Martin & Margaret Mahon -- Old Town Cemetery, Indianola, TX USA
N 28° 32.636 W 096° 31.344
14R E 742411 N 3159964
The tall four-sided tombstone for Martin and Margaret Mahon, which has apparently seen several attempts to anchor it in place in Indianola's Old Town cemetery
Waymark Code: WM1626J
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/18/2022
Views: 0
This tall family tombstone for Martin and Margaret Mahon is the tallest zinc tombstone at Indianola's old town cemetery, and not because it's been placed on at least two foundations, created at different times, to hold this tombstone in place.
This makes sense when you consider Indianola's history: once the second busiest deepwater port in Texas, AND featuring the most technologically-advanced infrastructure, the port and the town were destroyed in 1875 by a hurricane. Both the port and the town rebuilt, then were destroyed again in 1885 by another hurricane. At this point the citizens of the town and the State of Texas cut their losses and abandoned both the port and the city of Indianola.
When everyone walked away from Indianola, the dead were left behind. Over the intervening decades frequent hurricanes have washed away and destroyed most of the tombstones here at Old Town Cemetery. This one, for the Mahon family patriarch and matriarch, remains, a testament to the family's determination to keep this tombstone standing at the family grave in Indianola, especially given that Martin Mahon on, the family patriarch, died in the first hurricane that destroyed Indianola in 1875.
The tombstone reads as follows:
"[S side]
[CATHOLIC CRUCIFIX]
MAHON
[W side]
MARTIN MAHON
Died September 13, 1875
Aged 53 years.
Rest in peace.
[E side]
MARGARET MAHON
Wife of
Martin Mahon
Died June 8, 1879
Aged 55 years.
Rest in peace.
[N side]
[BLANK]"
The additional coordinates for this Waymark are the Old Town Cemetery historical marker at the entrance to the cemetery