bay City, conducted the funeral services at the home and concluded at the grave.

There was appropriate singing by an impromptu choir.

A large number of friends and relatives followed the remains to the cemetery and despite the recent storm, the grave was lined and covered with beautiful flowers, contributed by relatives and friends.

Another weary body is freed from pain, another soul escaped from mortal temple to be transplanted in higher and holier realms from which there is no returning and where peace and joy reign everlasting.

Over this there should only be rejoicing as the subject had passed the age allotted to man, yet such is human nature that loved ones crave that presence which they know is far happier than this world’s goods could ever make it.

Death is the gate to eternal life and all have to pass through its portals to reach that life, hence “Ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also, which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

Mr. Burkhart belonged to the old Burkhart family, was born in Philadelphia and arrived here with his parents in the late 40’s when but a child.

He was an ex-Confederate soldier and was married at the close of war to Miss Emma Norris of Brazoria County.

Of this union there were six children, all of whom, with his widow, survive him.

The children are J. N. Burkhart of Beaumont, A. C. Burkhart, Jr. of Salem, Oregon; H. G. Burkhart of Bay City, C. W. Burkhart of Matagorda, Mrs. T. W. Davidson of Marshall, Mrs. Mary B. Parris of Matagorda.

Photo courtesy of Heather Serrill Janise

Grandpa Took the Census
By Emmie Parris Johnson

Matagorda County Genealogical Society Publication Oak Leaves, Volume 9, Issue 4, August 1990

My grandfather wore this badge when he took the 1900 census in Matagorda, Texas, a small gulf coast village. Every man, woman and child in the area knew grandpa by sight and name, and knew he was the census taker. Identification was not necessary, but grandpa wore the badge proudly and preserved it.

He was the son of German immigrants who first settled in Pennsylvania where he was born in 1832. The pioneer spirit and the wish to make more money brought them to Texas. His Father used all his capital to open a general merchandise store on the water front in Matagorda. The store prospered, and when my grandfather was eighteen years old he was sent to a school in Massachusetts. My uncle maintained he was sent to Harvard. The Registrar's office at Harvard has no record of him. He was probably enrolled in a preparatory school. Harvard or prep, he spoke with a broad "A" all his life.

A smattering of classical education did little to prepare him for the life of a farmer, but while he was in Massachusetts he told so many stories of Texas and Matagorda that he came home an accomplished story teller.

His favorite anecdote was of the two pioneers who shared a pair of dancing pumps. Matagorda was frontier country, but it had its formalities. No lady could dance with a booted cavalier. The gentlemen were friends, and they solved the problem by attending the dances together with the slipper hidden in a pocket. They stationed themselves outside a window overlooking the ballroom and took turns wearing the formal foot wear. While one danced properly shod, the other watched the dancers through the window.

My grandparents, Alexander and Emma Asenath Norris Burkhart,  married on April 3, 1862 and the Civil War cut short their dancing days. It was a time when people raised and preserved the food they ate, but they depended on outside sources for refined salt to cure the meat, and heavy cord to hang hams and sides of bacon over a slow burning fire that dried and flavored them. Delivery of these items stopped with war time blockades and householders faced a bleak winter.

Grandpa's ingenuity surfaced. He poured sea water inch deep in wide containers and exposed it to the sun. The water evaporated leaving sandy salt to cure the meat--a little sand hurt no one. He slivered through bayonets of the Spanish Dagger bush and used the strong slivers to suspend the meats in the smoke house.

After the war was over he raised sheep. In the summer of 1875 he and his family were living on Matagorda peninsula, the strip of land that separated Matagorda Bay from the Gulf of Mexico. He was searching for lost sheep in the dunes when he found himself in the middle of a convocation of rattlesnakes stretched out in the sun. They made no move to coil and he jumped over them and out of the dunes. The stakes were forecasting threatening weather, but my grandfather did not know how to read their message. A few days later a terrible hurricane struck and most of the peninsula was under deep water. He managed to get his family to high ground. They all survived.

He died before his country entered the first Great War. He never saw a flying machine, heard a radio or looked at a television screen. He lived to speak on the telephone listen to a talking machine and ride in an automobile.

When he took the census in 1900 he thought he had seen it all. He had no vision of the wonders that lay ahead in the next century.

My grandfather, Alexander Christian Burkhart, died in 1916.

[A. C. Burkhart was Precinct 1 County Commissioner 1886-1890, 1898-1906 and J. P. in Matagorda in 1900]
 

Charles W. Burkhart

Word has been received here early today bearing the sad news of the sudden death of Mr. C. W. Burkhart at his home in Matagorda.

Mr. Burkhart was a native of Matagorda and has spent his entire life in our midst.

He is survived by his widow and two sons, Lawrence and Stewart, one daughter, Mrs. Bob Johnson of Harlingen, two sisters, Mrs. Mary Parris of Van Vleck and Mrs. Whit Davidson of Dallas, one brother, John of Beaumont.

Services will be held from the home in Matagorda Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock. Interment in Matagorda cemetery. Rev. P. E. Engle will officiate and Taylor Bros. will have charge of the services.

A more detailed account of Mr. Burkhart's life, family and demise, will appear in a later issue.

Daily Tribune?, November 24, 1932

Well Known Citizen of Matagorda Dies

Nine o'clock Monday morning when the sentence "Charlie Burkhart is dead," rapidly passed among the Matagorda citizens we couldn't grasp the thought. Surely, it could not be true, but alas, it is so.

Another happy home is saddened by the passing of one of its beloved--another link in the family chain is broken. The hearts of the bereft are crushed and bowed down with such grief that only those who have passed through the trying ordeal can realize. This bereavement comes doubly severe on the broken hearted wife as not quite two weeks ago she attended the funeral of a brother in Freeport.

Mr. Burkhart had not been feeling so well for several days yet his ailment was not considered alarming, however a physician had been called in .

Yesterday afternoon, Sunday, he and his wife drove to Bay City and returned. This morning while he was sitting quietly, presently he remarked "I am so sick" and in a few moments his spirit had returned to him who gave it.

The remains were prepared for burial at the Taylor Bros. funeral home in Bay City. This morning, Tuesday, Rev. Paul Engle of the Episcopal faith conducted the last sad rites for our old time friend and neighbor at the family residence.

A large cortege of many relatives and friends from here and out of town followed the casket from the home to the family yard in the cemetery where the body was laid to rest to await the resurrection morn. Magnificent floral offerings manifested the love and esteem of relatives and friends. As soon as the tidings reached them, friends from out of town came to pay their respects and returned today for the funeral.

Charles W. Burkhart was born in Matagorda, Feb. 29, 1872 and was reared to manhood here and has been a life long resident living practically in the same neighborhood always. His widow and two sons and a daughter of his first marriage survive him, viz: C. L. Burkhart, Lawrence Burkhart and Mrs. Robert Johnson, nee Miss Irene Burkhart.

Mr. Burkhart was a bright and broadminded man and a prominent stockman lo these many years and was well known in the cattle marts.

He was a splendid husband and father. He was always liberal and generous and cheerfully contributed freely to every worthy cause that came to his notice. He is a scion of one of Matagorda's oldest pioneer families and has many friends who sympathize deeply and lovingly with the bereft ones in their great loss. He was a life long member of the Episcopal faith by inheritance and belief. Other survivors are a brother, Mr. John N. Burkhart of Beaumont and two sisters: Mrs. T. W. Davidson of Dallas and Mrs. Mary B. Parris of Matagorda. May a loving heavenly Father strengthen and comfort these sad ones today.

Matagorda County Tribune, November 24, 1932               Photo courtesy of Heather Serrill Janise

Irene Stewart Burkhart

Matagorda, Texas, December 13.--The grim reaper has again come into our midst and mowed down one of our beloved native citizens, Mrs. Irene Burkhart, wife of Mr. Charles W. Burkhart, who passed away on the morning of November 26, 1917, after a long painful illness which sapped her life's blood, and the deepest sympathy for the bereft husband and children lingers in the hearts of their many friends. She could receive so little company on account of nervousness yet her friends inquired anxiously and often of her and ever stood ready to be of service if called upon.

Mrs. Burkhart was born in Matagorda and was the eldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Scott Stewart, Sr., both of whom preceded her to the grave years ago. The greater part of her life was spent in the old town, there being an interval of four years after she had been reared to young ladyhood that she spent at St. Mary's Episcopal school for girls at Raleigh, N. C., the family being members of that denomination, and during that period her mother passed away. On her return home she took charge of her father's household in the home of her happy childhood and faithfully managed until her marriage to Mr. Burkhart about 23 years ago and her family residence now is only three blocks from the home of her birth.

Of this union there are three children--Stewart, Miss Irene and Lawrence--and theirs was indeed a happy home.

Two years ago in April, she went to San Antonio to be present at the commencement exercises of her daughter's graduation at Bon Avon and became ill while there and from that illness never recovered, although she made a brave fight for life and it was a long time before her friends fully realized her serious condition.

All that money and love could buy was hers--skillful physicians, a faithful nurse and brave husband and children who did all that earthly hands could do to relieve her sufferings but without avail and her sweet, gentle spirit calmly took its flight to that eternal home from whence there is no returning.

Our hearts are indeed made sad because of the removal of so faithful a friend from our midst--a loyal friend to all and an enemy to none, always so gentle and never known to speak an unkind word of any one.

She will be greatly missed by her friends and loved ones including her two brothers, Messrs. A. C. and W. S. Stewart, but most of all by the bereft husband and children, who hoped continually, through her illness, that she might get well.

Dear friends, remember "Tis only a flower plucked from earth to be transplanted in God's heavenly garden," and we must earnestly strive to do our Father's will that we may be ready to meet her when we, too, are called to lay down life's burdens.

--Written by one who loved her dearly.

Matagorda County Tribune, December 13, 1917

Courtesy of Philip H. Parker VFW Post 2438	Charles Lawrence "Larry" Burkhart Son of Charles Walters Burkhart and Irene Stewart Burkhart
CHARLES LAWRENCE BURKHART Bay City - Bay City resident and Matagorda County rice farmer Charles Lawrence (Larry “Pops”) Burkhart, 62, passed away in Houston, Texas on Monday, August 26, 1963. He was the son of Charles W. and Irene Stewart Burkhart, and was born in 1900* at Matagorda, Texas. He married Alma Sophia Doubek on September 9, 1933 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Bay City. Preceded in death by his sister, Irene Burkhart Johnson and brother Cecil Stewart Burkhart. Survivors are his wife Alma, and son Charles Kent Burkhart. Funeral services are under the direction of Taylor Bros. Funeral Home with interment at Matagorda Cemetery. *WWI Draft Registration card gives date of birth as November 6, 1901 Courtesy of Kenneth L. Thames
	Photo courtesy of Jack Brannon   C. L. Burkhart marker photo Photo courtesy of Heather Serrill Janise

Alma Sophia Burkhart
Oct. 24, 1910 – July 18, 2008

Alma Sophia Burkhart, 97, of Matagorda, passed away Friday, July 18, 2008. She was the daughter of Alma Austin Doubek and Vendelin H. Doubek, and was born in 1910 at home in Bay City.

Her grandfather, George Austin, was the Matagorda County Clerk from 1886 to 1910 and moved with the county seat from Matagorda to Bay City when the city was established in 1894. The Austin house was one of the first homes in Bay City.

She attended college at Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio. She loved and studied the history of Texas, especially Matagorda County.

She was preceded in death by: her husband, C. Larry “Pops” Burkhart, a Matagorda County rice farmer. They were married in 1933 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Bay City. Sophia continued to run the farm and business until her death.

She was also preceded in death by her brother Thomas Edward Doubek of Bay City.

She is survived by: her son: Charles Kent Burkhart and wife Pat; her grandchildren, Brad Burkhart and wife Karen, Traci Burkhart Douglas and Kellye Burkhart Hill and husband Robert; by her great grandchildren, Austin Burkhart, Courtney Douglas, Amanda Douglas, Taylor Douglas, Danielle Douglas, Alexa Hill, Micheil Hill, Stephen-Brock Hill and Evan Hill; by nephew, Anthony Doubek; niece, Cyndy Young; great nephew and niece, Robert Whitley and Rachel LeMaire and children, Haley, Lane and Ty.

Visitation will be held from 4 until 6 p.m. Monday at Bay City Funeral Home. Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at the Matagorda Cemetery with the Rev. Susan Kennard officiating.

Honorary Pallbearers will be Doug Huebner, Edward Bates Tomlinson II, Clark Young, Robert Whitley, Marcene Merchant, Bill Strickland, Don Knight, Roland Spurr, and Kent LeMaire.

Memorials and contributions may be made to the Matagorda County Museum or the City of Bay City Animal Impound.

Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.taylorbros.net.

Arrangements are with Bay City Funeral Home, Bay City, TX (979) 245-4893.

Bay City Tribune, July 23, 2008

Photo courtesy of Philip H. Parker VFW Post 2438

Unknown Burkhart Family Member
Photo courtesy of Zia Miller