MizCollie Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Hello Houston! I'm not sure if this is the correct section to ask this question but I'm hoping somebody out there can help me. My father was on the radio in Houston in the 50's (KNUZ, KLEE)and his name was Biff Collie. He and his wife, at the time, Marge Tillman, had a stillborn baby girl sometime between 1950-52. I'm trying to find out where this baby is buried. My uncle in San Antonio seems to think she was buried at an Infant/Children's cemetery in Houston. I've Googled til I'm Googled in the face and I'm not finding anything. Any of you longtime Houstonians have any idea which cemetery this could be? Dad is long gone as is Marge. I've written to the State Vital Records in Austin hoping to at least have a specific date. My uncle (in his 80's) describes the location as "right there as you go into Houston." I've visited Houston many times but do not know the city geography well enough to know where it could be. Anybody have any ideas or thoughts? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MizCollie Posted July 3, 2011 Author Share Posted July 3, 2011 Hello Houston!I'm not sure if this is the correct section to ask this question but I'm hoping somebody out there can help me.My father was on the radio in Houston in the 50's (KNUZ, KLEE)and his name was Biff Collie. He and his wife, at the time, Marge Tillman, had a stillborn baby girl sometime between 1950-52. I'm trying to find out where this baby is buried. My uncle in San Antonio seems to think she was buried at an Infant/Children's cemetery in Houston. I've Googled til I'm Googled in the face and I'm not finding anything. Any of you longtime Houstonians have any idea which cemetery this could be? Dad is long gone as is Marge. I've written to the State Vital Records in Austin hoping to at least have a specific date. My uncle (in his 80's) describes the location as "right there as you go into Houston." I've visited Houston many times but do not know the city geography well enough to know where it could be.Anybody have any ideas or thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simbha Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 (edited) I don't know where this could be MizCollie, but just be aware (if you're not) that "right there as you go into Houston" in the 1950s may very well be close to what is now the city center. There are historical maps of parts (or the whole) of Houston. I don't know if these would cover the area or time for which you're looking, but perhaps this comment will spur someone else who knows more. I wish you the best of luck with this. Edited July 3, 2011 by Simbha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Forest Park - Lawndale has a Catholic section called Garden of Gethsemane. I believe there's an area in that section called Baby Land. I found an obituary that states:(Infant Son) was born Houston, Harris County, Texas, June 10, 1956. (Infant died June 10, 1956 Houston, Harris County, Texas, at less than one year of age. His body was interred Houston, Harris County, Texas, Garden of Gethsemane-Baby Land. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Any of you longtime Houstonians have any idea which cemetery this could be? Dad is long gone as is Marge. I've written to the State Vital Records in Austin hoping to at least have a specific date. My uncle (in his 80's) describes the location as "right there as you go into Houston." I've visited Houston many times but do not know the city geography well enough to know where it could be.Anybody have any ideas or thoughts?I have no idea about the cemetery specifically, but I would suggest that you should contact a funeral home on the west side of Houston; that would be the most likely source for at least information about the cemetery. I don't have a specific one in mind, of course, but google maps might help you find a funeral home in the area.Also, I'm not sure where "right there as you got into Houston" would have been in the early 50s, but I would suspect probably within the 610 loop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 (edited) A few other resources that might be usefulhttp://www.rootsweb...._cemeteries.htmhttp://www.rootsweb....rri2/harcem.htm(those two are on the same site but they look different - I didn't check to see if the contents differ)http://www.cemeterie...ListHarris.html Edited July 3, 2011 by Stephen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Forest Park - Lawndale has a Catholic section called Garden of Gethsemane. I believe there's an area in that section called Baby Land.good point that it's likely to have been a section in a larger "all-purpose" cemetery vs. specifically a children's cemetery proper.For what it's worth, forest park lawndale is on the southeast side of town, so it's not likely your target. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Did the child have a name?What direction would your uncle have been coming from - west, north, east, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverartfox Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Forest Park-Lawndale is one of Houston's older and larger cemeteries. As stated previously, it does have a section called Baby Land which was there in the late 1940's - early 1950's. At that time, the area around Forest Park-Lawndale was still thought of as the suburbs, even though the post-WWII housing boom was rapidly changing things. It was suggested that you contact a funeral home on the west side of Houston but in the early 1950's, everything north of Post Oak Road (now Loop 610) was still undeveloped prairie. Most of the funeral homes in the 1950's-60's era were family-operated and are no longer in business or were sold to large corporations. The big cemeteries west of town were established in the 1960's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little frau Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Forest Park Lawndale is just off of Wayside, or Hwy 90 which, if coming from the Beaumont area, would have been 'as you got into town'. I would think that a vist or a phone call to them might produce some results providing you have a name and approximate date.Also, Brookside Cemetery out on 59 North has been there many years. I don't know when it was first opened but I had an uncle who always used to remark "I'm just dying to get in that place" when we would come to Houston from east Texas back in the sixties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FilioScotia Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Brookside Cemetery out on 59 North has been there many years. I don't know when it was first opened but I had an uncle who always used to remark "I'm just dying to get in that place" when we would come to Houston from east Texas back in the sixties.I grew up in east Texas in the 40s and 50s and I remember driving past Brookside Cemetery even then, before U-S 59 was a freeway. It was huge even then and it really stood out. Back then the highway was two lanes and known locally as "Humble Road." Somewhere just south of the cemetery it became Jensen Drive. Back then this cemetery was "out in the country" from Houston, but I always knew we were getting close to town when we drove past it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 It was suggested that you contact a funeral home on the west side of Houston but in the early 1950's, everything north of Post Oak Road (now Loop 610) was still undeveloped prairie. My maternal grandmother is buried at Woodlawn, Antoine @ I-10; she died in 1937.It does make a difference where the uncle was coming from. I-10 would have been US 90, to San Antonio and passed right by Woodlawn, whereas US 90A is the branch that went off on the East side, down Wayside and OST and out to Richmond/Rosenberg and on to San Antonio the southern route. Off hand, I can't think of any big cemeteries on the SW side but there had to be something out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 There is a Harris county Cemetary on Oates Rd. just off old HWY 90, that is primarly dedicated to small children and infants. It is more of a charity cemetary. It is kind of off the main rod but a pretty nice place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NenaE Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Did the child have a name?What direction would your uncle have been coming from - west, north, east, etc.I second this statement, what direction into Houston? Old maps show many cemetery locations. The topography maps especially seem to mark them well.Hunter's tip soulds like a good possibility to check out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lthomson64 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Just ran across your post...would like to help, if possible...have your already found the information? If not, I'd like to try to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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