History of Montopolis Cemetery aka San Jose Cemetery No. 2 explored. One of Austin’s most forgotten cemeteries.

Not much history can be found or discovered about Montopolis Cemetery aka San Jose Cemetery No. 2. Montopolis Cemetery aka San Jose Cemetery No. 2 is one of Austin’s most forgotten cemeteries that has long been forgotten.


Montopolis Cemetery aka San Jose Cemetery No. 2 was established on 4½ acres of land (4.5 acres) on Poston Road off Hoeke Lane in Austin, Texas sometime in 1843. Ada Seeling Poston purchased the 4½ acres of property in 1844 and later in 1845 a cemetery was established.

(Ref: https://abc.austintexas.gov/attachment/attachmentDownload.jsp?p=rhL9yeJHMmUCynYV0gpaHYQlUeakbjOS5oWueW5EJIq7inE%2BsPiJJR3CO38Fn9WPo5kPrLtpNNTfu4oi7c8Zhe37WOk3LE7o%2FRWzi%2BAT%2BCJKnpLxpJv%2FDh0xManC8tpF)

A widow named Louise Seeling purchased the land from Ada Seeling Poston according to a deed from September 21, 1943. Louise Seeling appears to have been related to Ada Seeling Poston. (Ref: Travis County Public Records - Real Estate, Volume 722, Pages 623-625)

Sometime during the 20th century is when Louise Seeling sold the land to Joe M. Ruedos. His daughter, Gilberta R. Pena, was the only surviving heir and successor trustee to the Montopolis Cemetery. Gilberta R. Pena sold the cemetery to Refugio Herrera, Melecio Salazar, and Ricardo Flores, Jr. in 1983. Refugio Herrera, Melecio Salazar, and Ricardo Flores, Jr. were the trustees for the Montopolis Cemetery. (Ref: Travis County Public Records - Real Estate, Volume 8179, Page 185)

In 2012, talks with City of Austin Code Compliance Department and Travis County were conducted about how to how to best clean up and document Montopolis Cemetery because the site has become an illegal dumpsite for trash. Business owners and volunteer groups have offered to help clean up the cemetery. Dale Flatt of Save Austin’s Cemeteries said, “The site will soon be cleared.” (Ref: https://www.sachome.org/e-newsletters/2012%20Winter%20enewsletter.pdf)

Today this cemetery is abandoned. Most of the head stones are hard to see as the cemetery is overgrown with brush and high grass. Trees have grown all over the cemetery property. Montopolis Cemetery has never really been properly excavated or surveyed by any archaeologists. (Ref: http://www.austintxgensoc.org/cemeteries/san-jose-ii-cemetery/)

If you enter this cemetery, you might not find all of the graves. Most of the graves are located on the east side of the cemetery. Entry to this cemetery is on the west side.

The address for Montopolis Cemetery is 8101 Posten Lane, Austin, Texas, US 78744.