St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery  – a.k.a. Waterhouse/Vesperville Cemetery

Wharton County, Cemeteries of Texas

Submitted by:    Lois Kennedy

Cemeteries of Texas:     Veda Bragg Mendoza

 Located in west Wharton County, across the Colorado River from Glen Flora just off FM 960, near the  Crossroads community of Crescent.

A five acre tract was given by the Waterhouse family for the area residents to build a church and  etablish a cemetery.  The church was on the road frontage, which was later sold; the back section was reserved as a cemetery belonging to the membership of the St. John’s Lutheran Church.  The area was called Vesperville in the beginning but now is known as Crescent.

 In 1985, Bessie Lee Matthews Roecker conducted the survey, and related that it was overgrown, with many of the markers damaged by cattle and trees.  Many of the tombstones text is in German.  It is likely that this is not a complete list of all the burials.  Beginning in 1997, the members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Wharton, began a clean up project of the cemetery and plan to continue maintenance and necessary repairs.  This church was the original St. John’s which started the cemetery, but a move to Wharton necessitated a name change to St. Paul, as there was already a St. John’s Lutheran there.

Typist Note:   There are no plot or grave numbers on this survey.  I have taken the liberty of numbering the entries sequentially.  Hopefully this will help in determining the relationship of one burial to other burials in this cemetery.

  I/s/o – Infant Son of        M-M – Mr. & Mrs.          D/o – Daughter of           S/o – Son Of

 

No

Last Name

First Name

Born

Died

Comments

1 Huebing Friederich Feb 23 1854 1932  
2 Huebing Wilhelmine Jul 25  1856 Jan 09 1968  
3 Huebing Martha Jan 15 1883 Jan 09 168  
4 Heubing Reinhart Fred Apr 16 1893 Oct 22 1977  
5 Roecker William, Sr. Nov 03 1844 Jun 18 1935  
6 Roecker Johanna Mar 19 1847 Jan 31 1933  
7 Roecker Charles A. Jan 11 1870 May 30 1961  
8 Roecker Minnie May 24 1873 Aug 23 1951  
9 Roecker William Albert Sep 03 1880 Sep 01 1961  
10 Roecker Edwin May 29 190- Dec 18 1918  
11 Roecker Wilhelm F. E. Nov 02 1903 Nov 10 1903  
12 Roecker Elsie Louise Feb 04 1920 Feb 10 1922 D/o M-M Emil R.
13 Ertel Friederich Nov 12 1840 Dec 30 1907  
14 Baumgartner G. Phillipp Aug 20 1847 May 25 1924  
15 Heyne Leon Nov 11 1902 Oct 15 1904  
16 Franke Louise W. Jan 27 1898 Aug 07 1898  
17 Franke R. C. - -  
18 Gerth Paulina C. Aug 05 1851 Apr 12 1899  
19 Hinze Johanna M. Jul 30 1823 Sep 03 1904  
20 Hinze Wilhelmine F. Feb 02 1828 Feb 28 1899  
21 Grueber Samuel A. Dec 18 1887 Oct 28 1902 Lutheran Pastor
22 Gerth or Herrn Ruth N. - -  

 

History of some of the families who lived, worked and died in the Waterhouse/Vesperville area, now known as Crescent.

A group of German families were brought here by C. H. Waterhouse from Wisconsin, the town of Portage and Madison are those know origins.  Among those families were: the Roecker, Walling, Hinze, Huebing, Hiling.  The area is located in the Kincheloe League A-37.  

Roecker Family:            Father – William S.   Mother – Johanna Denzier    Children – Emil, charles, Otto, William, Minnie, Matilda, Emma, Amelia, Edith, Clara       Origin:     Came from Prussia, Germany to U.S.A., April, 1865.  Came to Texas from Portage, Wisconsin 1892

Huebing Family: Father – John Friederich  Mother – Wilhelmine Julianna Hinze Children – Louisa, Ida, Martha, Reinhart  Origin:     Came from Strasburg, Germany to U.S.A. 1888.  Came to Texas from Madison, Wisconsin 1892