Bill Knox, 93, grew up in the Vollmar neighborhood in Weld County, just northwest of Fort Lupton.
Knox said his parents had a ranch there, and he went to school with kids who lived in Vollmar and its surrounding areas. They all went to the little Vollmar schoolhouse, which has since been converted into a home, he said.
One thing that always caught his eye was the little cemetery there, the St. Francis Vollmar cemetery. Still living in the area, Knox still thinks about it and visits it often.
His goal now, before he passes, is to help save and preserve this historic cemetery.
“Every time I’d go by it, it bothered me that most of these tombstones are covered with sand up to three feet deep,” Knox said. “I would like to clean that somehow up before I pass away.”
The cemetery is an acre and a quarter with about 35 to 40 people buried there. He said he started to look in on the cemetery five years ago but started researching it two years ago. It’s located between Weld Country Roads 21 and 23 west of Fort Lupton.
Information about the plot is hard to come by, he said.
“I looked up the deed at the Weld County Assessor’s office. The last time it was deeded was in 1926, and the St. Francis Vollmar Association ran it. I traced it back; it may have been null and void in the 1940s,” Knox said.
Knox has since taken over the deed and the association name at the cemetery.
He’s now looking for people who grew up in the neighborhood – or the descendants of those that did. He asks that anyone who knows about the cemetery or who might have relatives buried or simply someone who has the resources to help him preserve it to call 970-372-0759.
“It’s just a shame that the cemetery is neglected,” Knox said.
Long neglected
It’s always been a tough plot, he said. He remembers growing up during the Depression.
“During the Depression, the sand storms practically covered the old cemetery there,” Knox said.
Knox said the cemetery contains 100% Spanish buried plots, and it should be dedicated to uncovering and preserving that history.
“It was all the Spanish people that lived in Vollmar,” Knox said.
The people buried there, he figures, are the ones who helped the community grow by laboring in the sugar beet factory, cleaning beets. The area was a huge supplier to Great Western Sugar’s factory in Brighton. And although the factory remained in operation until 1977, he thinks Vollmar’s association ended in the late 1940s.
A view of the St. Francis, Vollmar cemetery with 35 to 40 people buried there covered with weeds. Credit: Belen Ward 
A grave where an unidentified child was buried in the St. Francis, Vollmar Cemetery in Weld County. Credit: Belen Ward 
An unidentified grave at the St. Francis Vollmar cemetery that someone has decorated with flowers. Credit: Belen Ward 
A grave marker at Weld County’s St., Francis Vollmar cemetery that identifies the person buried there as Virgil. Credit: Belen Ward
Little official history
Knox said he called many people, including Weld County Genealogy, but has yet to learn about the cemetery. Getting information about the plot has been a challenge.
“The records for the cemetery were in the Londeen Mortuary in Fort Lupton, but it burned down years ago, and all records burnt with it,” he said. “They buried most of the people.”
Knox also called the Archdiocese Catholic Church in Denver to see if they had a record of the cemetery, but representatives there said it didn’t belong to them.
Dr. Holly Kathryn Norton, Director of the Office of Archaeology & Historic Preservation, State Archaeologist, and deputy State Historic Preservation Officer at History Colorado, said they did not have a record of the cemetery in their database, nor was it listed on popular sites such as Grave Finder.
She lives nearby and plans to visit it and see what she can learn, she said.
“This cemetery is only 30 minutes from my house, so I’ll make a point to get out there and record it, as well as see if we can locate any additional information on it and contact Mr. Knox,” Dr. Norton said.
Patricia Carmody with the Colorado Historic Cemetery Association, which provides resources to preserve and protect historic Colorado cemeteries, said Mr. Knox must map and record the graveyard before touching and cleaning it.
“On our site, we list several resources and books on how to preserve cemeteries,” said Carmody.