Team Takes on Cemetery Mystery
Velda Hunter
Houston Chronicle
______________
West Columbia (US):
The caretaker's eyes were among those focused on the ground at Columbia Cemetery, holding hope that each shovel's stroke would solve a decades-old mystery.
Folklore has it that another piece of history could be buried at the cemetery that already is a resting place for some of Texas' early pioneers, including Ammon Underwood, a mercantile businessman and legislator in 1884.
"There has been a story from townsfolk for years and years that this area was dedicated to 248 soldiers from the Mexican-American War and 16 Confederate soldiers," Dean Wilke, also a member of the American Legion Mattson Ringgold-Post 503, said of the unplatted cemetery spot. "There are people that told us they used to see a hundred or so of little white crosses."
On the surface, the area — near the middle of the Jackson Street cemetery — was void of headstones in the graveyard historic with burials dating to the 1830s. However, the small crowd of history buffs along with American Legion and Columbia Cemetery Association members, hoped a crew led by Texas A&M University archaeologist Alston Thoms would unearth the truth.
Jan 10, 2006
Velda Hunter
Houston Chronicle
______________
West Columbia (US):
The caretaker's eyes were among those focused on the ground at Columbia Cemetery, holding hope that each shovel's stroke would solve a decades-old mystery.
Folklore has it that another piece of history could be buried at the cemetery that already is a resting place for some of Texas' early pioneers, including Ammon Underwood, a mercantile businessman and legislator in 1884.
"There has been a story from townsfolk for years and years that this area was dedicated to 248 soldiers from the Mexican-American War and 16 Confederate soldiers," Dean Wilke, also a member of the American Legion Mattson Ringgold-Post 503, said of the unplatted cemetery spot. "There are people that told us they used to see a hundred or so of little white crosses."
On the surface, the area — near the middle of the Jackson Street cemetery — was void of headstones in the graveyard historic with burials dating to the 1830s. However, the small crowd of history buffs along with American Legion and Columbia Cemetery Association members, hoped a crew led by Texas A&M University archaeologist Alston Thoms would unearth the truth.
Jan 10, 2006
