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Saint Vincent's Cemetery, Houston, Texas

bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
Visiting historic cemeteries with Civil War burials has been an interest of mine for about 6.5 years now. Up until last year, it was an activity that usually happened in conjunction with other scheduled activities/events. As with many things, that changed last year. When the Covid-19 lockdown began here in late March 2020, it included the closing of National Military Parks, State Battlefield/Battleground Parks, park Visitor Centers and Museums and the cancellation of in-person Civil War Round Table and SCV meetings, conferences, symposiums, reenactments, relic shows etc. Within a handful of weeks of lockdown, I got antsy and looked for ways to get boots on the ground. The most obvious solution was visiting local historic cemeteries no more than an hour drive away. It had to be local at first because places with public restrooms were closed too.

I used FindAGrave.com and Ancestry to find local cemeteries with Civil War burials and work up short biographies of the soldiers. Around June last year, I re-subscribed to fold3.com to have access to more digitized military records. I had allowed that subscription to lapse a couple of years earlier, thinking I had gotten everything I could use out of it. As last year progressed, I started putting grave marker flags out at veterans gravesites at most of the cemeteries. I buy Confederate grave marker flags from the SCV and buy US grave marker flags a dozen at a time at a local grocery store around Memorial Day and July 4th. The flags are $0.75 apiece at the SCV. The US flags are $0.50 apiece. I later found a supplier for some well made state grave marker flags and buy Texas and Alabama flags from them for $1.50 apiece. I also have a few Medal Of Honor Recipient grave marker flags that I ordered from The American Legion. About midyear last year I also became interested in cleaning gravestones and corresponded with a gentleman I know who is a cemetery caretaker and learned the do's and don'ts of gravestone cleaning and what to use and not to use. I clean veterans' gravestones and their wives' gravestones whenever possible.

Texas is a treasure chest for those with my passion. The number of rural historic cemeteries seems to be endless. Many city cemeteries in smaller towns and cities are great too. I'm usually the only one there at most of these cemeteries. That's one reason I stay away from the mega-cemeteries too generally. Too much ground to cover and too many other folks visiting.

I think I'm gonna post about it here. If others are interested in it...great. If not, that's okay too. I enjoy it.
 

bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
After hearing last year that the Richard "Dick" Dowling monument in Hermann Park in Houston was being moved to Sabine Pass Battleground State Historic Site, I got curious about where he is/was buried and looked it up. Don't know why I'd never thought of that before. I knew he was a resident of Houston when the war started. What I found is that he is buried in Saint Vincent's Cemetery in Houston. I Google mapped the cemetery and found that it is in the barrio on the eastside of Houston about 30 minutes from my home. I decided to visit it on Saturday, June 13, 2020. I have a few friends that live in that barrio and I've never felt unsafe or unwelcome there. The weather was beautiful that weekend and the humidity was unseasonably low. It really turned out to be a pleasant visit. As I was leaving, a couple, in their late 60's probably, arrived. They were there for the same reason I was, the wife being a lover of old historic cemeteries. Had a pleasant little chat with them before I left.

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bdtex

Administrator
Staff member



The picture above is from the cemetery FindAGrave page. That sign is one of the reasons I decided to pay a visit to the cemetery last year. In the then existing and current climate, I figured that sign was gonna eventually draw some unwanted attention and visitors to the cemetery. When I got there, I looked for the sign but all that remains are the two poles on the ends. The sign itself is gone. I suspect that it may have been taken down about the time the name of "Dowling Street" in Houston was changed to "Emancipation Parkway" but I don't know that for sure. As it turns out, I don't think there is a need to be too concerned about the security of the cemetery. It's a small, fenced and gated Catholic cemetery on the western edge of the eastside barrio. It's closer to downtown Houston than I thought. I think the cemetery is safe. It is mostly surrounded by church buildings and I imagine it is well lit at night.
 

bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
One side of the cemetery and part of another side are bordered by public streets. Those sides have a 6 foot iron fence. The only gate into the cemetery is in the center of the church compound. Besides the sanctuary,there is a school building and 4 or 5 administrative and maintenance buildings. After you go through the pedestrian gate, Lt. Richard Dowling's gravesite is just to the right. Can't miss it unless you don't know what you are looking for or at. He participated in the Battle Of Galveston and Battle Of Sabine Pass. As I recall,he was a Lieutenant at the Battle Of Sabine Pass. Not sure why he was not promoted after that. He died of yellow fever in 1867. Nice bio on him at the American Battlefield Trust site.



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bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
The Friday night before my visit, I scrolled through the burials listed on the cemetery's FindAGrave page to see if any other Confederate veterans are buried there. I clicked on all that seemed to be likely candidates and checked out all the cemetery photographs on the main page. I didn't find any but the picture of the sign in post number 3 above and Dick Dowling being buried there was good enough for me to want to visit. I never know what I'm gonna find on these visits. Sure enough...there's an 85 year old monument to Lt. Dick Dowling in the cemetery:

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middleview

President
Supporting Member
Visiting historic cemeteries with Civil War burials has been an interest of mine for about 6.5 years now. Up until last year, it was an activity that usually happened in conjunction with other scheduled activities/events. As with many things, that changed last year. When the Covid-19 lockdown began here in late March 2020, it included the closing of National Military Parks, State Battlefield/Battleground Parks, park Visitor Centers and Museums and the cancellation of in-person Civil War Round Table and SCV meetings, conferences, symposiums, reenactments, relic shows etc. Within a handful of weeks of lockdown, I got antsy and looked for ways to get boots on the ground. The most obvious solution was visiting local historic cemeteries no more than an hour drive away. It had to be local at first because places with public restrooms were closed too.

I used FindAGrave.com and Ancestry to find local cemeteries with Civil War burials and work up short biographies of the soldiers. Around June last year, I re-subscribed to fold3.com to have access to more digitized military records. I had allowed that subscription to lapse a couple of years earlier, thinking I had gotten everything I could use out of it. As last year progressed, I started putting grave marker flags out at veterans gravesites at most of the cemeteries. I buy Confederate grave marker flags from the SCV and buy US grave marker flags a dozen at a time at a local grocery store around Memorial Day and July 4th. The flags are $0.75 apiece at the SCV. The US flags are $0.50 apiece. I later found a supplier for some well made state grave marker flags and buy Texas and Alabama flags from them for $1.50 apiece. About midyear last year I also became interested in cleaning gravestones and corresponded with a gentleman I know who is a cemetery caretaker and learned the do's and don'ts of gravestone cleaning and what to use and not to use. I clean veterans' gravestones and their wives' gravestones whenever possible.

Texas is a treasure chest for those with my passion. The number of rural historic cemeteries seems to be endless. Many city cemeteries in smaller towns and cities are great too. I'm usually the only one there at most of these cemeteries. That's one reason I stay away from the mega-cemeteries too generally. Too much ground to cover and too many other folks visiting.

I think I'm gonna post about it here. If others are interested in it...great. If not, that's okay too. I enjoy it.
I thought you might appreciate this.


We went to visit the grave of a relative who died at Anzio, buried at Naturno. I was so impressed by the young man who was on duty that day. He tooks us out to the grave and used sand from Anzio beach to fill in the white lettering of the tombstone so it would stand out for a picture.

When I asked if we could leave flowers at the grave he looked shocked and said "this place is yours, these men paid for it" as he gestured at the thousands of graves there.

Hearing a Belgian man sing our national anthem in French choked me up.
 

bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
I thought you might appreciate this.


We went to visit the grave of a relative who died at Anzio, buried at Naturno. I was so impressed by the young man who was on duty that day. He tooks us out to the grave and used sand from Anzio beach to fill in the white lettering of the tombstone so it would stand out for a picture.

When I asked if we could leave flowers at the grave he looked shocked and said "this place is yours, these men paid for it" as he gestured at the thousands of graves there.

Hearing a Belgian man sing our national anthem in French choked me up.
That's good stuff. Enjoyed the film. Those are places I'll probably never get to visit in person.
 

middleview

President
Supporting Member
That's good stuff. Enjoyed the film. Those are places I'll probably never get to visit in person.
My own experience near the beaches of Normandy was that I couldn't buy a beer, once they learned we were Americans.

Every little town had a monument at the center of town. It would invariably be three soldiers...American, British and French with the flags of our countries flying above them and a plaque with the hour, minute, month, day and year of their liberation.

Most people don't know that the American War Cemetery at Normady is paid for by private donations from French citizens.
 

bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
Found a Union soldier buried there. When I first saw this gravestone,I thought it was a Spanish-American War veteran. You see the brown discoloration on the stone around the inscription? That's caked on dirt or something. I was able to wipe enough of it off the lettering to read "McGee", "Co." and "ILL INF" on it. Found him in the NPS Soldiers and Sailors Database. It's Edward McGee, Co. D, 37th Illinois Infantry. Put his name and Houston into an Ancestry search and found him in the 1870 Census. He was 28,single, a farm hand and living in the Houston 5th Ward which is very near where that cemetery is. Found a pension record in his name in the Company and Regiment. He filed in August 1878 and his widow, Eva McGee, filed in October 1890. The document trail on him goes pretty cold there. Nothing else but an 1880 Census record still showing him to be in Houston.



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bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
Some of the veterans of the Texas Revolution later served in the Confederate Army and Navy. There is a monument in Saint Vincent's Cemetery to the fallen heroes of the Battles Of San Jacinto and Sabine Pass in the Texas Revolution:

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bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
There is a monument to one veteran of the Texas Revolution who is buried at Saint Vincent's Cemetery...Pvt. Samuel Paschal. His last name is misspelled on the monument. His original headstone is broken but still there. One of his sons served in the 26th Texas Cavalry in the Civil War.

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bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
One final shot of the cemetery grounds. Just a small historic Catholic cemetery within sight of downtown Houston.

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JuliefromOhio

President
Supporting Member
I've always been fascinated by cemeteries especially the older sections. You can tell from headstones when practically an entire family was wiped out by whatever disease ran through the community.
Photos on graves are something else. My grandmother died 85 years ago and her photo is still in excellent condition, no moisture broke through the seal. Amazing.
 
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