The Old City Cemetery and Yellow Fever in La Grange, Texas

Compiled, transcribed, and supplemented by Bea Rost of La Grange, Texas

The Old City Cemetery

Personally, my knowledge is nil on the cemeteries in the City of La Grange. I will share with you the information as follows that is taken from two sources, I. e. Fayette County : Past and Present by the Students of La Grange High School and Fayette County Texas Heritage, Volume I.

According to a historical marker in the Old City Cemetery, the first burial was in 1840. The property belonged to J. S. Lester, Albert C. Horton, Joseph Shaw, and P. V. Shaw, who conveyed the cemetery to George W. Sinks, Wm. G. Webb, Charles L. Longcope, John H. Carter, and F. W. Grassmeyer on May 21, 1853 to hold it in trust for the citizens of La Grange as a burying ground. After the town was incorporated, the above named trustees conveyed it to the city of La Grange on July 3, 1854.

In 1867, the "Yellow Fever Scourge" befell the small town of La Grange - from August through November the epidemic ran its course and left 204 dead, nearly one fifth the population of the town. Many deaths went unreported; bodies rudely prepared for burial stood in piles within the cemetery fence. Mass burials took place, with six or seven bodies to a grave.

One of the most notable persons buried here was on of the first owners of the cemetery property, James Seaton Lester. Born in 1799, Lester was a delegate to the 1835 Consultation (perhaps Constitution ?), a San Jacinto veteran, and a member of four Republic of Texas Congresses. He died on Dec 1 1879.

By 1872 the cemetery was a wilderness of grass and weeds; hogs and cattle were frequent trespassers; monuments has been injured and graves trampled on. No one ever thought of visiting there except to bury another pilgrim. On April 17, 1873, fourteen ladies met and organized the Ladies Cemetery Association. It was the first such chartered organization in Texas. These women raised money and replaced the wooden fence surrounding the site with an iron fence in 1883 at a cost of $2,531.51 which was obtained by receiving from the city all monies received from the sale of lots. Later they added a waterworks, settees, and a covered resting place in the center of the cemetery. A sexton was hired to do additional work. The group was active until the late 1970's when the upkeep of the cemetery was turned back to the City of La Grange.

At present the cemetery is enclosed by an iron fence, and is bordered by Travis, College, and Colorado Streets. It is divided into two sections. Section 1 contains lots 1 through 135 and Section 2 contains lots 1 through 161. In 1988 the history and graves were recorded by Kathy Carter and Helen Muras of the Fayette Public Library. Additional yellow fever information was found in an old newspaper article. According to research 1185 graves were found although city records state that a total of 1481 graves were assigned. A map is located in the Fayette Library Archives reading room.

The information stated to this point is taken from Fayette County Texas Heritage publication, (although not word for word).

The information that follows from this point forward is taken from Fayette County : Past and Present: Almost all of the information up to this point is also in Fayette County : Past and Present and I am adding here bits and pieces that I did not read in the other publication.

On July 19, 1873, just 93 days after the birth of the organization a petition was presented to the Town Council urging the immediate importance of a separate burying ground for the black people. It became evident in the early part of the 1880's that a new cemetery was going to be needed because the old cemetery was almost full. On Sep 8 1884 the town bought two acres of land across the street from the old cemetery. They added more land to this new cemetery on June 20, 1908, a plot 100 by 265 feet. (Although not stated, I think across the street meant across State Highway 71 (Travis Street) which is one of the questions you asked.

We have an old hand painted map of the City of La Grange here which is dated 1880 and Travis Street is in place on that map so my thought is that the cemeteries went into place as you see them today and Hwy 71 - (Travis Street) did not disrupt any burial plots. The cemeteries were put in place across the highway from one another.

In recent times we have seen City of La Grange employees working in the oldest part of the cemeteries and we assume that as they have time, they make the effort to improve the condition of the older part of the cemeteries. The archives of the Fayette Heritage Library and Museum would have more information on the cemetery.

Yellow Fever in Fayette County

The following information is about yellow fever in Fayette County is taken from F. Lotto's "Fayette County - Her History and Her People : In the midst of corrupt political conditions, (following the Civil War), in the midst of the general destitution of the country when everything fell short of the least hope, other great calamities struck the people. In 1867 a yellow fever epidemic broke out in La Grange. The same was said to be brought here by a peddler. Another version is that the yellow fever germs were imported into Fayette County in a box of books that was sent from New Orleans to Markmann and Richers, then living near La Grange. These were the first ones to die in this epidemic. Fearful were the losses of life, some families were entirely destroyed; people who could fled from town and lived in tents in the country. Those prisoners who were at that time in the county jail were either removed or discharged. The Commissioners' or rather the Police court held no session from July 1867 to January 1868. The town looked like a grand funeral place; the empty houses stood as grand monuments of wrecked business and fortunes. The town was not cleaned of weeds, they emitted a fearful stench; infected bed cloths were scattered over town. Funerals were not conducted any more with decency; the supply of coffins in the town had given out, and corpses were placed for burial in hastily made, rough, wooden boxes. The names of the physicians who attended the people during their sickness were Drs. Blackmore, McGowell and White. Nevertheless, the mail went regularly to and from La Grange during this time; it was carried by Charles Helmcamp. To make matters worse, the Colorado River overflowed in 1869 and destroyed a large amount of property and to a large extent, the crops for the year. It was the greatest overflow that ever happened in its valley. In La Grange the backwater stood five feet in the court house yard. In 1870 there was another overflow that largely ruined crops of the Colorado valley. The water did not rise as high as in 1869, but did come almost to the courthouse square. In 1873 smallpox broke out in the county and in that year the first quarantine regulations were passed and ordered enforced. In 1875 smallpox broke out in the Pecan neighborhood and the Pecan Grove schoolhouse neighborhood and the R. E. Holloway Farm were quarantined. What is Yellow Fever?

Yellow fever is an acute infectious disease endemic in tropical Africa and many areas of South America. Epidemics have extended into subtropical and temperate regions during warm seasons; the last epidemic in the United States occurred in New Orleans in 1905. Yellow fever is caused by a virus transmitted by the bite of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, which breeds in stagnant water near human habitations. A form of the disease called sylvan yellow fever is transmitted in tropical jungles by other species of mosquitoes that live in trees.

At the end of the 19th cent., yellow fever was highly prevalent in the Caribbean area, and a way of controlling it had to be found before construction of the Panama Canal could be undertaken. In 1900 a commission headed by Walter Reed and including James Carroll, Jesse Lazear, and Aristides Agramonte proved in Havana the theory of C. J. Finlay that yellow fever was a mosquito-borne infection. W. C. Gorgas, an army physician and sanitation expert, succeeded in controlling the disease in the Panama Canal Zone and other areas in that part of the world by mosquito-eradication measures. The later development of an immunizing vaccine and strict quarantine measures against ships, planes, and passengers coming from known or suspected yellow-fever areas further aided control of the disease.

Yellow fever begins suddenly after an incubation period of three to five days. In mild cases only fever and headache may be present. The severe form of the disease commences with fever, chills, bleeding into the skin, rapid heartbeat, headache, back pains, and extreme prostration. Nausea, vomiting, and constipation are common. Jaundice usually appears on the second or third day. After the third day the symptoms recede, only to return with increased severity in the final stage, during which there is a marked tendency to hemorrhage internally; the characteristic "coffee ground vomitus contains blood. The patient then lapses into delirium and coma, often followed by death. During epidemics the fatality rate was often as high as 85%. Although the disease still occurs, it is usually confined to sporadic outbreaks.

Yellow Fever material excerpted from:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/articlesnew/14079.html

Yellow Fever in Texas

I (Susan) went to the Handbook of Texas On Line and searched for Yellow Fever. There were many, many hits. In a short time I was able to determine that there were outbreaks from the time of the Republic of Texas. As the number of residents in Texas grew, so did the deaths from Yellow Fever. It appears that the epidemics started along the coasts (mosquitoes) as far away as in New Orleans. The disease was then carried to Texas port cities from their travelers carried it inland.

For instance, there is the following entry for Galveston:

Handbook of Texas Online: GALVESTON ISLAND--"By reason of its climate and location the island was subjected to yellow fever epidemics in 1839, 1844, 1847, 1853, 1854, 1858, 1859, 1864, and 1867."

I find deaths from yellow fever in many years but the worst seemed to be 1853 and 1867. The 1867 epidemic seems to have swept the state I find deaths from Galveston and Houston to Refugio County to along the Rio Grande all the way to Pena Station outside of Hebbronville. 1897 was another epidemic year.

Argost Bergmann lost two daughters to Yellow Fever, that info is provided below.

Handbook of Texas Online: BERGMANN, JOSEF ARNOST -- A fifth Bergmann daughter was born and died in 1853, and two daughters died of yellow fever in 1855 or 1856."

Following are just a few of the other citations I found:

Public Health

"By far the most significant local action concerned the power to quarantine. Galveston led the way in 1850, when the first quarantine regulations in the state were passed after several yellow fever epidemics had visited the island. Still more stringent regulations were voted by Galvestonians in 1853. The continuing prevalence of smallpox and yellow fever made the necessity of quarantine felt over the whole state. In 1856 the state legislature enacted a law that enabled county courts and municipal corporate authorities to quarantine when necessary. Quarantines became widespread: Galveston, Houston, Brenham, Bryan, Hempstead, and other communities took turns quarantining each other. By 1888, boards of health were organized in nearly every city and town to attend to sanitation and other measures to improve health. In 1879 the quarantine law was amended to make the governor the head of a state health department with authority to appoint a state health officer known as the state medical officer. Dr. Robert Rutherford, the first, was followed after two years by Dr. Richard M. Swearingen, nationally recognized as an outstanding contributor to public health. The 1879 law provided the basis for the first statewide system of quarantine. With increases in personnel and financial resources, quarantine stations sprang up throughout the state, and quarantines were used even more frequently toward the end of the century."

(I now recall that when I read a book on the development of transportation in the Gulf of Mexico, our ports were frequently quarantined. It was maintained that some of these quarantines were put in place to hinder economic development of rival ports; however, there was obviously a real need to do so. Also the creation of the first railroads from New Orleans to East Texas were was due to a desire to circumvent the frequent quarantines in Galveston.)

SMITH, GEORGE WASHINGTON--"Shortly after the end of the term, Smith fell victim to the 1873 yellow fever epidemic in Colorado County and died in his home on October 24 of that year. "

HARRISON, ROBERT HENRY-- "he set up a temporary hospital in the city hall to repay aid that Galveston had sent him during a yellow fever epidemic at Columbus in 1873."

The Handbook of Texas Online can be found at the following URL:

The Handbook of Texas Online -- Search

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	The Old City Cemetery and Yellow Fever in La Grange, Texas

	Compiled, transcribed, and supplemented by Bea Rost of La Grange, Texas The Old City Cemetery Personally, my knowledge is nil on the cemeteries in the City of La Grange. I will share with you the information as follows that is taken from two sources, I. e. Fayette County : Past and Present by the Students of La Grange High School and Fayette County Texas Heritage, Volume I. According to a historical marker in the Old City Cemetery, the first burial was in 1840. The property belonged to J. S. Lester, Albert C. Horton, Joseph Shaw, and P. V. Shaw, who conveyed the cemetery to George W. Sinks, Wm. G. Webb, Charles L. Longcope, John H. Carter, and F. W. Grassmeyer on May 21, 1853 to hold it in trust for the citizens of La Grange as a burying ground. After the town was incorporated, the above named trustees conveyed it to the city of La Grange on July 3, 1854. In 1867, the "Yellow Fever Scourge" befell the small town of La Grange - from August through November the epidemic ran its course and left 204 dead, nearly one fifth the population of the town. Many deaths went unreported; bodies rudely prepared for burial stood in piles within the cemetery fence. Mass burials took place, with six or seven bodies to a grave. One of the most notable persons buried here was on of the first owners of the cemetery property, James Seaton Lester. Born in 1799, Lester was a delegate to the 1835 Consultation (perhaps Constitution ?), a San Jacinto veteran, and a member of four Republic of Texas Congresses. He died on Dec 1 1879. By 1872 the cemetery was a wilderness of grass and weeds; hogs and cattle were frequent trespassers; monuments has been injured and graves trampled on. No one ever thought of visiting there except to bury another pilgrim. On April 17, 1873, fourteen ladies met and organized the Ladies Cemetery Association. It was the first such chartered organization in Texas. These women raised money and replaced the wooden fence surrounding the site with an iron fence in 1883 at a cost of $2,531.51 which was obtained by receiving from the city all monies received from the sale of lots. Later they added a waterworks, settees, and a covered resting place in the center of the cemetery. A sexton was hired to do additional work. The group was active until the late 1970's when the upkeep of the cemetery was turned back to the City of La Grange. At present the cemetery is enclosed by an iron fence, and is bordered by Travis, College, and Colorado Streets. It is divided into two sections. Section 1 contains lots 1 through 135 and Section 2 contains lots 1 through 161. In 1988 the history and graves were recorded by Kathy Carter and Helen Muras of the Fayette Public Library. Additional yellow fever information was found in an old newspaper article. According to research 1185 graves were found although city records state that a total of 1481 graves were assigned. A map is located in the Fayette Library Archives reading room. The information stated to this point is taken from Fayette County Texas Heritage publication, (although not word for word). The information that follows from this point forward is taken from Fayette County : Past and Present: Almost all of the information up to this point is also in Fayette County : Past and Present and I am adding here bits and pieces that I did not read in the other publication. On July 19, 1873, just 93 days after the birth of the organization a petition was presented to the Town Council urging the immediate importance of a separate burying ground for the black people. It became evident in the early part of the 1880's that a new cemetery was going to be needed because the old cemetery was almost full. On Sep 8 1884 the town bought two acres of land across the street from the old cemetery. They added more land to this new cemetery on June 20, 1908, a plot 100 by 265 feet. (Although not stated, I think across the street meant across State Highway 71 (Travis Street) which is one of the questions you asked. We have an old hand painted map of the City of La Grange here which is dated 1880 and Travis Street is in place on that map so my thought is that the cemeteries went into place as you see them today and Hwy 71 - (Travis Street) did not disrupt any burial plots. The cemeteries were put in place across the highway from one another. In recent times we have seen City of La Grange employees working in the oldest part of the cemeteries and we assume that as they have time, they make the effort to improve the condition of the older part of the cemeteries. The archives of the Fayette Heritage Library and Museum would have more information on the cemetery. Yellow Fever in Fayette County The following information is about yellow fever in Fayette County is taken from F. Lotto's "Fayette County - Her History and Her People : In the midst of corrupt political conditions, (following the Civil War), in the midst of the general destitution of the country when everything fell short of the least hope, other great calamities struck the people. In 1867 a yellow fever epidemic broke out in La Grange. The same was said to be brought here by a peddler. Another version is that the yellow fever germs were imported into Fayette County in a box of books that was sent from New Orleans to Markmann and Richers, then living near La Grange. These were the first ones to die in this epidemic. Fearful were the losses of life, some families were entirely destroyed; people who could fled from town and lived in tents in the country. Those prisoners who were at that time in the county jail were either removed or discharged. The Commissioners' or rather the Police court held no session from July 1867 to January 1868. The town looked like a grand funeral place; the empty houses stood as grand monuments of wrecked business and fortunes. The town was not cleaned of weeds, they emitted a fearful stench; infected bed cloths were scattered over town. Funerals were not conducted any more with decency; the supply of coffins in the town had given out, and corpses were placed for burial in hastily made, rough, wooden boxes. The names of the physicians who attended the people during their sickness were Drs. Blackmore, McGowell and White. Nevertheless, the mail went regularly to and from La Grange during this time; it was carried by Charles Helmcamp. To make matters worse, the Colorado River overflowed in 1869 and destroyed a large amount of property and to a large extent, the crops for the year. It was the greatest overflow that ever happened in its valley. In La Grange the backwater stood five feet in the court house yard. In 1870 there was another overflow that largely ruined crops of the Colorado valley. The water did not rise as high as in 1869, but did come almost to the courthouse square. In 1873 smallpox broke out in the county and in that year the first quarantine regulations were passed and ordered enforced. In 1875 smallpox broke out in the Pecan neighborhood and the Pecan Grove schoolhouse neighborhood and the R. E. Holloway Farm were quarantined. What is Yellow Fever? Yellow fever is an acute infectious disease endemic in tropical Africa and many areas of South America. Epidemics have extended into subtropical and temperate regions during warm seasons; the last epidemic in the United States occurred in New Orleans in 1905. Yellow fever is caused by a virus transmitted by the bite of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, which breeds in stagnant water near human habitations. A form of the disease called sylvan yellow fever is transmitted in tropical jungles by other species of mosquitoes that live in trees. At the end of the 19th cent., yellow fever was highly prevalent in the Caribbean area, and a way of controlling it had to be found before construction of the Panama Canal could be undertaken. In 1900 a commission headed by Walter Reed and including James Carroll, Jesse Lazear, and Aristides Agramonte proved in Havana the theory of C. J. Finlay that yellow fever was a mosquito-borne infection. W. C. Gorgas, an army physician and sanitation expert, succeeded in controlling the disease in the Panama Canal Zone and other areas in that part of the world by mosquito-eradication measures. The later development of an immunizing vaccine and strict quarantine measures against ships, planes, and passengers coming from known or suspected yellow-fever areas further aided control of the disease. Yellow fever begins suddenly after an incubation period of three to five days. In mild cases only fever and headache may be present. The severe form of the disease commences with fever, chills, bleeding into the skin, rapid heartbeat, headache, back pains, and extreme prostration. Nausea, vomiting, and constipation are common. Jaundice usually appears on the second or third day. After the third day the symptoms recede, only to return with increased severity in the final stage, during which there is a marked tendency to hemorrhage internally; the characteristic "coffee ground vomitus contains blood. The patient then lapses into delirium and coma, often followed by death. During epidemics the fatality rate was often as high as 85%. Although the disease still occurs, it is usually confined to sporadic outbreaks. Yellow Fever material excerpted from: http://www.encyclopedia.com/articlesnew/14079.html Yellow Fever in Texas I (Susan) went to the Handbook of Texas On Line and searched for Yellow Fever. There were many, many hits. In a short time I was able to determine that there were outbreaks from the time of the Republic of Texas. As the number of residents in Texas grew, so did the deaths from Yellow Fever. It appears that the epidemics started along the coasts (mosquitoes) as far away as in New Orleans. The disease was then carried to Texas port cities from their travelers carried it inland. For instance, there is the following entry for Galveston: Handbook of Texas Online: GALVESTON ISLAND--"By reason of its climate and location the island was subjected to yellow fever epidemics in 1839, 1844, 1847, 1853, 1854, 1858, 1859, 1864, and 1867." I find deaths from yellow fever in many years but the worst seemed to be 1853 and 1867. The 1867 epidemic seems to have swept the state I find deaths from Galveston and Houston to Refugio County to along the Rio Grande all the way to Pena Station outside of Hebbronville. 1897 was another epidemic year. Argost Bergmann lost two daughters to Yellow Fever, that info is provided below. Handbook of Texas Online: BERGMANN, JOSEF ARNOST -- A fifth Bergmann daughter was born and died in 1853, and two daughters died of yellow fever in 1855 or 1856." Following are just a few of the other citations I found: Public Health "By far the most significant local action concerned the power to quarantine. Galveston led the way in 1850, when the first quarantine regulations in the state were passed after several yellow fever epidemics had visited the island. Still more stringent regulations were voted by Galvestonians in 1853. The continuing prevalence of smallpox and yellow fever made the necessity of quarantine felt over the whole state. In 1856 the state legislature enacted a law that enabled county courts and municipal corporate authorities to quarantine when necessary. Quarantines became widespread: Galveston, Houston, Brenham, Bryan, Hempstead, and other communities took turns quarantining each other. By 1888, boards of health were organized in nearly every city and town to attend to sanitation and other measures to improve health. In 1879 the quarantine law was amended to make the governor the head of a state health department with authority to appoint a state health officer known as the state medical officer. Dr. Robert Rutherford, the first, was followed after two years by Dr. Richard M. Swearingen, nationally recognized as an outstanding contributor to public health. The 1879 law provided the basis for the first statewide system of quarantine. With increases in personnel and financial resources, quarantine stations sprang up throughout the state, and quarantines were used even more frequently toward the end of the century." (I now recall that when I read a book on the development of transportation in the Gulf of Mexico, our ports were frequently quarantined. It was maintained that some of these quarantines were put in place to hinder economic development of rival ports; however, there was obviously a real need to do so. Also the creation of the first railroads from New Orleans to East Texas were was due to a desire to circumvent the frequent quarantines in Galveston.) SMITH, GEORGE WASHINGTON--"Shortly after the end of the term, Smith fell victim to the 1873 yellow fever epidemic in Colorado County and died in his home on October 24 of that year. " HARRISON, ROBERT HENRY-- "he set up a temporary hospital in the city hall to repay aid that Galveston had sent him during a yellow fever epidemic at Columbus in 1873." The Handbook of Texas Online can be found at the following URL: The Handbook of Texas Online -- Search Home