HomeMy WebLinkAboutRe: Rector CemeteryE-mail from Henry Mayo, Surveyor, to Bill Page, TAMU Evans Library, dated August 19, 2007
RE: Rector Chapel & Cemetery, see Cemeteries Folder/College Station
Bill,
I really enjoy reading all of your local historical emails, but this one
is especially interesting and helpful to me. I see so many names that I run
across in my surveying work in College Station. Emma Stasney Barta, shown
as a surviving daughter of Frank Stasney in his obituary of 1937, lived on
Krenek Tap Road into the 1980's and her land was purchased less than 10
years ago to build the City's Utilility Service Center. It's amazing that
her own father was born in the 1850's in Moravia!
Although the Rector Chapel and Cemetery was located in the Crawford
Burnett League, it adjoined the Morgan Rector League, since the common
border of the two 'old 300' grants was located where Texas Avenue lies now.
As far as history of College Station's ownership of the cemeteries, the
founder of our surveying firm, Joe (Josesph) Orr surveyed the "College
Station Cemetery" in 1948 and that plat shows the old cemeteries on it. It
does not show any building location, so the Rector Chapel building was
probably already gone. About 10 years ago, we helped the City of College
Station deteremine the boundaries of the original cemetery tracts, so they
could restrict burials in them. We used Mr. Orr's old map, deeds and aerial
photos to determine former fence locations. A nice row of cedar trees (now
very large) indicate one of these old fencelines and all along it, old Czech
tombstones back up to it, side-by-side.
One thing that I've noticed is that a lot of these College Station Czech
families are prominent in Mt. Calvary cemetery too. I guess this is because
their Catholic faith drew them to that cemetery over having only family
tradition as the reason to be buried at the Shiloh Cemetery.
Henry