Saint Joseph Cemetery

Saint Joseph Cemetery. Schertz Historic Site. This cemetery has been recorded as a historic Texas cemetery by the Texas Historical Commission. Its origins are traced to the burial of Peter Ignazwenzel on February 2, 1884. Ignaz was a German immigrant who was among the first founders of New Braunfels, Texas and Comal Village. Ignaz requested that he be buried on his land and that one acre surrounding his grave be set aside as a cemetery. On March 3, 1884, his widow Anna Maria (Friesenhahn) Wenzel donated land for the cemetery to the Catholic Bishop of San Antonio. In 1925, Ignaz' descendents sold one half acre to the Catholic Bishop to enlarge the cemetery. In 1948, Willie Wenzel donated .7 acre for the parking lot and driveway. Except for a small number of Hispanic laborers buried in the northwest corner, most of the early burials were either descendants of Ignaz and Anna Maria or of Anna's two brothers Andreas and Nicolas Friesenhahn, or of Anna's half-brother Heinrich Syring. The Wenzels and those other families resting on these sacred grounds possessed an unfaltering commitment to their religious beliefs as evidenced by the beautiful Saint Joseph's Chapel they erected nearby.