This amazing tombstone is located in the northeast corner of the Wharton City Cemetery along N. East Avenue at E. Alabama Street. (the street names make sense when you're there - promise.)
Blasterz have never seen a triple broken column tombstone before, and we will never forget this one. It's both tragic and heartbreakingly beautiful.
The tallest broken column belongs to Charles Betts' first wife Barbara (d. 1843), and features a relief of the Victorian funerary hand pointing up symbol in a cabochon attached to the shaft.
The shortest broken column is for Charles and Barbara's daughter Louese, who died in 1842 at the age of 6. That broken column has a sleeping lamb in the center.
The middle broken column is for Charles Betts' second wife Elisabeth, (d. 1858). It features a death mask of her in a cabochon on the shaft.
The entire plot is carpeted in Astroturf, surrounded by a beautiful wrought iron cemetery fence with an winged-hourglass on it.
There are 2 concrete covered tombs near the broken column monument, were Blasterz think the actual graves lie beneath. That would make sense, since according to Find-A-Grave, Charles and Elisabeth both died in 1858, and both are buried at this cemetery. The concrete grave covering (a Texas folk cemetery custom) is newer than 1858, and Blasterz estimate it dates from the 1920-30s.
Wharton is not far from the Texas Gulf Coast, and is frequently subject to damaging hurricanes. In 2022, they are still recovering from Hurricane Harvey. Blasterz think that could have something to do with the odd layout and Astroturfing of this cemetery plot.
From the Texas Historical Sites Atlas: (
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"Wharton County was established in 1846, and the county seat, Wharton, was laid out on the Mexican land grant of "Old 300" colonist William Kincheloe. In 1866, county commissioners appointed James Whitten to find a suitable location for a cemetery. The site chosen was just a few blocks from the courthouse square and was already used as a graveyard. The oldest marked burial is that of Barbara Betts (d. 1843).
Official plats of the cemetery in 1912 and 1928 show the burial sites of many of Wharton's earliest families, city founders and important figures, such as Amanda Armstrong Watts (d. 1924), first public schoolteacher in Wharton in 1880 and city postmistress in 1881.
More than 140 veterans are buried here, including those who served in the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korean War and Vietnam Conflict. The Wharton Cemetery exhibits detail in planning and development.
Features include obelisks, brick cairns, decorated fencing, curbed plots and a large number of vertical stones. A 1931 marker indicates the city had a cemetery committee as early as 1906. A committee still maintains the burial ground, preserving the history of Wharton for future generations.
Historic Texas Cemetery - 2002"