Help us SAVE ST. MARY CEMETERY between Italy and Avalon from land developers
Help Save St. Mary Cemetery
Over 5 months ago, on March 24, 2012, it was discovered that Creek Land & Cattle Company, a land development business registered in the State of Nevada, had encroached upon the old St. Mary Cemetery located on Hughes Cemetery Road between Italy and Avalon, Texas.
The developers removed a fence on the west and north sides, as well as a portion of fence on the south side, and bulldozed a road through a portion of the burial ground. Texas Cemetery Laws prohibit this type of activity. The intrusion upon, as well as the damage to St. Mary Cemetery was immediately reported to Ellis County law enforcement officials. A few weeks ago, holes were dug into the gravesite to accommodate concrete for a newly constructed fence established so as not to interfere with the illegal road.
County law enforcement officials have, so far, failed to issue any type of injunction to stop Creek Land & Cattle Company from doing as they please at St. Mary Cemetery. The developer continues to use the road to transport trucks and heavy excavation equipment over the gravesite and the construction of the fence indicates that he plans to continue in blatant disregard of the laws of the State of Texas.
Help us SAVE ST. MARY CEMETERY, an old graveyard which dates back to the 1870s and contains the remains of individuals who were vital in the transformation of this part of Ellis County. A rally of family, neighbors, friends, historians, and cemetery preservationists from across the state will take place rain or shine on Saturday, September 1, 2012 at 12:00 Noon in front of the cemetery on Hughes Cemetery Road. Please come out for this event so that we can show in solidarity that we do not endorse what has happened to the resting place of these Ellis County pioneers.
Together we can save St. Mary Cemetery from the same plight of hundreds of other cemeteries that are destroyed each year by encroaching land developers who have no regard for the sanctity of the dead and from law enforcement officials who choose to look the other way.
Follow St. Mary Cemetery on Facebook ….also view the website www.findagrave.com to locate a map of St. Mary Cemetery on Hughes Cemetery Road in Ellis County, Texas
Note: The Save St. Mary Cemetery Rally should last no more than an hour. Hopefully, during this time you will be able to see for yourself just what has occurred at the cemetery and make a personal analysis of the situation.
For any questions or concerns regarding in this matter, please contact: Elmerine Bell at [email protected].
St. Mary Cemetery suffers more damage as activist Bell presses for justice
SAVE ST. MARY CEMETERY
In a follow up to articles previously featured on Italy Neotribune, back on August 28, 2012 and in September 28, 2012, St. Mary Cemetery has once again had a section of its heritage wiped out by bulldozers controlled by Creek Land and Cattle Company.
Creek Land and Cattle Company, a land development business registered in the State of Nevada, has recklessly and with no concern to the loved ones buried there, encroached upon the old St. Mary Cemetery located on Hughes Cemetery Road between Italy and Avalon, Texas.
It was a small but determined group investigating the site which included local activist Elmerine Bell, Deborah Franklin, aka Dr. Graveyard, Rex Carey with the Ellis County Historical Commission and his wife, Janice, videographer Susan Turner and photographer/animal artist Judy Yates.
Located on Hughes Cemetery Road between Italy and Avalon, St. Mary Cemetery, just across the road from Hughes Cemetery has been under siege by the Creek Land and Cattle Company for several months and Bell and her supporters are attempting to derail a land developer from causing further damage as the bulldozers remain parked near Hughes Cemetery Road as a constant threat.
The group took photos of the current property in effort to convince the Texas Historical Commission to deem the site historical and therefore give notice to encroaching individuals. A video was also created to document the devastation. Rex Carey used brass dowsing rods to locate and flag potential graves located under the area of the cemetery that has been flattened by the dozers.
Dowsing, also known as divining (especially in reference to interpretation of results), is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, gravesites, and many other objects and materials, as well as currents of earth radiation (Ley lines), without the use of scientific apparatus.
Although using dowsing rods has its skeptics, Carey gave a quick lesson and then allowed me to canvas the rutted field that was fragmented with scattered glass, pottery, concrete and metal after the bulldozers trampled the holy ground.
Bell explained, “Historically, upon death in the black culture, family members and friends would often leave the last pill bottle used, the last glass the deceased drank from or the last dish they ate from somewhere on the head stone.” And the proof of that was everywhere as every step I took revealed a broken artifact.
Also becoming quickly apparent as I continued walking with the brass dowsing rods out in front of me, is that an eerie pattern was taking shape. Every 4-to-5 feet, walking at an angle away from the cemetery currently preserved, the rods would unexplainably pull and crisscross themselves as if to indicate a graveyard like pattern underneath me. One possible plot after another would crisscross the rods along a row that seemed to extend approximately 40 feet. I then turned back toward the cemetery up a shallow hill and like the row before, every few paces would create an undeniable pulling of the rods. Carey lifted his cap and peered back across the paths we had followed as we both realized the damage may be even worse than originally thought.
“With our pictures and findings today, we are hoping to deem the site a historical landmark. An 1861 map recently obtained at the Navarro County Courthouse of the old Tarrant Plantation has markings indicating that Hughes Cemetery existed at that time. We are also petitioning the state archeologist to perform rubbings of suspected graves in the bulldozed areas of the cemetery,” added Bell as she gathered the broken dishes, bottles and even a medal hinge that she worried was from a disturbed casket.
Bell calls on local politicians and law enforcement agencies to get involved and help the cause, which is simply stated, “SAVE ST. MARY CEMETERY.”
Follow St. Mary Cemetery on Facebook ….also view the website www.findagrave.com to locate a map of St. Mary Cemetery on Hughes Cemetery Road in Ellis County, Texas.
For any questions or concerns regarding in this matter, please contact: Elmerine Allen Bell at [email protected].
Previous articles:
Help us SAVE ST. MARY CEMETERY between Italy and Avalon from land developers
SAVE St. Mary Cemetery – Activists hope to prevent destruction of local cemetery
Anthony Bond and Frances James, with Bear Creek Cemetery in the background
Bear Creek Cemetery backs up to a new senior facility. (Ron Baselice/DMN)
Here is my article that ran Saturday about Shelton’s Bear Creek Cemetery. Access to the historic cemetery is now even more limited with the opening on a new senior living facility right next to it. While Anthony Bond, with help from residents and Irving Parks and Recreation, tries to maintain the cemetery, reaching it will be much harder now.
–Tiny Shelton’s Bear Creek Cemetery in Irving has had a rough existence, just as many of those buried there did. A resting place for former slaves and others, the small patch of graves sat directly in the path of State Highway 161. An uproar caused the freeway to move ever so slightly, preserving the cemetery. Yet access from the west was gone. Now, access from the east may meet the same fate. A sprawling senior living facility has just opened. And its stone wall backs right up to the cemetery. There’s not an inch to spare. And that breaks Anthony Bond’s heart. “This is sacred ground,” Bond said as he led cleanup efforts a few weeks ago. Maintaining the cemetery is a challenge as plants and weeds flourish. Bond, a longtime community activist, leads maintenance projects from time to time. The bigger concern now is how to reach the property. Bond remains optimistic something can be worked out. He’s talked to Diane Wheeler, the owner of the new senior facility called Chateau on Wildbriar Lake, and she’s willing to help. “We’d like to do what we can to make it accessible,” Wheeler said. The construction removed some land so the cemetery seems to rest on even higher ground. A ramp from her property may not work since the construction crew had to build a retaining wall to prevent erosion. A ramp from the south might work. Bond said he’s working with the Texas Department of Transportation to see if it can help with the ramp. The dilemma troubles not only Wheeler and Bond but also Frances James, who’s known as the “Cemetery Lady” for her extensive knowledge of local cemeteries. James helped Bond obtain a Texas Historical Marker for Bear Creek Cemetery in 2001. She put together the historical information for the state to write on the marker. Now, reaching that marker is nearly impossible. “The problem is the gate is now 20 feet in the air,” James said. TxDOT fenced the property when the highway was built. Two gates provide entry. Another problem is that the cemetery is on private property. At one time, there was interest in deeding the cemetery plot to the nonprofit Bear Creek Development Association, which would ultimately pass the land to a cemetery association. But those plans fizzled. Without a perpetual care fund or association, protecting the plot is difficult. At least those buried at Bear Creek Cemetery still have relatives around to try to fight for the property. Many smaller cemeteries don’t, said James. Her mission is to save these forgotten resting places. “These cemeteries are owned by those buried there,” she said. Bear Creek in particular, she noted, contains graves of some of the first black citizens after the Civil War. Wheeler agreed this history should be preserved. She’s honoring the cemetery by naming the complex’s fishing pier Shelton Bear Creek Fishing Pier. She’s also offered the parking lot for cemetery visitors to use and plans to engage residents in volunteering to help with upkeep. “We should all try to honor and respect those who reside there,” she said.
“They could have been unknown to everybody but God”: Forgotten black cemetery close to becoming city landmark
The grave marker for Matilda Ann Grayson, who died on March 2, 1902, making hers the oldest known marker at the cemetery at the moment
Years ago I spent a summer Saturday getting eaten alive on an overgrown patch of absolutely beautiful land southeast of downtown, where city cedes to countryside. The occasion: Preservation Dallas had just ID’d the Haymarket Cemetery as one of the city’s most-endangered properties, citing amongst the concerns “lack of stewardship and development pressure.” Amongst some more familiar sites (Deep Ellum, Midway Hollow, David Crockett Elementary and so on), the cemetery was an unknown.
Five years later, the City Plan Commission’s agenda for next week’s meeting offers this brief description: “The Missionary Baptist Church cemetery is an historic African-American site that is home to over 100 grave sites, most which have been hidden or removed. The first known burial occurred in 1902 with the last known in 1948.”
Which doesn’t do the story of the cemetery justice. Far from it.
Below are the Landmark Commission’s designation docs being offer next week to the City Plan Commission, which will have to OK designation before it’s passed along to the city council (and, as the to-do is on the consent agenda, it’s all but a done deal). You might want to start your reading near the end of the thick stack, with the missives penned by longtime residents of the area that sits about a mile from the Trinity River. They recall quite vividly the old church, which historians believe was obliterated out of existence during the historic tornadoes of April 2, 1957. And they lament what had become of the land: “The cemetery is totally disgraceful,” reads one letter addressed to the city. “Someone’s loved ones are buried there.”
And then, says city of Dallas Historic Preservation Officer and Lost Dallas author Mark Doty, “The ownership changed, and the neighbors were concerned about inappropriate development taking place. So they asked the Landmark Commission to initiate the procedure for historic designation, and for the last several years the Landmark Commission has been working with the current property owner to come up with a designation the property owner and city would be comfortable with.”
That started in earnest two years ago, when Octavio Ramirez bought the land — without any idea there was a cemetery on the property. Indeed, at the time the city wasn’t sure what was there; Preservation Dallas had noted that earlier that “the size and the number of graves is currently unknown.” But in time he and the city hashed out a significant agreement: The property owner is allowing the city to designate not only the 100-plus visible grave sites, but an area were historians believe there may be additional graves not yet discovered.
“The preservation criteria has been tailored so the back half [of the property] has no restrictions whatsoever, so the property owner can use it as he sees fit, so long as he meets all the other code and permitting processes,” Doty says while noting that this is but one of many forgotten cemeteries now on private land. “We know where the marked cemetery is, so essentially we put a buffer around it.”
Francis James, famously known as The Cemetery Lady for her tireless efforts to protect and preserve burial ground ’round the city, says this is a significant save — and a unique one, in that “it was the whites who all these years have been protecting the property.” James had long ago tried to get the Texas Historical Commission to designate the land; the state didn’t do anything. And so it fell to the Landmark Commission
“One man there has a government stone, which means he was a vet,” she says. “But we couldn’t find anyone to speak for him. It’s sad, to think these people were here and did something and are left with nothing. Without the discovery of the cemetery, and its fingers-crossed designation, she says, “They could have been unknown to everybody but God.”
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