Touring Texas: Carmen Nelson Bostick Cemetery
A peaceful place older than
Tomball
By Deborah Dousay
Also – by permission – the site of Tomball
Centennial, Once-in-a-Lifetime, Geocache # 10!
Touring Texas takes us once again up close and
personal, right in our own backyard. Someone once
told me that one lifetime is not enough to see
Texas, alone, if you chose to go nowhere else. I can
see why that is an accurate statement every single
day.
I had the privilege to meet and visit with Mrs.
Princess (Pat) Bridwell, owner, proprietor, dreamer,
and do-er extraordinaire, commonly known in Texas as
a “Go-Getter.”
This beautiful, exciting, and sometimes impish
lady owns, maintains and in general pampers the love
of her life, affectionately known as The Carmen
Nelson Bostick Cemetery.
There aren’t many days you can stop by 12317
Holderreith Road and not see her there clipping,
mowing, weed-eating, or in general slaving over the
grounds that became her passion when she learned,
soon after her Mother’s passing, that it belonged to
her. She assertively tells me she is the only female
cemetery owner in the State of Texas.
This acreage is, by nature, pure and unspoiled
beauty! Graves and markers date back into the 1800s,
before Tomball was Tomball. Trevia Woosier Beverly’s
records from the Harris County Historical Commission
tells us that the “earliest known settler of Willow
Creek was a Frenchman by the name of Claude Nicholas
Pillot. He was the son of Charles Eugene and
Marianne (Dory) Pillot, born in Gevigney Mercy,
Haute Saone, France.”
Claude had been a teacher in France until 1832,
when his family emigrated to New York He started in
the timber business there, working for 5 years, then
moved his family to Texas. It was hard to resist the
lush, wooded lands along Willow Creek, and at a time
when The Republic of Texas was offering first,
second, third, and fourth class “head right”
certificates to attract new settlers. Mr. Pillot
accepted a second class grant of 1280 acres on
Willow Creek in the short-lived Spring Creek County.
(Established in January, 1841, it was quickly
abolished by the Texas Supreme Court as being
unconstitutional.) The Pillots Built a farm near the
point where FM-2920 crosses the creek, barely one
mile southeast of the Tomball city limits.
There is no water or electricity at the cemetery,
and from the road you may just drive by without
taking notice, but it is still kept authentically
correct, and groomed by one who I refer to as a Real
Princess!
She has reinstated life back into the death of
one of my favorite sites, and is absolutely the most
intriguing piece of a history puzzle I have visited
in my 4 year tenure with this publication.
I believe as long as Mrs. Bridwell and her family
are around to watch it grow, perseverance will
overcome any obstacles that prevent her from
sustaining this living monument to history. Open
daylight till dark every day, for a lifetime! For
more information, or questions, call 281-256-3635.
Be sure and don’t miss this historical site from
my personal “Touring Texas Top Ten List.” It will be
a sure thing you will have a That! Texas kind of
sight, sound, and feel!
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