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St. Mary's Catholic
Church
TE photo, April 2010 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Editor’s
Note: Established in 1866, the church serves approximately 50 families
in the vicinity. Our initial confusion of Bastrop County’s Pin Oak
with the Pin Oak Community in Fayette
County caused us to consult Fayette County Historian Carolyn
Heinsohn. She was able to provide the information below:
“Based on very limited available history, it seems
that the Pin Oak community in Bastrop County was settled predominantly
by Germans, who undoubtedly founded St. Mary's Catholic Church.
From my previous research, most of the German Catholics in Texas
came from the Westphalia province of western Germany, which included
my Hoelscher-Buxkemper family, who eventually settled in southeastern
Fayette County.
There was a group from the Munsterland region of Westphalia, who
came to the Cummins Creek Settlement (Frelsburg)
in the 1840s. There was another group that went to Ohio and a group
in 1854 that went to Kenosha County in Wisconsin, including my 3
X great uncle.
When looking at
the cemetery index for Pin Oak, I noticed an Anton and Johanna Zurbourg.
His name was spelled Zurborg on the 1890s tax records for Bastrop
County. I had a 2 x great uncle, Josef Hoelscher, who married a Minnie
Zurborg from Cincinatti, Ohio. I have no idea how they met, but most
probably her family moved from Ohio to the general vicinity of Ellinger,
where he lived. They were married at Live Oak Hill near Ellinger
and later moved from the Ellinger
area to Bastrop County. Perhaps Anton J. and Johanna Zurborg were
Minnie's parents or relatives. There was some reason why my 2 X great
aunt and uncle moved to Bastrop County when no other relatives were
living there on his side of the family. One of their daughters married
in Bastrop and stayed there,
but the remainder of the family later moved to Westphalia,
Texas between Lott
and Temple, where
his parents were living.
If there were any businesses in Pin Oak, they apparently are long
gone. The church and cemetery are located at the intersection of FM
2104 and Circle Road. Smithville
is six miles southwest, and Winchester
is six miles southeast. Paige is eight
miles north, Alum Creek is seven miles west, Serbin
in Lee County is five miles east northeast. In 1895, there were 513
people in the area.”
- Carolyn
Heinsohn
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