To Everything A Season: EDGAR Family Cemetery, DeWitt Co., TX

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Victoria Advocate Article, 05 April 2013

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[VictoriaAdvocate.com]

B4 - VICTORIA ADVOCATE,

Friday, April 5, 2013

PAGE DESIGNER: BLAIN HEFNER, BHEFNER@VICADCOM;

COPY EDITOR: NICOLE HEFNER, NHEFNER@VICAD.COM

DEWITT COUNTY

Man breathes new life into cemetery

Descendant of settler cleaning, restoring historic graves

BY SONNY LONG

SLONG@VICAD.COM

Bob Webb doesn't want his family's history to be forgotten.

Webb, of League City, a descendant of the Edgar family that came to Texas in 1853, is leading the effort to restore the Edgar

Family Cemetery in DeWitt County.

The Edgar family's first- born son, Joseph Smith Edgar, was a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, said

Webb.

Webb and his cousin, Kittena Jane Hannah, of Washington, D.C., began collaborating on researching and cataloging the

Edgar family history about seven years ago.

"Getting the cemetery cleared, restored, secured and maintained has been one of our projects to do," Webb said.

"To my knowledge, the last burial occurred in the old Edgar Family Cemetery in 1938," Webb said. "My late cousin, John

Tracy, visited the cemetery in 1969. It was an overgrown jungle then. It had certainly not been maintained and may not have

been cleared since around the time of that last burial there."

The cemetery is on private property, a mile within a ranch over some rough terrain and across a small creek with no bridge,

Webb said.

A descendant of the Mahler family, which also has graves in the cemetery, worked with the landowner in the early 1990s and

cleared a portion of the cemetery where most of the Mahler graves are located, Webb said.

"I made several visits to the cemetery starting in 2006 with very minor cleanup done but with gravestone searches and

photographing," Webb said.

After retirement last year, Webb and his wife, Jane Webb, began devoting more time to the cemetery.

"Thanks to the contribution of a Mahler relative and ours, funds were provided to hire a crew to do the rough part of the

clearing, which was done over two weekends in March," he said.

"What is left now is to remove the rest of the vines and to smooth the cemetery and do a more detailed survey, including

locating as many as possible of all of the grave markers there, with and without inscriptions," said Webb.

A Decoration Day is planned for Saturday, and Edgar descendants from Texas and other parts of the country are expected to

take part.

There will be two three-hour work sessions at the cemetery, one at 8 a.m. and one at 2 p.m., and a visitation period at 2 p.m.

for those unable to attend either work session, Webb said.

During lunch, an organizational meeting will be held aimed at forming an Edgar Family Cemetery Association with the

objectives of restoring, regularly tending and preserving the cemetery.

If interested in attending a work session, the visitation at the cemetery and/or the luncheon, contact the Edgar Family

Cemetery Association via email at efca1853@gmail.com. More information can be found at the Edgar Family Cemetery web

site.

MORE THAN THE EDGAR FAMILY

In addition to Edgar family members, other burials occurred in the Edgar Family Cemetery, including many who have

descendants still living in DeWitt, Victoria, Lavaca, Gonzales, Jackson, Karnes and surrounding counties. Some of those

surnames include: Abel, Batchelor, Bates, Bell, Bennett, Bouldin, Brown, Carr, Dikes, Donnell, Duke, Dykes, Farquhar, Hadley,

Hugo (or von Hugo), Jacobs, Ladd, Lee, Luce, Mahler, McAdoo, McCormick, McMeen, Means, Mikes, Mikesh, Murphey,

Newsome, Nyegaard, Odom, Pincham, Powers, Pridgen, Rackley, Reader, Robinson, Skeen, Sparkman, Strown, Taylor,

Welch, Witherington and Young.

SOURCE: parkerhannah.com/ EdgarFamilyCemetery/ Welcome.html.

YES, THERE IS AN EDGAR, TEXAS

Edgar is on alternate U.S. Highway 77 about 7 miles northeast of Cuero. In 1853, James Edgar brought his family to the area

and claimed the land granted to his son, Joseph Smith Edgar, for his service in the Texas Revolution. In 1887, the San Antonio

and Aransas Pass Railway located a depot in the area and named it for these early settlers. The area post office was

established in 1888. In 1890, the community had daily mail delivered by rail, a general store and a population of 25, and by

1915, a reported 100 residents supported a Wells Fargo office, at least one store, the school and a cotton gin. The community

also had telephone service. The Edgar post office was discontinued in 1940, and the school closed in 1951. In 2000, the

population was eight. Edgar is not listed on the 2010 U.S. Census.

SOURCE: Handbook of Texas Online

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY BOB WEBB

Bob Webb stands with the headstone of his ancestor James Edgar.

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