Bull Hill Cemetery
also known as
The Carter Munch Cemetery
Lott, Falls County, Texas
GPS Coordinates 31.23466 -96.94716
Texas
Historical Commission Award Winner Seeks
Descendants
of Those Buried in Historic African American Cemetery
AUSTIN,
Texas –– A grant recently awarded to the Texas Historical Commission (THC) will
help record and protect an historic African American cemetery and help
researchers find living descendants of those buried there.
An old slave cemetery known as Bull Hill and also Carter-Munsch near the town of
Marlin is slowly re-emerging from the landscape that once completely covered the
markers and simple rocks that serve as head stones. Researchers predict there
could be several hundred graves at the site, part of the former Churchill Jones
Plantation. A $5,000 grant from the Summerfield G. Roberts Foundation of Dallas
will enable THC staff to record and document the cemetery and to conduct oral
histories with living descendents of those who are buried there. The Summerlee
Foundation of Dallas recently bought more than 400 acres to preserve the
cemetery and the old town site of Sarahville de Viesca, the capital of the 1830s
Robertson Colony of Central Texas.
The recipient of the THC’s new Preservation Fellows Award, Nedra Lee, will work
with THC archeologists to protect Bull Hill-Carter-Munsch Cemetery and locate
and interview descendants as the foundation for her master’s thesis at the
University of Texas at Austin, where she is a graduate student in anthropology.
Before beginning her graduate studies, Lee worked for the Historical Society and
the City Museum in her town of Washington, D. C.
“I want to use the skills I will gain as a Preservation Fellow to facilitate
research and organize programs that aim to provide more inclusive representation
and understanding of the past,” said Lee.
The THC’s Preservation Fellows Program was created to build interest in and
awareness of historic preservation among college students from underrepresented
ethnic groups. The program targets talented undergraduate and graduate students
to encourage their interest in pursuing fields of study in history,
preservation, architecture, archeology, landscape architecture, downtown
revitalization and heritage tourism. Fellows work with THC staff for eight weeks
during the summer.
“Documenting this historic cemetery, and hopefully, finding and interviewing
descendants of those buried there is an important and exciting project for our
first Preservation Fellow,” said THC Archeology Division Director Jim Bruseth.
“We hope its success will encourage other students to pursue a Preservation
Fellow award that will eventually lead to a career in historic preservation.”
An elderly African American woman from Marlin whose grandparents are buried in
the cemetery has already been located. If you know of someone who has relatives
and family members buried at Bull Hill-Carter-Munsch, or if you are a
descendant, please contact Jim Bruseth at (512) 463-5863 or Nedra Lee.
To learn more about the THC’s Preservation Fellows Program contact THC
Development Officer Toni Turner at (512) 936-2241 or visit
www.thc.state.tx.us
Submitted
Barbara (Caddell) Fox
Waco Tribune-Herald
Waco, Texas
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
front page
A Treasure Rediscovered
Families Trace Roots To Falls County Cemetery
By Wendy Gragg
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Sharon Styles
stood in the dirt road, flanked by her aunt and cousins, talking with Churchill
Jones, whose forefather had been “master” to Styles’ enslaved ancestors. The
young black woman and older white man talked and laughed easily, dwelling not on
controversy but savoring their shared roots.
They were brought together by the
rediscovery of a little cemetery, called Bull Hill, southwest of Marlin in Falls
County.
“I don’t have any negative
feelings toward this man,” Styles said about Jones. She wanted to uncover her
family history, and slavery was an undeniable part. She said she and Jones may
be able to help each other enrich their family histories.
“In this way, we can remember
(our ancestors), and at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing.”
Styles flew in from Sacramento,
Calif., last week to meet Jones and visit the cemetery, the resting place of at
least three of her ancestors. The visit was the culmination of historical
research that began about a year ago.
It started when folks from the
Summerlee Foundation, which owns the land and has interests in Texas history,
stumbled across a hidden cemetery and contacted the Texas Historical Commission
to look into it. The commission found the small cemetery has more than 100
graves, spanning roughly the 1850s to the 1960s.
“When I first came out here, I
thought, ‘How do I begin to people the past. How do I give a story to it?’ ”
said Nedra Lee, a University of Texas graduate student and a Texas Historical
Commission preservation fellow. She is part of a program that aims to bring
minorities in to learn more about historical preservation.
Lee dove headfirst into research
in the Marlin area, knocking on doors and talking to anyone who might have
information about Bull Hill Cemetery.
At the same time, halfway across
the country in Sacramento, Calif., Sharon Styles was working on her family’s
genealogy, and a relative mentioned an old cemetery — Bull Hill. Styles
contacted the historical commission and shared information. She has death
certificates that show that her great grandmother, Pearl Sneed Paul, and Styles’
great, great grandparents, Eliza and Sam Sneed, were buried at Bull Hill. She
may have more relatives buried under that soft dirt, including George and
Harriet Jones, slaves who took the surname of the master they followed from
Alabama to Texas — the elder Churchill Jones.
In 1850, Jones built a large
plantation near the Middle Brazos River Valley, bringing many slaves with him.
According to the commission’s research, Jones was the fourth wealthiest
slave-owner in Texas by the start of the Civil War.
“The trip here may not have been
one of joy and pleasure, but the day is one of joy and elation,” said the Rev.
Robert Paul, a Falls County resident and Styles’ cousin. Paul offered up a
prayer before the assembled group of family members and historians walked into
the overgrown cemetery last week. Soft, sweet strains of Amazing Grace came from
Paul’s wife, Dorothy, and were carried away on the cool spring wind. Styles and
her aunt, Paralee Johnson Williams, hummed along with the old hymn.
“Just thinking about it now and
being here is actually overwhelming to me,” Styles said. “I didn’t think I would
get that emotional just talking about it. It’s history. It’s everything.”
‘A rare event’
Today, Bull Hill Cemetery is
largely hidden under thick carpets of clover and healthy sprigs of the greens
called “poke salad.” Tall, weedy, white wildflowers stand at attention
throughout much of the burial grounds, and a towering cedar tree offers shade to
a grave marked by a worn and broken stone. Most of the graves had been indicated
by temporary metal funerary markers or wood that has long since rotted away. Lee
said a metal pail, broken ceramic jars and a pipe sticking out of the ground
also were found, possibly used to mark the final resting places of local slaves.
A couple of fence lines and the
well-used dirt road are the only footprints man has left in the area. Jones said
his family always made a point to keep the grazing cattle off the sacred land.
“This cemetery was always very,
very important to my family,” Jones said. As a child, he would come out with his
mother and grandmother and sow wildflowers.
Roughly one mile to east of the
cemetery, a green hill crests, then falls away gradually to the bends and falls
of the Brazos below. Jones said when he was a boy, the river was even closer,
and the pasture to the east of Bull Hill was a thick sea of bluebonnets and the
site of the Falls County Bluebonnet Festival.
Jim Bruseth, director of the
archeological division for the Texas Historical Commission, said the commission
plans to make Bull Hill an officially registered Texas cemetery. John Crain,
president of the Summerlee Foundation, said the foundation plans to protect the
cemetery and possibly place a plaque or some sort of monument in it. Though it’s
on private property, Crain said the foundation will work with families of those
interred at the cemetery to see that they can come pay their respects.
Bruseth said, in his career, he
hasn’t seen research into a slave cemetery come full circle like it has with
Bull Hill. He said, sadly, much of the African American history of Texas has not
been written down.
“This is just a rare event,”
Bruseth said. “It’s unique that we’ve been able to connect the dots and find
descendants.”
He said the historical commission
would like to find more of these opportunities.
“We’re trying to tell everybody’s
history,” he said.
Last Name |
First Name |
Birth |
Death |
Notes
|
BROADUS |
Bettie (Paul) |
Mar 04 1871 |
Dec 22 1938 |
Daughter of Robert & Edith (Stewart) Paul, Sr.
Wife of Tom Broadus Sr.
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
BROADUS |
Callie (Brown) |
Abt 1872 |
Nov 11 1930 |
Daughter of Mark & Dinah (Steward) Brown |
BROADUS |
E. C. |
Sep 10 1914 |
Apr 29 1956 |
Son of Wyman & Leanna (Moore) Broadus
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
BROADUS |
Johnie May |
Dec 19 1938 |
Feb 27 1939 |
Infant Daughter of Gasena Broadus |
BROADUS |
Oliver Cromwell |
Mar 05 1897 |
Mar 19 1947 |
Son of Tom & Bettie (Paul) Broadus Sr.
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
BROADUS |
Pearline |
Jul 23 1919 |
Sep 16 1931 |
Daughter of Wyman & Lee (Moore) Broadus
Age at time of death was 12 years 1 month 24 days |
BROADUS |
Shelby |
Jan 08 1921 |
Aug 27 1950 |
Son of Wyman & Leanna (Moore) Broadus
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
BROADUS |
Wyman |
Apr 07 1889 |
Jun 04 1943 |
Son of Alex & Callie (Brown) Broadus
Husband of Leanna (Moore) Broadus
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
COLEMAN |
Mary Lee (Johnson) |
Jul 08 1911 |
May 20 1945 |
Daughter of Lee & Emmer Baillosk Johnson
Mary Lee was born in Rosebud, Falls Co., Texas & died in Lott, Falls Co.,
Texas
33 yrs 11 mo 12 days |
COLLINS |
Celestia (Webbs) |
Sep 17 1913 |
Jul 12 1935 |
Daughter of Ellis & Rebecca (Paul) Webbs
Wife of Allen Collins
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
GUY |
Frances |
1856 |
Dec 27 1926 |
Born in Louisiana |
JOHNSON |
Leanna (Stokes) |
May 16 1912 |
Jun 28 1933 |
Daughter of Sam & Mary Belle (Franklin) Stokes
Wife of A. J. Johnson
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
LINVILLE |
Caldonia (Stokes) |
Apr 12 1897 |
Jun 04 1934 |
Daughter of Peter & Emma McGee Stokes
Wife of Joe Linville |
MOZEE |
Dan |
1863 |
Aug 20 1936 |
Son of Dan & Nancy Mozee
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
MOZEE |
Johnett (Liggins) |
Jan 17 1896 |
Jan 09 1925 |
Daughter of Tom & Callie (Taylor) Liggins
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
MOZEE |
Zelma |
Jul 07 1907 |
1914 |
Daughter of Jerry & Maria (Paul) Mozee
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
PAUL |
Annie |
Nov 15 1873 |
Jun 28 1947 |
Daughter of Robert “Bob” & Edith (Stewart) Paul
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
PAUL |
Churchill |
Jan 31 1893 |
May 15 1955 |
Son of Ed & Georgia (McGee) Paul
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
PAUL |
David |
Dec 10 1886 |
Aug 14 1936 |
Son of Jim & Ersa (Hailey) Paul
Husband of Delia Paul
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
PAUL |
Deliah (Gey) |
Sep 26 1884 |
Jan 15 1950 |
Daughter of William & Francis (Bailey) Gey
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
PAUL |
Eula (Wallace) |
Aug 06 1903 |
Jun 18 1928 |
Daughter of Dock & Joanna (Landrum) Wallace
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
PAUL |
Pearl (Sneed) |
Apr 09 1884 |
Dec 01 1961 |
Daughter of Sam & Eliza (Broadus) Sneed
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
PAUL |
Robert |
Sep 24 1888 |
Oct 22 1956 |
Son of Robert & Edith Stewart Paul |
PAUL |
Ruthie |
Sep 07 1911 |
Dec 20 1945 |
Daughter of Jim & Pearlie (Sneed) Paul
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
PAUL |
Thornton P. |
1872 |
Aug 29 1932 |
Son of Tom Paul & Mattie (Scott) Paul Sr.
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
PAUL |
Will |
Oct 15 1877 |
Oct 24 1945 |
Son of Winfield & Sallie (Beal) Paul
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
SHAW |
James Sr. |
Apr 20 1893 |
Jul 08 1963 |
Son of Gellith & Mary Shaw |
TAYLOR |
Ezekiel |
Dec 10 1881 |
Jun 27 1938 |
Son of Ezekiel & Mary Susen (Holmes) Taylor
Husband of Dicie Taylor
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
TAYLOR |
Roberta (Travis) |
Sep 16 1895 |
Nov 05 1936 |
Daughter of Milo & Marrie (Paul) Travis
Wife of Hezekiah Taylor
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
TRAVIS |
Martha “Mattie” (Paul) |
Jun 08 1880 |
Jun 26 1961 |
Daughter of Bob & Edith (Stewart) Paul
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
WRIGHT |
Pearlie (Young) |
Feb 26 1904 |
Jul 24 1944 |
Daughter of Jim & Ella (Broadus) Young
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
YOUNG |
Annie (Brooks) |
Jun 10 1867 |
Jul 23 1939 |
Wife of Will Young
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |
YOUNG |
Ella |
Feb 10 1885 |
Nov 19 1943 |
Daughter of Charlie & Eliza (Stelworth) Brooks
All info submitted by Pearl (Taylor) Vanderbilt |