"budded on earth to bloom in heaven"

 

Young Joseph is buried in the Estacado Cemetery. The cemetery, started by the 1879 settlers, is one of the first on the Llano Estacado or Staked Plains.  This child's gravesite is marked by a cast concrete stone with a bas relief lamb.  Early  2oth century tombstones have a variety of engravings and sculptures as symbols marking the life or passage of a deceased loved one. Baby lambs represent a lost child and innocence.  What's more remarkable about Joseph's site is the presence of irises.   "White cemetery iris" are found throughout rural cemeteries.  These flowers survive--considering lack of water and attention.  We've been in drought conditions for three years and this winter has had snow and freezing weather yet there is still a touch of green in this clump of iris.  They probably weren't planted by Joseph's mother in 1912 but by the beautification committee in 1939 when the land was deeded to the cemetery association.

Estacado Cemetery

Crosby County, Texas

2.1.2014