16726 Huffmeister Road, Cypress. Research shows this was the address when the photo was taken. This is by far the most fascinating property I've identified because it has a family cemetery located on the property. The land is now developed as Park Creek and the Park Creek Community Pool sits where the house once was at 15601 Chaco Canyon Dr. The Pitschmann Family Cemetery can be found next to 15523 Wedgewood Park at the end of the cul-de-sac.

I spent a week digging into deeds and genealogy records trying to determine if there was a relationship between those buried (8 marked stones, possibly more burials) and the owner of the land when it was sold to developers in the mid-aughts. The owner of the land after the initial grant to Marcellus H Bundick (M H Bundick Survey) was Georg Fredrick Gottlieb (G.F.G.) Pitschmann. Sometime after 1882, he sold the land to Heinrich Ludwig Emil Buchmann (listed as Louis Buchmann in later deed references). Louis Buchmann died in 1911 and his widow Johanna (whom he married in 1882) sold the land to Arthur Wilke Sr in 1918. Arthur Sr died in 1923 and the trace seems to end there with a Sheriff's sale in 1924.

Despite the Sheriff's sale, the land was eventually owned by Eva Mathilda Wilke Zahn Wilson Christen who was Arthur Sr's granddaughter. Arthur had at least 3 sons and the middle son, Reinhald was Eva's father.

I was able to somewhat tie it all together initially through a family named Gerloff before seeking a connection to Eva Mathilda Wilke Zahn Wilson Christen.

There was a large contingent of Gerloffs from Germany who were scattered around Southeast Texas. They were in Harris county, Galveston County, Hill County, and a few others and they appear to have some familial link. If we go back to the beginning, G.F.G. Pitschmann's son Gustav married an Emelia Gerloff. Pitschmann sold his land to Louis Emil Buchmann, whose wife Joanna's maiden name was Gerloff. Johanna sold the land to Arthur Wilke Sr whose first wife Emma, was also a Gerloff. I can't find records linking the three women, but it feels like an extended German family.

If we return to Eva M Wilke (Arthur Sr's granddaughter), we discover her first husband was Baldwin E Zahn, a widower. His first wife? Well she was Elsie K Buchmann, the daughter of Louis Emil and Johanna. The Cypress/Hockley/Rosehill community was quite small in the mid 19th and early 20th centuries. An interesting side note is that Arthur Wilke Sr remarried in 1910 but is listed as a widower in the 1920 census. However, the woman he married seemed to be alive and well and went on to marry into the Kitzman family (Kitzman Rd, KZ Rd). Digging into that fascinating turn of events would require at least a week digging through microfilm and I do still have a day job!

Buried in the cemetery (which started this weeklong trip down the rabbit hole) are G.F.G. Pitschmann and his wife, two daughters, a son-in-law, and several grandchildren:

https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2...

It's possible there are other children buried there as well and the headstones long missing. Several of their children died in their teens.

Tracing families is fun but I still prefer tracing their land!