TOMBSTONE TUESDAY: Edward Edgar

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY (March 25, 2025): It’s hard not to take notice of the tombstone of Mr. Edward Edgar in the Port Lavaca Cemetery. It looks like a large tree trunk and is very near the road as you enter the cemetery and veer to the left. Edward Edgar is a beloved member of Port Lavaca history. He was born in October 1844 in Ireland. He and his parents immigrated to the United States when he was 3 years old and made their way to south Texas. On September 1, 1861, just before his 17th birthday, Edward enlisted in the Army of the Confederate States of America and served in Company D, 6th Regiment of the Texas Infantry, known as the “Matagorda Coast Guards,” until the unit mustered out at the end of the Civil War on April 9, 1865. Edward is shown on a Union register of prisoners of war as one of 4,791 confederate soldiers captured on January 11, 1863, following the Battle of Arkansas Post (Battle of Fort Hindman) at Arkansas Post, Arkansas. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arkansas_Post_(1863)). 

Following the end of the Civil War, Edward was living in Corpus Christi and working as a Tanner and then worked at the local Port Lavaca newspaper “The Commercial” until it ended in 1870. In 1877, at 32 years old, Edgar married 24-year-old Anne Belle O’Neil of Port Lavaca. Their son John was born later that year and a decade later they adopted their daughter Ethel. The 1880 census shows Edgar and Annie living in Precinct 2 in Calhoun County and Edgar is working as a Tanner. According to an 1892 article in the “The Port Lavacaean”, reprinted by the Galveston Daily News, Edward began working at the local newspaper “The Port Lavacaean” in April 1892, when the paper made Port Lavaca it’s permanent home. Mr. Edgar became the County Tax Collector around 1888 and served until at least 1897. A March 1894 article in the Austin American-Statesman reports that Mr. Edgar, the Tax Collector for Calhoun County, was the first collector to make his annual settlement that year, collecting $4,317.87 in state taxes and $830 in occupation taxes. Edward also served as the Calhoun County Sheriff for a number of years, being the first sheriff to serve in the “new” jail, which was completed on June 5, 1896 at a cost of $14,200. (This jail was demolished in the 1980’s) 

Sometime in early 1904, Edward Edgar moved to Santa Rita, NM, the site of the Chino copper mine, where his son John was living. Edward died at that camp on May 25, 1904 from pneumonia. His remains were shipped to Port Lavaca. A newspaper article describes the scene on May 31st. “The remains of Mr. Edward Edgar reached here today from Santa Rita, N.M. and were followed to the grave by one of the largest processions ever seen in Port Lavaca. The Masonic lodge officiated. The Woodmen of the World Port Lavaca and Victoria, Sutton camp United Confederate Veterans and Sons of Veterans were in the line of procession. Mr. Edgar being a member of both. He was public spirited and was beloved by our people. He had only recently gone to Santa Rita to locate. His wife and daughter were to have left to join him in a few days. Besides his wife, he leaves a son, John Edgar of Santa Rita and daughter Ethel.”

Edward was a member of the Woodman of the World, a fraternal benefit organization founded in 1890. A physical legacy of the organization are "Treestones" or "tree-stump tombstones" marking the grave of members. The sawed-off tree limbs, that can be seen as part of Edward’s tombstone, represent a life cut short. These tombstones include an inscription of their motto "Dum Tacet Clamat", which means "Though silent, he speaks".

 Tombstone Tuesday is written and compiled each week by Jody Weaver and Sheryl Cuellar of the Calhoun County Historical Commission, sharing the people and stories behind Calhoun County's history.