Osage Cemetery to Hold Annual Meeting Nov. 2

Osage was once a thriving community with three churches, two schools, a cotton gin, store and post office. Its residents made their living as plantation owners, farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths, and teachers. There was even a shoemaker, brick mason, gunsmith, well digger and surgeon living at Osage and the area along Harvey’s Creek. There was an Osage Masonic Lodge and a debating club. However, when the railway was laid out several miles to the south, Osage lost much of its population to Weimar.

Today the Osage Community Cemetery is one of the last reminders of the once thriving community. Unlike many other rural communities in Colorado and Fayette Counties with predominantly German or Czech populations, the Osage area was settled mostly by Southerners. A Weimar resident once referred to the Osage Cemetery as “that English cemetery,” meaning most people buried there have British roots. There are numerous graves of people related to the McMillan, Burford, Moore, York, Shaw, Taylor, Goode and Wilson families, as well as many others.

Located at the junction of County Roads 205 and 208, the cemetery contains about two hundred graves which are maintained by the Osage Community Cemetery, Inc. The annual meeting for this non-profit organization will be held at the cemetery on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. Everyone is welcome, but please bring a chair.

If you are unable to attend but would like to support the cemetery association’s work, tax deductible donations may be made to Osage Community Cemetery, Inc., P. O. Box 623, Columbus, Texas 78934. For other methods of donating or more information about the cemetery and association, visit www.osagecemetery.com or contact Rox Ann Johnson at (512) 925-4804 or email roxannjohnson@me.com.