In a community effort spearheaded by the Kennedale Historical Society, a cemetery that dates back approximately 150 years was the subject of a cleanup Saturday, September 19.
The cemetery sits off Little-School Road at the end of an unpaved private drive. It is nestled in a small plot of undeveloped land and surrounded by residential development. {{more}}A chain-link fence marks the boundaries. And, until Saturday, it was completely overgrown.The State of Texas Historical Commission has labeled it the Cowan-Whitehead Cemetery. It is called Kennedale?s first African-American cemetery used by sharecroppers who migrated from Georgia beginning in the 1870?s.
Overgrown and mostly forgotten for years, the oldest (with a marker) buried there was Tuck Roberts who lived for 60 years from 1836 ? 1896. He would have been around 29 years old when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. It is hard to tell exactly how many are buried there. There are a number of scattered stone granite markers without names and there are several depressions in the ground along with unmarked mounds. Counting the gravesites with markers with names there are 35.
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| Before and After |
It is not known how many different families are represented but among the markers were the surnames Whitehead, Roberts, Scott, Johnson, Cowan, Jones, Davis, Hicks and Whitiker. Smaller stones have single first names without dates, presumably children. One is simply marked ?Baby?.
Margurite Johnson 1912-1988 & Selley Whitehead 1842-1898
The most recent grave is of Margurite Johnson, 1912-1988. Among the markers include at least two former service members; William Davis, Quarter Master Corp WWI and Pascal Johnson, US Army WWII.
Volunteers both young and old gathered on a recent Saturday morning to help clean up a forgotten cemetery
Pitching-in to help on the Saturday Clean-up along with members of the Kennedale Historical Society were 7th and 8th students from Kennedale Junior High, both the Boy Scout Troop 35 and Cub Scout Pack 35 from Kennedale, veterans from the American Legion in Arlington, Betty Porter of the Texas Historical Cemetery Society, representative/members of the Keep Kennedale Beautiful Commission, First United Methodist Church of Kennedale and Ellis County Historical Society. Individuals included City Council member Liz Carrington and former Kennedale Mayor John Clark and his wife, Rebecca.
Kennedale Junior High School Students plus teachers Mr Gross, Ms Trotter, Ms Gross and Mr. Boubel
Altogether, Laurie Middleton Sanders of the Kennedale Historical Society estimated that there were over 200 people for the Saturday clean-up. She said that this was only the first part of restoration project. ?We got about half of it cleared.” She added that ?? our next follow up clean-up day [will be] later this fall.?The Kennedale Historical Society ‘s effort gained momentum when it was featured on a CBS Channel 11 news report.
Now, thanks to a lot of people, the resting place of 7 year old George Whitehead will not be forgotten.Links ?
Society
Historical Society Facebook
Texas Cemetery Designations
Historic Texas Cemeteries, a pamplet
