Written and submitted by Eddie LeBreton 

to the Round Rock Leader  Newspaper and Gloria B. Mayfield, Cemeteries of TX

April 03 2004

Dear Round Rock Leader,         

My name is Eddie LeBreton. I live in South Creek subdivision. I moved to Round Rock in 1974, and have lived in South Creek for about 15 years.  

At the end of our street, the first street behind Kenningham Park, Redwing Way/ Oleander (which has no outlet), there is a small piece of land that extends from Gattis School Road to Brushy Creek, and between our subdivision and the next neighboring houses to the west, toward the Interstate. It had a dirt road, before the South Creek entrance, which went past a house, over cattle guards, to another house at the back of the field. (It is my understanding that this land was not in the city limits, although the city's limits for a long time has gone way down Gattis School Road). There was an elderly man who lived at the back of the large field, that backed up to Brushy creek. This property cut off Logan Drive in South Creek from Logan Drive which goes through Dove Creek and exits onto South Mays, an indication that this man wasn't ready to sell when growth occurred out here.  

In the past few years, the elderly man passed away, or moved; also, the house at the front portion of the land, right next to the Kenningham Park soccer field, burned down. In addition, A.W. Grimes Blvd was built on the west side of the land, going from Gattis School Road, north past the old little house and across Brushy Creek towards the Taylor Highway (Hwy 79).  

There is a small fenced-in cemetery, a little past where the first house stood, which had often aroused my curiosity, as it appeared to be fairly old. In the past month, I went exploring back there, and went in to look at the dates on the headstones. Most were in German, and referred to the last name Ganzert. Some dating before 1900, as I recall.  

I went home and did a little exploring on the internet, and found the above posted links, which refer to a Ganzert family cemetery somewhere in Williamson County, although it offers no further links or information. I also learned that German families had lived in this area, south towards the Dessau and Pflugerville Areas.  

Last week, and before I could contact Gloria Mayfield (who is listed on the web sites) about how I could bring attention to this cemetery, hopefully before time and weather erase these names and history from our knowledge, I was shocked to find that the little cemetery has now been vandalized. The stones have been broken and  pushed down. I know nothing about preserving history, but I feel very sad to see it disappearing before my eyes.  

I am sending a copy of this email both to you and to Gloria Mayfield, in hopes that someone can draw attention to this little piece of history, before it is gone forever. In five or ten years, it will be just like the 100 year old barn that used to sit by this property, inside Kinningham Park. I still have some of the hand-made square nails from that old barn, that fell into some disrepair on City property, before it burnt down.  

I am asking both the Leader and Gloria Mayfield for what assistance each might provide to save something of this little family cemetery. Possibly an article in the Leader, and whatever help the volunteers who study these old cemeteries can give. I apologize for sending more than one copy to each party, but I wanted to make sure this got through.

 

Thank You in advance,       Eddie LeBreton