MORE FROM WALTER COTTON: COMANCHE (MT. ZION) On the day of his Emancipation, Davey Medlock, known as Grandpa Davey, and the father of all the Medlocks in Texas, cut some logs and erected a temporary church (See Saturday Evening June 19, 1865 above). He was aided by Andy Williams; Jeff Johnson; Zack Kelley; Taylor Kelley; Warren Connor; Sim Conner and other of the older ones. This church was later moved to the east back of the Navasota River after the bridge was built and was served by some of the old circuit rider preachers, among whom were Dan Humphries and Gabe Wilson. The church is still known as Mt. Zion M.E Church. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON PARK After being freed, the Negroes felt that they should not forget that memorable day on which they were set free, so they immediately began celebrating the 19th day of June at old Burr-Oak Spring. In the Bethlehem-Woodland Community, they began celebrating at Boggy Springs and later formed an organization that met annually on the banks of Jacks Creek. In 1892, Jack Murphy, John Henderson, L. K. Waggoner, Sam Hawkins, G. B. Echols, Burk Simpson, Zack Kelley, Willis Medlock and others organized the Limestone County 19th of June Organization, and purchased 30 acres of land near the Mt. Zion M. E. Church at old Comanche Crossing and named this tract of land Booker T. Washington Park and had it chartered by the State of Texas, 1912 and No. 22042 which was filed by Jack Murphy and Eli Foster. This park is dedicated to the ex-slaves of Limestone County and is a permanent celebration ground and general playground for Blacks in the area. The annual celebration has brought as many as 25,000 people meeting on these grounds. It has two large buildings, one of which is a pavilion and the other a dance hall and shelter for concessions. It has its own electrical lighting plant, natural bathing pool by concrete dam constructed across the river; baseball diamonds and many other features. SANDY Farther to the North of Limestone County, Grandpa Davey Medlock settled and with Uncle Sawney Henry, founded what is now known as the Sandy Church (M. E.) and the community. They were both started between 1870 and 1875. The records show that Uncle Sawney Henry gave the land for the present Sandy Church and Cemetery. Many of the early settlers of this community were the slaves of Captain Barber. Some who were responsible for building this community were: Sam Favors; Phil Favors; Bill Hobbs; Lige Hobbs; Dow Hobbs; Nace Medlock; Easter Medlock; Nan Briscoe; Bettie Johnson; Menerva Carroll; Sawney Henry; Allen Sparks; Alfred Sparks; Terrell Sparks; Jane Dancer; Tilman Henry; Tilman Cotton and Zear Medlock. CEDAR To the West side of the County in what is commonly known as the edge of black land, the freedmen that drifted from the plantations of Meridith Miller, the Davidsons; the Wards and Burneys, under the leadership of Uncle Berry Baker sprang up Cedar Church and school. This community was composed of the Bakers and Magees and Busbys. The original church site has been obliterated by the march of time and now the present site can be found about a mile to the Southeast. EARLY ADVENTURES IN EDUCATION When the slaves were freed, those of Limestone County, as well as those throughout the Southland, were totally illiterate. This was due to the fact that it was against the law for Negroes to be caught looking on a paper and stiff penalties were meted out to persons caught teaching a Negro to read. The Freedman’s Aid Society, organized in the North by the M. E. Church and others who had been active in the movement of the emancipation of the slaves, sent White teachers into the South in the early days of the Reconstruction to give them their first step in education. The newly freed slaves in Cedar, erected a little school house made of logs. A white teacher named Dan Corey, taught reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic to the young boys and girls. His brother, Will Corey, taught farther eastward, along the river. In the Shady Grove Community and its immediate vicinity, John Russell; Mrs. Sewell and a Mr. Fritz (also white) taught others. Due to the ravages of war, the loss of slaves and the activities of the carpetbaggers, these teachers were looked upon by the white people as undesirable. It became necessary for the Corey brothers to get room and board in the home of Negro families. Dan Corey died in Limestone County and gave all he possessed to the cause of Negro education; his remains are buried in the old cemetery in Mexia, Texas. The period of white teachers in this section lasted from 1869 to 1875. It became necessary for Negroes to provide teachers for themselves. The requirement for a teacher was that he or she at least completed the fourth grade in elementary school. Some of the first teachers during Reconstruction were: D. C. Lacy; Mr. Calloway; Mr. Brown; Walter David and Jack White. D. C. Lacy, a Methodist preacher, became one of the leading men of his church and served as District Superintendent of the Austin District and a member of the Trustee Board of Samuel Huston College at Austin. He lived to a ripe old age and died in the city of Austin on December 25, 1925. His remains were brought to Limestone County and buried in the Old Bend Cemetery, that he might ‘sleep with my fathers’. DIXIE’S REIGN OF TERROR After the war, a white man calling himself Dixie tried to avenge the wrongs done to the South by the freeing of slaves. Unrestrained, he proceeded to murder Negroes whenever, wherever he found them. A piece of rope dangled from a bending tree over the old Springfield-Groesbeck road for more than thirty years. The older folk said it was the remains of rope used by Dixie to hang two Negroes called Uncle Seymor Ables and Norville Rhodes. It is also said that Dixie came upon a woman who had been in the woods fishing, named Aunt Daphne and used his gun to force her to dance until she was exhausted; he then told her to get on her knees and pray. While she was praying, he shot her in the back and went on his way. Negroes in this section slept in the woods at night, and those who had the courage to stay in their cabins saw to it that no lights were burning and all doors were securely barred. Merritt Trammell rode horseback to Waco and brought back a company of soldiers, who surprised Dixie in a deserted cabin near Springfield Bridge on the Navasota River. Cut off from his horse, he attempted to flee, but was shot by the soldiers. LAND HOLDINGS The new Negro emerged from bondage penniless, but he had lots of stamina. Faced with ‘sink or swim – live or die’, they took advantage of the cheap land and purchased tracts throughout the section. Early purchasers of farms were: Ralph Long; Button Evans; Jim Reynolds; John Henderson; Jack Murphy; Nace Medlock; Dave Medlock; John Medlock; Lum Cotton; Sawney Henry; Dow Hobbs and many others, too numerous to mention. At one time, as many as 1,390 Negroes owned 100,000 acres of land in this County. The children of these ex-slaves have added very little to their holdings, but have disposed of a great portion of it, which will never again be in the hands of ex-slaves children. I FIND THIS LAST PARAGRAPH VERY DISHEARTENING. WHEN WE MAKE IT ALL ABOUT MONEY, WE LOSE SO MUCH MORE.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 15:46:58 +0000
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