LOCATION: East side of South Stewart Road, .5 mile south of Expressway 83 at Trinity Street in Mission, Texas.

SURVEYED: Rigo Ordaz, May 2006. There are approximately 1500 graves; 328 are included in attached survey. [Spanish inscriptions have been translated into English. The word hijos (Sp. sons), in popular usage may indicate "sons and daughters."] Survey began in northwest corner.

HISTORY: San Jose Cemetery is owned partly by the City of Mission and partly by the Corpus Christi Diocese. Some time before 1990, the Barrera family of La Reforma Ranch sold 19 acres of their San Jose Ranch, one-half mile east, to a development company. By 2000, San Jose Cemetery was surrounded on three sides—east, north, and south-- by homes of Cimarron Country Club.

San Jose Cemetery was founded about 1916. A plot was owned by Mission’s first doctor, Dr. A.J.J. (Alfred Joseph Jonathan) Austin (1843-1933), known as "Dr. Paloma" or "Dr. Dove" because he followed the English physician’s tradition of wearing white suits. Formerly mayor of Mier in Tamaulipas, he came to Texas to escape the Mexican Revolution, and arrived in Mission in 1915.

Older graves are at the back of the cemetery, but the Austin and Cavazos families have impressive large tombstones near the front entrance. One of the oldest markers is that of Teodora F. Contreras (1880-1916). Members of the Barrera and Austin families are buried in the city section.

In the early 1950s, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church obtained adjacent property on the south for a Catholic Cemetery. It was probably donated by Miss Isidora Cavazos, of the Cavazos-Cardenas family from La Noria Cardeneña Ranch north of Edinburg. "Lolita," as she was fondly known, was owner of El Carmen Ranch on Brushline Road. She bequeathed her property, possibly including San Jose Cemetery grounds, to Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, founded by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

San Jose Cemetery is a typical Rio Grande Valley ranch cemetery, with many home-made tombstones. One quaint marker, of black marble, reads "My marker is as black as my soul." In the Mexican-American tradition, headstones once placed are not removed; hence there are some duplicate inscriptions.

In 1968, Bishop Homer Medeiros divided the diocese and established Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, formerly a mission of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, as a parish. Holy Rosary Church assumed management of San Jose Catholic Cemetery. The cemetery was doubled in size when Mr. Fernando Rivera, owner of an adjacent ranch, donated additional property.

The cemetery is surrounded by low brick walls with several gates, and in front is a new wrought iron fence with stone pillars, the work of Mr. Ric Brown of Mission. The City of Mission maintains the northern portion, and the church maintains the south side.