ZION ARNECKEVILLE CEMETERY GERMAN SETTLERS BEGAN TO ARRIVE IN THIS AREA IN THE LATE 1840s. MANY IMMIGRANTS SETTLED IN THE TWELVE MILE COLETO AREA, LATER KNOWN AS MEYERSVILLE. THE ST. JOHN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1850. MEANWHILE, THE SETTLEMENT OF ARNECKEVILLE, NEAR THE FIVE MILE COLETO AREA, BEGAN TO DEVELOP. MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY TRAVELED THE EIGHT-MILE WALK OR RIDE TO MEYERSVILLE TO ATTEND CHURCH SERVICES. IN 1860, PASTOR CHRISTOPH ADAM SAGER (1826-1869), WHO FOUNDED THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN MEYERSVILLE, BEGAN TO MINISTER TO THE PEOPLE IN ARNECKEVILLE. THE GROUP ACQUIRED LAND FROM SAGER’S BROTHER, MICHAEL SAGER, TO BUILD A CHURCH. A SMALL LOG STRUCTURE WAS DEDICATED IN NOVEMBER 1868 AND BECAME KNOWN AS THE ZION EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF ARNECKEVILLE. ADDITIONAL LAND WAS ADDED IN 1886 TO COMPLETE THE TEN ACRES THAT ENCOMPASSES THE CHURCH, CEMETERY, SCHOOL AND PARSONAGE. SITUATED ON A LOW HILL SLOPING TO THE SOUTH, THE CEMETERY, CONTAINING A VARIETY OF HEADSTONES, IS SURROUNDED BY LARGE LIVE OAK TREES. THE OLDEST MARKED GRAVE IS THAT OF PASTOR CHRISTOPH ADAM SAGER BUT IT IS REPORTED THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL UNMARKED BURIALS. IN ADDITION, EIGHT OF THE TEN CHARTER MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH ARE BURIED IN THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY, INCLUDING HEINRICH ARNECKE (1833-1903), THE NAMESAKE OF ARNECKEVILLE, MICHAEL SAGER (1843-1915), AND JOHANN CHRISTOPH THIEME (1811-1890), A KEY CONTRIBUTOR TO GERMAN IMMIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT IN THE AREA. ANOTHER NOTABLE BURIAL IS DR. C.A.H. ARNECKE (1860-1947), WELL-KNOWN PHYSICIAN AND SON OF HEINRICH ARNECKE. THE CEMETERY INCORPORATED IN 1988 AS ZION ARNECKEVILLE CEMETERY, INC. TO HELP PRESERVE THIS PLACE AS A REMINDER OF GERMAN LUTHERAN HERITAGE OF THE AREA. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2010