Saenz Cemetery There is a Saenz Cemetery at the Santa Cruz Ranch about 22 miles south of San Diego and about 1.5 miles north of Cruz Calle. The following is a history of the cemetery and a list of names of persons buried there.
Some History of Saenz Cemetery in Santa Cruz
In doing the plotting, sketching, numbering the tombs
for identification and recording the information from tombstones in this cemetery, one
cannot help but observe the names and surnames of the people buried here. These people
were the first settlers in this area. Looking at the list of names of the early markers in
this cemetery reminded me of names I had seen in the Mier
Civil Census of 1850 in Guardado de Arriba, Tamaulipas. These same names appear in the 1870,
1880,
and the 1900 census of Nueces County and Duval County, respectively. The oldest tomb marker belongs to Jose Maria Martinez,
born October 23, 1816 in Mier and died August 12, 1855. He married Julia Gonzales on May
28, 1838. She was born April 15, 1816 and died February 11, 1903. The Mier Census of 1850 listed Jose Maria Martinez at
age 35 and his wife Julia was listed as 31 but her age was 34. Agustina, their daughter
was listed as 10 years old, Esteban, their son
listed at 7 years and Genovevo listed at 3 years. They were actually older than listed in
the census. They are all buried here. Jose Maria Martinez and Julia Gonzales and their
family had large land holdings in the late 1860's in this area with horses, sheep and
goats. Agapito Saenz was listed in the same Mier Census of
1850 as being 14 years old and he was actually 17 years at the time. He was born August
29, 1833 in Camargo. He married Agustina Martinez on July 28, 1853. Agapito and Agustina
had only one daughter, Benita, born on March 21, 1855 in Mier and died on March 21, 1876
in Santa Cruz. In the year 1872, Agapito was listed on tax assessment rolls with 110
horses, valued at $1,200.00, 6 head of cattle at $60.00, p\us land he had acquired. Some years later he
bought over 2,000 acres JM. de la Garza Falcon from San Francisco Grant A-216. Eventually
Agapito and Agustina bought from the Martinez family. Agapito and Agustina raised a nephew, Manuel Saenz
Escobar, son of Cecilio Saenz and Maria Teresa Escobar. Manuel married Tomasita Vera. This
couple was successful in their ranching ventures, kept on buying more land and livestock.
They raised their family here, got married and lived in the area and most are buried in
this cemetery. Probably, the reason this was named SAENZ Cemetery. This is a beautiful cemetery, very well kept by some members of the Saenz family. It has four cement type crypts on tombs with tower and cross ornaments on top. These types of crypts are not seen in cemeteries around here. Manuel Saenz Escobar and Tomasita Vera Saenz
had 14 children and are all deceased as of July 2007. Thirteen
of their children are buried at this cemetery.
Written by Andres Saenz
2001 Edited by Maria Esmeralda
Saenz Garza 2007
Saenz Cemetery
Thanks to Mary Garza for this info Paula Martinez de Gonzales, first wife of Tomas Gonzales, and daught of Genovene Martinez & Dorothea Salinas, is buried in an unmarked grave in this cemetery. from Mage Garcia
Anastacio Saenz Vela
Daniel & Teresita Saenz
Agapito & Augustina M. Saenz
Pictures from Mary Garza
Page created Aug. 28, 2007 |
