Searching for answers: Search for grave turns into local effort to uncover history of county cemetery

Rev. Vanessa Sims’ trip to Graham turned into a journey to find her sister’s grave and led her to question a Young County cemetery and its ownership. Reaching out locally to individuals and entities, Sims helped to push a local collaborative effort for the William P. Johnston Memorial Cemetery.

The journey for Sims began when she came to Graham for her father’s funeral. While attending his memorial service Saturday, June 17 at Oasis of Grace Church in Graham, Sims said she thought of her sister and wanted to find her grave and honor her.

Sims, who lives in Denton now, was born in Olney and her mother lived in Graham. She attended school in Graham for third and fourth grade.

Her sister Marie Ann East, who was born prematurely in February 1952 and died in the same month, was supposed to be buried in the colored section of Oak Grove Cemetery.

“In an attempt to find her grave, I visited Oak Grove and found (later) that she was listed in two places,” she said. “She was listed under Mary Ann East in Oak Grove Cemetery. She was also listed under the W.P. Johnston Memorial Cemetery as Marie Ann East. I knew that she could not be listed under two places and I had never heard of the W.P. Johnston Memorial Cemetery, so I reached out to Morrison Funeral Home. …After they pulled her records, they had her interred at Oak Grove Cemetery colored section.”

Sims questioned why her sister’s grave was also listed under the William P. Johnston Memorial Cemetery and began asking for information about the cemetery and her sister. She reached out to Young County and Graham Historian Dorman Holub, who began speaking with her regarding the cemetery and provided her with her sister’s death certificate.

“One thing led to another, so I started asking questions, doing my research about cemeteries and rules and regulations of cemeteries,” she said. “I contacted the Texas Historical Commission and just started doing different research and gaining different information.”

Sims visited the cemetery located across the Hwy. 380 Bypass from Oak Grove Cemetery. She found the property to be in poor condition with headstones placed up against a chain-length fence and tree trimmings in the backside of the property.

She reached out to area entities such as Graham ISD, city of Graham and Young County to find out who had ownership of the cemetery.

Young County Judge Win Graham said he was approached in early August about if the county had ownership over the William P. Johnston Memorial Cemetery. At the time, neither the city of Graham or Young County had information regarding the ownership of the cemetery, according to the judge.

“Several investigations of deeds failed to uncover whether the land was owned by the city, the county, or privately owned,” Graham said. “The city, county and local historians all invested time and resources in researching ownership of the cemetery.”

Around Friday, Aug. 18, the document was uncovered which was deeded Dec. 4, 1923 by Addie M. Graham to the county. The deed stated, “that this property shall be used solely as a burying ground for colored people, and should it not be used for that purpose, or if used for any other purpose, this tract shall revert to the grantor, her heirs or assigns.”

Upon discovery of the deed and ownership, Graham researched county and state laws and regulations to see what could be done for the cemetery. The judge said records of those buried within the cemetery do not appear to be complete.

“We know there are tombstones there, but there’s a lot of unknowns that are buried in that cemetery like every cemetery in the county has unknowns,” Holub said Monday during commissioners court. “I think that could be a project maybe (for) somebody working on their masters degree in archaeology, or something to that degree, in the state schools.”

According to the judge, the Texas Health and Safety Code prohibits a commissioners court or any other elected officer from paying or using public funds or county employees, equipment, or property to maintain a neglected or disregarded public or private cemetery unless owned from Sept. 1, 1976 through Jan. 1, 1979.

The same state code states a county that meets the exception to the code may continue to own the cemetery or provide maintenance for the cemetery that qualifies if the county files a commissioners court order certifying the county qualifies with the Texas Secretary of State.

The judge emailed the Texas Secretary of State’s office for advice and they replied that while their office receives the filings, it had been a long period since one had been submitted. The office asked the county to submit the filing, but stated there was no one at their office with further knowledge of the process.

The Young County Commissioners Court had the item on their agenda for discussion Monday, Sept. 11. The commissioners approved an order declaring that the county owns the cemetery and qualified for the exception under the Texas Health and Safety Code to maintain the property.

“It is one of those cemeteries that really needs to be recognized in some ways,” Holub said Monday. “I would say most of the people who are buried in that cemetery are black. There is not really a history on that cemetery that we’ve written. I mean, I’ve done a ton of research on it, but there is just a lot more research that myself and Ernie (Jackson) and those individuals that lived in the Lincoln community will have to do because that is part of our history that needs to be recognized, needs to be honored and needs to memorialized in some way.”

The judge also requested the commissioners to set up a preservation committee to serve over the William P. Johnston Memorial Cemetery and report back to the commissioners. The establishment of a preservation committee was approved by commissioners.

“Dorman has agreed to serve on it, Ernie (Jackson) has agreed to serve on it and we were maybe going to get a couple other people to serve on this committee,” Graham said.

Holub said he does not know when the memorial sign was placed on the fence for the cemetery and could not find any information in the deed records for the county. He said the county is also unaware of many aspects of that cemetery.

“In the death records… you’ll see a lot of times where it will have (the) place of burial and it will be Oak Grove (Col.) My gut feeling kind of tells me that always refers to William P. Johnston Cemetery,” Holub said. “That’s not to say that Oak Grove is exclusive because I know that’s not to be a fact because there are tombstones in the Oak Grove Cemetery that are individuals from the Lincoln community. But there are tombstones in the William P. Johnston cemetery and I don’t think it was called the William P. Johnston cemetery until after the death of William P. Johnston.”

Both the city of Graham and Young County had work crews clean the cemetery. As the preservation committee works to research the property they will inform the commissioners court of the progress made.

“We can’t be responsible for what people did in the past, we can only be responsible for what we do moving forward,” Sims said. “Going forward you don’t have to be collective... just us pulling together... to give the people that are buried there in (William P. Johnston Memorial Cemetery)... a standard of dignity that other people deserve. I continue to research and try to advocate (and) be a voice for the deceased and eventually, hopefully, find my sister’s grave and honor her.”