Cemetery Association

President:  Chris Fritz – (512) 642-6766

Sexton:  Kathleen Stanko

Secretary/Treasure:  Robert Rinehart – (512) 365-9858

Morgan Wendland – (512) 632-9366

Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery graves online – click here

The Cemetery no longer sells grave sites to non church members.

 

A Brief History

According to records kept by individual families, there were a few Lutherans in the Taylor (Taylorsville) area by the later 1870’s. These numbers kept increasing in the 1880’s. In an unsettled land, far different from their former homes, they began making their new home and life. Religion was very important to the people and trained pastors were scarce. As more settlers moved into the area, pastors from other areas did “missionary” work. They held worship services in homes and later in country schools, performing services including baptizing, confirming and performing marriages.

Immanuel Lutheran Congregation was officially organized on January 1, 1888.  The next order of business was to purchase land for a permanent place of  worship. Five acres of land was purchased from A. Symes. The deed was signed  on October 16, 1889 and states that the site was to be used for Church  Building(s) and a place of sepulture (burial). On October 20, 1889, just
four days after the deed was signed, Minna Roeske, born May 16, 1889, died.  She was the daughter of Fred and Caroline Roeske and was buried in the  southeast comer of the cemetery and was the first person to be buried.

The original cemetery consisted of 48 separate lots, divided into 8 rows, with 6 lots in each row and an aisle in the center of the 6 lots. The east row was to be used for single grave sites.

With the coming of the Twentieth Century, many changes took place. The area continued to grow rapidly and many who were living here moved to different areas. In the early 1900’s, complete families moved to south Texas, north Texas and some to the west. Others just resettled in central Texas.

The care of individual cemetery lots were the responsibility of the families who owned them. The cemetery was not neglected. A problem did arrive when some families moved away and were unable to care for the plots. Many plots remained well cared for through the years. The congregation had custodians who were to be in charge of records, burials and to encourage the upkeep of the cemetery.

With the coming of the, power mowers in the later 1940′ s, the care of the cemetery took a drastic change. Reverend Krienke was the pastor of the congregation for nearly ten years. He commuted from his home near Round Rock and the parsonage was rented to Mr. & Mrs. Alvin Moehnke. His sister, Gertrude Moehnke, donated a gasoline powered push mower. Alvin mowed the church yard and portions of the cemetery. In the later 1950’s, two mowers were purchased by the congregation for use on the church premises and cemetery.

It was also in the 1950’s that one member of the Church Council was to serve as custodian of the cemetery and oversee the burials and the sale of grave sites. An individual committee consisting of two persons was also elected to be responsible for seeing that the cemetery was kept clean and mowed. These two persons were to solicit help as needed. However, when the grass grew, the members had very little spare time and sometimes it was much easier for the two caretakers to just do the cleaning themselves. Mention must be made at this time that many persons did donate money to the church for expenses needed for supplies and repairs. No specific records were kept of this and any shortage or excess of donations went to the church treasury. During these later years, the cemetery was kept very neat.

In 1971, (the January congregational meeting) the congregation gave permission for the cemetery to go on a perpetual care plan. A committee was appointed by the Church Council to contact all families or their descendants to seek funds to be placed into a Perpetual Care Fund for future use of cemetery care. Committee members were: Emanuel Lantzsch -chairman, Mrs. Emma Decker, Mrs. Thekla Moehnke, Fred Krueger and Hugo Beyer.

Reverend Schlortt was present at all meetings and gave pastoral counsel. The committee gathered addresses, wrote letters and also by-laws & regulations, and rules for the association. Response was generous and the money collected was placed in a separate account for the purpose of a perpetual care fund.

On August 7, 1972, the Church Council in their regular meeting, appointed August Decker, Hugo Beyer, Fred Krueger, Henry Ray Fritz, and Edwin Teichelman to serve as directors.

The directors held their first meeting January 15, 1973. By ballot voting, Hugo Beyer was elected President and Edwin Teichelman was elected as Secretary-Treasurer. The Cemetery Committee’s work was completed and funds collected in the amount of $4, 169. 11 was turned over to the Association.  All future memorials and donations were to be placed into the Perpetual Care Fund with only interest from the fund to be used for the care of the cemetery. A riding mower and a push mower were purchased from the Clara (Mager) Heise fund and Emanuel Lantzsch became the first paid custodian, a position he held until ill health forced his retirement.

Many thanks and appreciation is expressed to all who worked so hard to make the Cemetery Association a reality through the years. Also, to all contributors for memorials and donations, your support is gratefully appreciated. Without all of you, this would have been an impossibility. A final note: At the January 1998 meeting of the Cemetery Directors, Lena Lantzsch was elected to replace Emanuel as a director of the Cemetery Association.

– Madeline (Decker) Teichelman