Historical Marker

Rossville Cemetery

Historical marker location:
Rossville, Texas
( At intersection of FM 476 and FM 2504, take County Road west to cemetery about 200 yards, Rossville.)
Marker installed: 1986

Texas statesman Jose Antonio Navarro (1795-1871) transferred land here along the Atascosa River to his eldest son Jose Antonio George Navarro. J.A.G. Navarro (b.1819) then gave 160 acres here to his daughter Maria Antonia Navarro (1845-1922) in 1870, on the occasion of her marriage in San Antonio to Scotsman John C. Ross (1839-1925). One acre at this site was reserved for a cemetery. Ross and his brother William subsequently founded the community of Rossville here after 1873.

The first burial was that of Juana Chaves Navarro (1820-1874), wife of J.A.G. Navarro. Other pioneers who lived in this area before the founding of Rossville are buried here. Their family names include Alvarez, Bergara, Castanon, Cruz, Galindo, Gonzales, Tabberer, Tober, Riojas, and Stokes. Confederate veteran Clemente Galindo (1844-1881) and his wife Martha Goins Galindo (1845-1903) are buried here along with many of their descendants.

By the 1920s the road to the graveyard was often impassable, so John Ross was buried in the family plot at the Episcopal Church Cemetery (1 mi. E). His wife Maria Antonia is buried here, near their home site. Other Navarro, Chaves, and Ross descendants are also buried here, including Texas Ranger Captain Tom Ross (1871-1946), son of John and Maria Antonia Ross. (1986)

Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.