What Lies Beneath: Texas Pioneer Cemeteries and Graveyards

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About What Lies Beneath: Texas Pioneer Cemeteries And

Product Description Unearth the Mysteries of Those Who Lie Beneath the Oldest Graveyards in the Lone Star State Texas, the second largest state, both in land mass and population, has more than 50,000 cemeteries, graveyards, and burial grounds. As the final resting places of those whose earthly journey has ended, they are also repositories of valuable cultural history. The pioneer cemeteries—those from the 19th century—provide a wealth of information on the people who settled Texas during its years as a Republic (1836-1845), and after it became the 28th state in 1845. In What Lies Beneath: Texas Pioneer Cemeteries and Graveyards, author Cynthia Leal Massey exhumes the stories of these pioneers, revealing the intriguing truth behind the earliest graveyards in the Lone Star State, including some of its most ancient. This guide also provides descriptions of headstone features and symbols, and demystifies the burial traditions of early Texas pioneers and settlers. About the Author Cynthia Leal Massey combines her background in journalism and love of history to write award-winning historical fiction and nonfiction. A former corporate editor, college instructor, and magazine editor, she has published hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles and several books. She is a recipient of a Will Rogers Silver Medallion Award for Western Nonfiction and a San Antonio Conservation Society Publication Award for her book "Death of a Texas Ranger: A True Story of Murder and Vengeance on the Texas Frontier." She was a winner of the Lone Star Award for Magazine Journalism given by the Houston Press Club for "Is UT Holding Our History Hostage?" published in Scene in SA magazine. One judge wrote: "In her exhaustive look at the unique battle over the Bexar Archives, writer Cynthia Leal Massey manages to make history come alive, filled with dark plots and do-gooders of yesteryear, and allusions to cattle rustling and murder and more." The article was also a finalist for the Texas Institute of Letters O. Henry Award for Best Work of Magazine Journalism. Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry called her novel, " The Caballeros of Ruby, Texas," a vivid picture of the Rio Grande Valley as it was fifty years ago [and] a very good read." Born and raised on the south side of San Antonio, Texas, Massey has resided in Helotes, twenty miles northwest of the Alamo City, since 1994. A full-time writer, she is a past president of Women Writing the West.