THE 'DEPARTED’ TALK

THE 'DEPARTED’ TALK

DURING CEMETERY W LK

Visitors learn bits of history from portrayals of the departed

BY JEFF B. FLINN Managing Editor

Standing above his great-greatg randfather's grave, Jacob Hurst wore a pair of brown weathered trousers, suspenders and a softbrim hat – something his ancestor might have worn.

Andy Crews did the same, sporting a button- up vest and sport coat, just as his greatgreat- great-grandfather may have in his heyday in Boerne.

Both men were part of the Oct. 21 Boerne Cemetery Walk, which features actors or members of the Genealogical Society of Kendall County portraying prominent figures from Boerne history whose final resting place is the cemetery on North School Street.

Hurst portrayed Conrad Adam, a Kendall County “founding father” who signed the petition to originally create Kendall County.

Members of the crowd listen to Jacob Hurst tell of the history of Conrad Adam, his great- great- grandfather who is buried in the Boerne Cemetery.

The annual Cemetery Walk was held Oct. 21.

Adam, born in 1828 in Prussia, helped establish the Boerne Cemetery where he is buried and used his home as a stagecoach stop.

“He is my great-great-grandfather,” Hurst said, “and it’s an honor to be able to portray him like this.”

Adam married Adalbertha Bergmann and the couple had six children and 28 grandchildren. Adam died in 1894.

Crews portrayed Robert Whitworth, one of his relatives buried in the cemetery. Whitworth, born in England in 1830, left at the age of 16 to come to America. His path led to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on the Missouri River, where he joined the U.S. Army as part of a Mormon battalion in the country’ 1846-1848 war with Mexico.

He later prospected for gold in California, eventually settling in Texas before joining the Confederate Army.

His wife died in 1865, but he eventually remarried and moved to Kendall County in 1871. He and his wife, Fannie, had six children and farmed in Pleasant Valley until their later years when they moved to a house on the corner of Landa and Hickman streets in Boerne.

Karla Abbott, treasurer of the Genealogical Society of Kendall County, said the society enjoys spotlighting historic figures from Boerne’s past and informing Cemetery Walk guests of their past.

“Every year we do this to honor a lot of the ancestors,” Abbott said. “We get the actors, they get into their period garb, and then we walk the people through the cemetery, where they’ll give a bio of their life in Boerne.”

Some of the 10 historic characters were portrayed by genealogy society members, some are sought from local acting companies such as Boerne Community Theater, and one member this year is a freshman in Boerne High School’s drama department.

Steve Harris is an actor from San Antonio “who is very proud to be here and take part in this” as he portrayed Emeric Szabad, who was in the Civil War, ended up a prisoner of war, and wrote a book about his experience.

“I was briefly imprisoned in Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. I was captured while I was an aid-de-camp to General Gouverneur Warren, of Gettysburg fame,” Harris, as Szabad, told the 50 or 60 people who turned out for the tour.

“I did manage to escape and went back to my duties and continued to serve the general until I was injured at the Battle of Petersburg in 1865.

“I recovered a bit, then with back to being his aidede- camp. Prior to that, I was originally from Hungary, where I worked toward independence of Hungary from the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy.”

Szabad eventually settled in the area and died in 1894.

Abbott said many of the crowd remarked on the authenticity of the outfit worn by the actors.

“Most of them supplied their own costumes, but I did rent some costumes from Starline in San Antonio, and they were awesome,” she said. “I’ll probably use them again because, as you can see, the jackets and dresses are just beautiful.”