The struggle for equal treatment for all people continues, but there was a time segregation was once not only the norm in the U.S., but also the law.
In many places, African Americans were told where they could and could not sit, eat, work, live, and even where to be laid to rest.
A fence separates the east and west portions of Willow Springs Cemetery in Willow Park at the northeast corner of FM 5 Mikus Road and the I-20 service road. The barrier separates white and black families, and it is this smaller African American section where some rich Parker County history lies.
Parker County settlers established Elm Grove Methodist Church in 1854, a white congregation in present day south Willow Park. The cemetery was an offshoot of the church. The building is long gone, but the cemetery and its history remains.
A Texas Historical Commission marker stands sentinel at the grave site of freed slave Lawson D. Gratz. It recognizes his service in the Civil War as a first sergeant in the 114th U.S. Colored Infantry, his involvement in the battles of Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia and his presence at the Appomattox Courthouse to witness the surrender of General Robert E. Lee.
After his service in the Civil War, Gratz continued with the 10th U.S. Cavalry and served until 1872. He, his wife Rosa, and nine children moved from Albany, Texas to Annetta in 1892.
Joe Gratts, who heads volunteer upkeep in the black section of the cemetery, explained the original Gratz family name came from slave owner Benjamin Gratz. It was misspelled Grats when the soldier joined the 10th Cavalry, which was not uncommon in handwritten records in those days. The extra T unexplicably appeared in the family name later.
Gratts found an 1897 record declaring owner David Yeary sold the property for $50. The deed reads, “To the colored citizens of the Annetta community for the purpose of giving a place for the burial of their dead.”
Search continues for the burial site of another of his ancestors, Lewis Swan, who Gratts believes is lost in Willow Springs Cemetery.
“My great great grandfather, Lewis Swan, started buying in Annetta and donated five acres to the black community for a church, which was also used as school for the kids during the week and then church on Sundays,” Gratts said.
In time, the school burned, Swan died, and the land changed hands.
Some members of the Brazzell family attended Swan School. Jeff Brazzell, a founding member of Parker County NAACP, recalls his mother, Mae Brazzell, and her siblings attended the colored school, which Jeff describes as being off FM 5 in what is now a housing development, Stone Creek Farms Estate, west of McDavid Estate.
His great great grandfather, John Brazzell, was a settler who came to the area on a covered wagon with his large family. The Brazzells settled in the land of what is now Annetta North and started a farm.
“He was a very astute farmer,” Brazzell recalled with a smile. “I remember him sitting on his porch with a cigar in his mouth relaxing after a hard day's work. He was respected at the public market. He had land, a nice house with a cellar, a smokehouse, and a windmill.”
Much of the Brazzell family is buried in the black section of Willow Springs, and Jeff said he will be there in time as well.
Joe Gratts feels the same way. His father, Josef Gratts, organized volunteers to keep the hallowed grounds tidy and researched the history of families buried there. After he passed away, he passed those obligations on to his son.
“I am honoring my family for their existence and hard work to overcome the powers that were against them, especially back in those days and times they were born in,” Gratts added.
“I have three generations there and I will probably end up there, and I want to be buried with them.”
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