By Melodey M. Hauch
Please join members of the Fairview Cemetery Group, Inc. and the Galveston County Historical Commission for the unveiling of a new historical marker. Fairview’s Annual Memorial Day ceremony will begin at 10:00 a.m. on May 26th, and the marker ceremony will begin immediately afterwards a few yards away. Remain with us to celebrate and enjoy a piece of cake, courtesy of the Galveston County Historical Commission. The cemetery is located at 901 N. Kansas Avenue at 7th Street, League City.
Why are a large number of Japanese immigrants buried in a small section of Fairview Cemetery? Their Texas story began in 1903, when many Japanese rice farmers settled in Webster, Texas.
They were led by Seito Saibara, a highly respected Tokyo lawyer and member of the illustrious samurai class. Saibara became the first Christian member of the Japanese diet, or parliament. Following freezes that destroyed Texas crops, the Texas governor and the Harris County Chamber of Commerce invited Saibara to bring rice farmers to the state. By 1903, Seito Saibara arrived in Webster with a group of thirty colonists. With the financial support of associates in Japan and the Houston business community, Saibara purchased 304 acres in Webster at a price of $5,750.00.
At least seventy-five Japanese colonists lived on five Webster farms by 1909. Labor was plentiful, and local residents of Webster and League City made up a significant portion of the work force on the rice farms. The rice production was very successful for many years. Saibara died in 1939 and was buried in League City’s Fairview Cemetery, followed by several family members. The Saibara graves are across the driveway from a larger section of Japanese graves, shown below.
During the early 1900s, Webster had no community cemetery, and Fairview was the closest one to the town. In 1929, a man named S. Arai is listed in Fairview record books as purchasing many lots in Blocks 102 through 110. Those blocks now hold the graves of forty-seven Japanese colonists, representing twenty-six different households. None of the Fairview burials were named Arai; however, a Saburo Arai (1866-1951) was buried in Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston. He was not a rice farmer, but was the owner of a nursery and was a retail florist.
Left: The Japanese section with the large Fairview Cemetery sign in the background. Right: A 1932 photo of the Japanese settlers, with Seito Saibara near the center of the second row, leaning slightly to his right.
