Mount Calvary Cemetery
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Mount Calvary Cemetery
In Mary Starr Blakely's History of Travis County and Austin, she writes: "During 1874, the cornerstone [for the new Saint Mary] was blessed, and the cemetery, Mount Calvary, dedicated."
However, in her brochure celebrating the 100th anniversary of St. Mary, she writes: "It was during Father Spillard's term that one of his projects was the purchase of seven acres for Mt. Calvary cemetery in April, 1879, and the laying out of the lots and the consecration of the cemetery."
"The cemetery ws not fenced in at first, but later a hard hit baseball from a nearby game knocked off the top of the monument to Michael Boland, a city councilman, and so the cemetery was fenced."
"Many from St. Mary's are there at Calvary Cemetery, located north of 23rd Street on I.H. 35, and their names read like a litany of the dead, those parishioners from St. Mary's Church."
"Father Marr's grave is at the end of the entrance drive, centered as a focal point where on All Soul's Day for many years, rosaries were recited by parishioners in their procession through the cemetery, This was a tradition in our times."
Mount Calvary Cemetery Criteria for Historic Recognition
A religious property deriving primary significance from architectural or artistic distinction or historical importance; or
A building or structure removed from its original location but which is primarily significant for architectural value, or which is the surviving structure most importantly associated with a historic person or event; or
A birthplace or grave of a historical figure of outstanding importance if there is no appropriate site or building associated with his or her productive life; or
A cemetery that derives its primary importance from graves of persons of transcendent importance, from age, from distinctive design features, or from association with historic events; or
A reconstructed building when accurately executed in a suitable environment and presented in a dignified manner as part of a restoration master plan, and when no other building or structure with the same association has survived; or
A property primarily commemorative in intent if design, age, tradition, or symbolic value has invested it with its own exceptional significance; or
A property achieving significance within the past 50 years if it is of exceptional importance.
Mount Calvary Crucifix
Carlos E. Castañeda
According to the Texas State Historical Association,
Carlos Eduardo Castañeda, historian and professor, was born on November 11, 1896, in Ciudad Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, the seventh child of Timoteo and Elisa (Leroux) Castañeda. He moved to the United States in 1906 and graduated as valedictorian from Brownsville High School in 1916; a year later he moved to Austin and embarked on a long and distinguished academic career. He received his A.B. in 1921 (with induction in Phi Beta Kappa), his M.A. in 1923, and Ph.D. in 1932, all from the University of Texas. During this period he worked as a teacher of Spanish in high schools in Beaumont and San Antonio and from 1923 to 1927 as associate professor at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. In 1927 Castañeda became librarian of the Genaro García Collection (see NETTIE LEE BENSON LATIN AMERICAN COLLECTION) at the University of Texas. While retaining his position as librarian, he also served as associate professor of history from 1939 to 1946. During World War II Castañeda took a leave of absence to serve as regional director of the President's Committee on Fair Employment Practice. In 1946 he became professor of Latin-American history, a position he held until his death.
Castañeda's scholarly interests centered in the history of the Catholic Church in the Spanish Borderlands. His principal work was the seven-volume Our Catholic Heritage in Texas, 1519–1936, with Supplement that brought the story to 1950. He translated Juan Agustín Morfi's History of Texas, 1673–1779 (1935) and (with Jack A. Dabbs) compiled the Guide to the Latin American Manuscripts in the University of Texas Library (1939). He also published numerous scholarly articles on history.
Castañeda was awarded many honors, among them the presidency of the American Catholic Historical Association (1939), knighthood in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (1941), and Knight Commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic from the Spanish Government (1950). He also received honorary doctorates from St. Edward's University in Austin (1941) and the Catholic University of America in Washington (1951), as well as the Junípero Serra Award of the Americas from the Academy of American Franciscan History in Washington (1951). On December 27, 1921, at San Fernando de Bexar Cathedral in San Antonio, Castañeda married Elisa Ríos; they had three daughters. Castañeda died on April 3, 1958, and was buried at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Austin. The Perry-Castañeda Library at the University of Texas at Austin, which opened in 1977, was named for him and Ervin S. Perry.
Walter and Marie McCaleb
According to the Texas State Historical Association,
Walter Flavius McCaleb, historian, novelist, poet, and banker, was born in Denton, Texas, on October 17, 1873, to John Lafayette and Elizabeth (Sweeten) McCaleb. His father was a banker and newspaper publisher in Carrizo Springs. After attending San Antonio Academy, McCaleb enrolled at the University of Texas, where he received a B.A. in literature in 1896 and an M.A. in 1897. He accepted a fellowship to attend the University of Chicago, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in history in 1900. He worked as a freelance writer in New York City from 1901 to 1903; he had begun writing at age nine for his father's newspaper in Carrizo Springs. During his New York years he served as an editor on the staff of the New International Encyclopedia and wrote book reviews for the New York Times, the Nation, and the American Historical Review. His first and perhaps best-known book, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy (1903), was based on research he had done in Mexico in 1898. He maintained a lifelong interest in Burr, and his New Light on Aaron Burr was published in 1963.
McCaleb worked as associate editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger in 1904. When the Ledger changed owners, he returned to Carrizo Springs to begin his banking career. From that time until his retirement in 1948 he combined the two occupations of banking and writing. He was instrumental in the organization and management of the Cooperative National Bank of Cleveland, the Federation Bank of New York, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Among his publications during this time were John H. Reagan's Memoirs, with Specific Reference to Secession and Civil War, which he edited (1906); Ring, A Frontier Dog (1921), a novel for young adults; and Theodore Roosevelt (1931). In 1937 he was special adviser on Puerto Rican affairs to the secretary of state. He maintained his interest in finance and public policy after his retirement from banking. He wrote articles on Mexican banking and the financial aspects of cotton farming in Texas, as well as the book How Much is a $: the Story of Money and Banking (1959). Most of his literary efforts were devoted to history, however; he wrote thirty-six books, including The Spanish Missions of Texas (1956), The Mier Expedition (1959), No Port of Call and Other Poems (1964), and a number of historical works for young readers on such subjects as Stephen F. Austin, William A. A. (Bigfoot) Wallace, the Texan Santa Fe expedition, and the Alamo. McCaleb was a life member of Phi Beta Kappa and an active participant in the Texas State Historical Association. He was instrumental in persuading the University of Texas to preserve the Bexar Archives. He was also a member of the Austin Poetry Society. He and his first wife, Idealie Marie, were married on June 28, 1901; they had four children. After her death he was married again, to Edna Lang, on June 11, 1960. He was a Catholic and a Democrat and lived in Austin from 1948 until his death on March 2, 1967. He is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Austin.
Bride Neill Taylor
According to the Texas State Historical Assocation,
Bride Neill Taylor, author, teacher, and civic leader, was born in Peoria, Illinois, on January 12, 1858, the daughter of Judge James and Julia Walsh Neill. She moved with her family to Austin in 1871 and was educated in private institutions there, including several convent schools. She then studied at Nazareth Academy in Kentucky, graduating in 1876. In April 1880 she married Thomas Frederick Taylor, a civil servant who had been transferred from Washington, D.C., to Austin in 1877. Shortly after their marriage, his work took him back to Washington and there Bride Neill Taylor pursued a career as a journalist, working as an art and drama critic and society editor for the Washington Sun Capitol and getting to know other critics across the country. In 1881, when President James A. Garfield was assassinated, Taylor sent reports of the event back to Austin and subsequently became the Washington correspondent for the Austin Statesman (now Austin American-Statesman). In 1883, when Bride's mother became ill, the Taylors returned to Texas. That same year Bride enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin to earn her teaching credentials. She then taught for four years in the Austin public schools. She also continued her writing career in Austin, publishing short stories, literary reviews in newspapers, and longer pieces. In 1893 two articles by Taylor, entitled "Women Writers of Texas," appeared in the Galveston Daily News. Her best-known works were "When Hester Came," a short story that appeared in Lippincott's magazine in 1893; "On Account of Emmanuel," which Century magazine published in 1895; and a book-length biography of her friend Elisabet Ney that appeared in 1916. Although most of Taylor's newspaper articles were unattributed, she continued her work as a journalist until her death in 1937.
Taylor was also involved in civic and religious work in Austin. A devout Catholic, she was instrumental in the founding of Seton Infirmary, St. Vincent's Aid Society, St. Austin's Chapel, and the Newman Club at the University of Texas, as well as mission churches for members of Austin's minority communities. Her interest in opportunities and education for women led her to found the American History Club of Austin, one of the earliest women's clubs in the state, and the Austin Women's Club. She was one of the organizers of the Texas Fine Arts Association and was an early member of the Texas Woman's Press Association (now Texas Press Women). Taylor was one of three women present at the organizational meeting of the Texas State Historical Association in 1897 and was appointed to its executive council in 1928. Her article on the beginnings of the association appeared in the July 1929 Southwestern Historical Quarterly. In 1930 Taylor was chosen as Austin's Most Worthy Citizen; at the time, she was only the second woman so honored. She died in Austin on May 29, 1937, and was survived by her husband, one brother, and three nephews. Bride Neill Taylor is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Austin. At her death she left unfinished a history of the development of Austin.
Rosary for Bride Taylor
Daughters of Divine Charity
A grassroots effort in the 1890s by citizens of Austin, Texas led to the opening of the Seton Infirmary on May 26, 1902. The citizenry asked the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul to construct a Catholic hospital to take care of the sick and poor.
From Saint Mary Cathedral
