Historical Marker

Brandt Cemetery

Historical marker location:
La Grange, Texas
( 8 mi. S off FM 155 and Brandt River Bottom Rd)
Marker installed: 2002

Eilert Gerhard Brandt and his wife, Sophie Friedrich Wilhelmine Westing Brandt, immigrated from Oldenburg, Germany to this area in April 1888. They purchased nearly 400 acres of land near the community of Pecan (Holman). Just months later, in June 1888, they established this cemetery with the burial of Meta Wienken, who had cared for their sons H. Emil and George F. before the couple had arrived with four more of their children. Six others had been stillborn or died young and were buried in Germany.

After her husband's death in 1919, Wilhelmine (d. 1924) sold the land to George and his wife, Julia, who built a home nearby. In the 1930s, George and Julia sold the property to their children.

In 1952, family members formed the Brandt Cemetery Association, which holds annual decoration days for the burial ground. The cemetery features curbed burial plots and slab grave covers. It remains a link to the Brandt family and the many German immigrants who helped settle Fayette County.

Historic Texas Cemetery - 2002.