Heimer Cemetery
The Michael Heimer Cemetery CM-C086 is located at 2574 Waterfront Park Drive, Startzville, in Comal County.
Michael Heimer came to Texas from Sachsen- Altenburg, Prussia with two of his children, Ernstine and Franz, in 1852. His wife, Justine, had died on the way to New Braunfels from Indianola. The Andreas Leitsch family having arrived on the same ship with the Heimers traveled from Indianola inland whereupon Andreas succumbed to yellow fever and died in route. Andreas’s wife, Gustine, and daughter, Auguste, managed to complete their journey to New Braunfels.
In 1853 Michael and Gustine were married. They already had three children in their family. Initially, they purchased land southwest of New Braunfels near Solms.
By 1859, tax rolls show that the Heimer Family had moved to the Tom Creek area near the Guadalupe River in the vicinity of what is now Canyon Lake. Here they were to farm and ranch the rest of their lives.
Michael’s marriage to Gustine added six more children to the family: Arno was born in 1853, Bertha Anna, 1855, Max Wilhelm, 1857, Emilie, 1859, Pauline, 1862, and Clara, 1865.
It is believed that Gustine died about 1879, and that Michael died in the 1881-1882 span. After Michael’s death Max Heimer was able to secure ownership of his father’s ranch to add to the land he already owned in the vicinity. After Max died, his wife, Marie (Kaderli) Heimer sold the land to Elmer Palmer in 1931. Palmer sold the property to Scenic Enterprises, Inc for development. At that point, the cemetery was fenced as Lot 242 and deeded to Frances (Heimer) Harrison, a great-great- granddaughter of Michael Heimer. Frances is now deceased. The cemetery owner is now her daughter, Karen Lynn Copeland, who presently lives in Utah. The Heimer Reunion manages to clean the cemetery in the spring and the fall each year.
The Heimer Cemetery was recorded as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2016 and the Texas Historical Commission Historical Cemetery Marker was dedicated in 2018.
