Photo by Marie LeonardIt is not easy to spot many of the cemeteries in Cy-Fair, most of which sit on some of the area's last remaining quiet country roads or tucked behind growing subdivisions. Nonetheless, there is a rich history behind many of Cy-Fair's cemeteries, which date back to the 1800s when German immigrants and other American settlers began moving to Cypress.
The Bottoms
Located off Jones Road in the Lakewood Forest subdivision, an overgrown cemetery is all that remains of The Bottoms community, which was started by former slaves who came to the area from Alabama after the Civil War.
Ten families bought land in the area along Cypress Creek with money they earned from lumbering and making charcoal. Willis Woods owned 310 acres of The Bottoms, and he gave land for a church, cemetery, school and a Farmer's Improvement Hall. Because of flooding from Cypress Creek, most of The Bottoms moved north closer to Tomball in the late 1800s.
The only reminder of the community today is the cemetery, and most of the graves are unmarked. In the early 2000s, the site was in "deplorable" condition and considered overgrown and secluded. However, a group formed in 2003 to restore the cemetery to better conditions and began clearing brush and cleaning headstones—the latest of which dated to the 1930s.
Burnett-Borgstedt Cemetery
In 1831, settler Matthew Burnett and his wife moved to Texas from Arkansas and settled on Cypress Creek south of present-day Telge Park. The first land sale out of the Burnett land grant occurred in August 1853, when Alexander Burnett conveyed 50 acres to Frederick Knigge. The next month, Burnett sold almost the entire league to John F. Crawford, save Knigge's portion of the land, the Burnett homestead and the Burnett burying ground.
In March 1856, John Crawford conveyed to Peter Heinrich Borgstedt 200 acres in the league. The Borgstedt Cemetery sits on the old Burnett site, but the exact location of the Burnett burying ground remains unclear, as the Knigge family cemetery is located where the deeds describe the location of the Burnett cemetery—on Knigge Cemetery Road. Some believe the Dowdell-Woodward Cemetery in the Ravensway subdivision may be the site of the Burnett burying ground.
Perry Cemetery
Many settlers of the Cy-Fair area are buried in Perry Cemetery, the oldest of which is Charles B. Grant, dating back to 1878. Grant is the son of physician James W. Grant for whom Grant Road is named.
The cemetery takes its name from landowners Drucilla and Thomas Perry, who sold the northern half of the site to Caroline and Christian Rumpel in 1886. After Caroline passed away in 1903, Christian added an extra acre to the cemetery and left Texas. Descendants of those buried in the cemetery—family names include Anderson, Grant Franklin, Hargrave, McCracken, Park, Perry, West and Williams—continue to be buried here, along with veterans and community leaders.
Perry Cemetery also features a "stranger's rest" area, where those not associated with the community or existing family burial sites can be buried.
St. John Lutheran Cemetery
Settlers from the German regions of Posen and Pomerania came to the Cypress area in the 1840s and formed St. John Lutheran Church in 1853. Twenty years later in 1873, a smallpox epidemic took the lives of 11 church members who were buried on the property of church member Henry Raatz, which sits on present-day Cypress Church Road.
The earliest documented burial was 1873—that of Wilheim F. Petrich—and in 1878 the land was deeded to the church by Raatz for use as a cemetery.
The Texas Historical Commission recognized the cemetery in 2002 with a historical marker. The church still uses the cemetery today.
Sources: Texas Historical Commission, "At Rest: A Historical Directory of Harris County Cemeteries," Klein ISD, Harris County
