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Joseph Kobitz
Family near Coleto Creek
1900s photo courtesy Frank Brown |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Originally
named Steiner's Settlement, after early German Carl Steiner.
The settlement dates from the 1850s and is included in what is known
collectively as "The Coleto Creek Communities." Over the years
the name was changed to Coletoville after the creek that borders the
communtity.
The town had the envious position of being on the Old Goliad Road
although that fact didn't guarantee long-term prosperity. The community
had a Lutheran church by 1872 and a post office was granted three
years later. A two-acre site for the church and cemetery site was
set aside and today the cemetery (shown on the Victoria County TxDoT
map) is the best way to find the site of the community.
The post office was discontinued in 1877, and the village store lasted
only seven more years. The nearby town of Raisin
got the railroad when the Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railway
came through in 1889. The Goliad-Victoria road also bypassed Coletoville
and Raisin became the dominant
town. The communities are consided a merger by many since they are
only five miles apart. Together the population of Raisin-Coletoville
was only 50 throughout most of the Twentieth Century. Many descendents
of the early settlers continue to live in the area. |
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Coletoville
Community road sign
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, May 2013 |
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Historical Marker:
(on 2533 Coletoville Road East)
Coletoville
Cemetery
When
an epidemic of diphtheria hit the German settlement of Steinerville,
established in 1849, two of August and Thekla Spitzer's children died.
Ten-year-old Henry and six-year-old Robert were buried by their parents
in 1872 on this site. In May of 1872, the Spitzer's deeded the land
to the trustees of the new school and evangelic German church of the
German community of Steinerville. The community was later renamed
Coletoville for the nearby Coleto Creek. Both Thekla and August Spitzer
are buried in the cemetery. The oldest birth dates are those of Eva
Voigt and Joseph Weiser, both born in 1812. Several veterans of major
American and international conflicts are interred here.
In 1970, the church, now called Martin Luther Lutheran Church, deeded
the cemetery land to the Coletoville Cemetery Association. The church
and cemetery became two separate institutions for the first time,
though community members of all faiths have traditionally been buried
here. Burial sites are marked in rows and spaces rather than in plots,
and graves are arranged in consecutive order by date. Many of the
oldest markers were originally made of sandstone. A 1997 count revealed
623 marked and 78 unmarked graves.
(1997) |
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Beck Family in
the Raisin/Coletoville area
1900s photo courtesy Frank Brown |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
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