Frey Cemetery - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

A brief synopsis of the original Frey Family and the beginnings of this historical cemetery, per a marker application for the related nearby Frey-Benignus House:

"John Frey (Johannes Frei) was born in the Community of Biberstein, the District of Aarar in Kanton Aargau Switzerland on Oct. 28, 1857. As a lad, he worked for the Riggi Railroad, the largest in Switzerland at the time. He emigrated to the United States of America, arriving at the Port of New York on August 20, 1877 and settled in the area of Industry, Texas in Austin County.

Mary Baethe was born August 16, 1862 at Bural Germany. She came to America at the age of eight with her parents, Gotlieb and Henrietta Baethe from Anhalt Germany settling at Nelsonville, Texas in Austin County.

On Feb. 9, 1879, John Frey and Mary Baethe were married [and subsequently lived in Travis, TX for ten years]. Shortly after Christmas in 1889, John and Mary decided to make their home in Waller County on the 320 acres that [they had just] purchased. [...]

To this couple were born fifteen children, five boys and ten girls. Six children were born in Austin County, nine in Waller County. There is twenty-five years difference between the age of the oldest child and the youngest. The children walked approximately two miles to attend Highland Home School.

[On] Dec. 21, 1902, the family was sadden with the loss of an infant daughter, Annie. It was at this time the Frey Cemetery was started approximately one-half mile from the Family Homestead."

Marker Number: 9385 Marker Text: John Frey, born Johannes Frei in 1857 in Switzerland, came to America in 1877. He settled in Austin County, Texas, where he married German immigrant Mary Baethe in 1879. They eventually were the parents of fifteen children. They moved to Waller County in 1889 and settled near this site. In 1902 the Freys' infant daughter, Annie, died and was buried on the family farm. Hers was the first grave in what became the family cemetery. John and Mary Frey were also buried here. Their descendants still maintain the historic graveyard. (1990)

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Date Logged Log   01/30/2015 Raven visited it