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Examining a newly cleared Harkeyville cemetery gravesite are Jerry Blankenship, Dario Jimenez, Miguel Flores, and Sarah Saldivar. Sambo Martinez is to the left of the group. Photo by Lynn Blankenship
This past Saturday, the San Saba County Historical Commission and volunteers, armed with a skid steer, chain saws, bypass loppers and a weed eater, began the recovery of a historic San Saba County cemetery.
Historical Commission members Joe Ellis, Sarah Saldivar, and Jerry and Lynn Blankenship were joined by volunteers Sambo Martinez, Richard Flores and his sons, Miguel and Carlos, Dario Jimenez, and Larry and Catherine Hanrahan to begin the restoration of the Harkeyville Cemetery. Sarah, Sambo, Richard, Miguel, Carlos, and Dario have family buried in the cemetery. Dario, whose mother is buried there, and Carlos drove up from south Texas to join the group. Later, the work party was joined by Kathleen Hawkins to begin work on the adjacent Davidson cemetery where her relatives are buried.
As early as 1929, the Davidson family, who had buried family members on their ranch since the 1880s, gave over a portion of the ranch adjacent to their burial ground to Mexican ranch workers as a final resting place for their families. The two earliest known burials at Harkeyville cemetery were those of “Rosita” Galindo and her son, Antonio, the wife, and son of Francisco Galindo.
Rosita and her stillborn child died December 26, 1929. The last burial was that of Jose Rocha in 1996.
The Historical Commission is grateful to the community of volunteers and family members who are helping to restore this historic cemetery and to preserve a piece of San Saba County history.