The 1989 Texas Historical Marker Proposal for Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery

By Mildred Abshire

“It is feasible to believe that what is now known as Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery was in the beginning simply the burial place for the Kirby slaves and other black people of the community.”

Interview with George Ruble Woolfolk, 1989.

In the summer of 1989, Dr. Mildred W. Abshier and a research team consisting of Bessie Thomas, Frank Jackson, and Carrie B. Coss visited the cemetery with 82 year-old descendant Ida Lou Wells Owens Pierce, a longtime resident of the Wyatt Chapel community. Using the field research, local scholarship, and the information gleaned from several interviews, Dr. Abshier prepared the following report to accompany the historical marker application submitted to the Texas Historical Commission. Their efforts resulted in the dedication of a historical marker near the cemetery behind Prairie View A&M University in 1992. We located this report while preparing the grant proposal to the Summerlee Foundation in 2021, and we decided to publish it below in advance of the ground penetrating radar survey in September 2022.

Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery, an abandoned all-black burial ground, is located on the north side of Prairie View A & M University campus, the Jesse Clary Survey, Abstract 111, Waller County Texas.1 Exact location of the cemetery with reference to the enclosed map and the Prairie View A & M Campus was attested by tax office personnel of Waller Independent School District, Waller, Texas, in which district the cemetery and the university are located.2

The burial site is a portion of the Jared E. Kirby plantation which the state of Texas purchased in 1876 from Mrs. Helen Marr Swearingen Kirby, widow of Jared E. Kirby, for the purpose of establishing the “Agricultural and Mechanical College for Colored Youth.”3 Size of the burial place is not definitely known, but is believed by various residents of the Prairie View area to consist of about five acres, more or less.4

The burial place is bounded on the west by old Farm Road 1098 by which a north entry is made to the campus, on the south by Flukinger Road, and on the northeast by Pond Creek, with Farm Road 1488 paralleling the creek, in general at a distance of some one-eighth mile.

Just when the cemetery began to be used is not known. However, the Kirby mansion at Alta Vista is believed to have been built at some time between 1858 and 1861, and Kirby is reported to have owned some four hundred slaves.5 Since the beginning date of the cemetery is lost in the haze of time and the lack of records, Dr. George Woolfolk, Chairman of the History Department at Prairie View A&M University, Emeritus, said, “It is feasible to believe that what is now known as Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery was in the beginning simply the burial place for the Kirby slaves and other black people of the community.”6

Worthy of noting is the fact that when Waller County Historical Commission surveyed the County to obtain information for publishing a county cemetery directory (Published in 1977), Mrs. Carrie B. Coss, of Prairie View, gathered the needed information for black cemeteries.7 She was advised by several elderly persons of the Prairie View area that slaves from nearby Liendo plantation were buried in the cemetery in question. Interestingly, Jared E. Kirby, owner of [enslaved labor camp] Alta Vista, which was to become Prairie View A&M University campus, and Leonard Waller Groce, owner of Liendo plantation, were cousins and their plantations were in close proximity. The present owner of Liendo has indicated that he did not know where the Liendo slaves were buried.8 No one, other than those whom Mrs. Coss interviewed (Coss note), was able to point to a spot where the Liendo slaves were interred.

On June 22, 1989 researchers (Mrs. Bessie Thomas, Mr. Frank Jackson, Mrs. Carrie Coss, and Dr. Mildred W. Abshier) visited the abandoned burial site. Mrs. Ida Lou Wells Owens Pierce, age eighty-two, a Wyatt descendant and long time resident of the Wyatt Chapel/Prairie View area, accompanied the researchers.

Abandoned since the early 1950s (The latest death date available from head stones was 1953.),the cemetery was quite overgrown, covered with dense growth of underbrush and shrubs. A few large trees stood among the under growth and this would seem to indicate that once the place had been kept cleared of all but a few trees. Professor Howard Jones, History Department of Prairie View A&M University, with students from the University, had cut a pathway through the underbrush to a portion of the burial ground where markers – generally slab-type head-stones, some of which were broken and/or overgrown with lichens – were yet standing, however some were broken and lying on the ground. Researchers were able to record names and dates on those visible markers (See list below). On every side there were numerous depressions in the soil which indicated the presence of unmarked graves. Of these, Mrs. Pierce said that they were indeed old grave sites. She further said that Caroline (See list) was her grandmother and that she had been a slave. She believed that many slaves, or those formerly held in slavery, were buried at the site. She pointed to a grave within a wire enclosure and noted that was the grave of her mother, Mrs. Mattie Wyatt Wells. Although not attested by markers, Mrs. Pierce indicated that numerous members of the Wyatt and Owens families, as well as other black persons, were buried at the site. She also said that an uncle of hers who was a minister had established the Wyatt Chapel Church which is a mile, or more, from the cemetery.

The consensus of opinion of the elderly ones who live in the area is that the Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery was abandoned when a more easily accessible burial place became available in the nearby Hempstead area. From dates on stones observed and recorded the site appears to have been abandoned in the early 1950s, as the latest death date found was 1953.

In conclusion, it appears most likely that the cemetery was originally the burial place of Kirby slaves, probably also slaves from nearby Liendo Plantation. After Emancipation it continued as a burial place for black persons of the area until the 1950s.

Headstone Recordings in Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery

James Duckworth
Nov. 19, 1909
Died Sept. 3, 1949

Milo Wilson, Jr.
Tex. Pvt.
U.S. Army WWI
July 22, 1892-Nov. 8, 1953

Albert Collings
Died
July 5, 1922
Gone but not forgotten
OLD PAP

Mrs. Mattie Wyatt
Died 8-17-82

Luther B. Felder
Tex. Pvt.
24th QM Group, WWII
May 9, 1926 – Apr. 24, 1948

Theodore Anderson
JUNETH 5 (handmade marker)

Elsie Bailey
Texas
Pvt. QM Corps, WWI
March 31, 1892 – May 19, 1948

Memory of Caroline
Wife of
(stone broken)
Died June 24, 1898

End Notes

1. “Map of Cemetery Area” from the District Tax Appraisal Office, Katy, Texas.

2. Stanley Holt, Assistant Superintendent for Finance, the Tax Office, Waller Independent School District, Waller, TX, November 6, 1989.

3. A History of Waller County, Texas (Hempstead, TX: Waller County Historical Survey Committee, 1973), 263.

4. Notes by Bessie Thomas, Prairie View, TX.

5. George R. Woolfolk, “Alta Vista: A Monument of Sorrow,” One Hundred One Heritage Homes of Waller County, Texas (Hempstead, TX: Waller County Historical Society, 1976), 257.

6. Interview with Dr. George R. Woolfolk, Prairie View, TX, August 1, 1989.

7. Notes by Mrs. Carrie B. Coss, September 18, 1989 – “While surveying Waller County to determine the location of the black cemeteries in this area several old citizens in the Prairie View community, all of whom are now deceased, were contacted by me I was told by these people that the cemetery on the back road from Prairie View (now referred to as the Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery) was the burial place of slaves from Liendo Plantation.”

8. Interview with Carl Detering, of Houston, at Liendo, October, 1989.

Loving is Giving

More than 1.3 billion peoples live in extreme poverty

The 1989 Texas Historical Marker Proposal for Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery

You can help

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt.

$80,000.00

 

$100,000.00

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give

What We Care

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Child Education

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident.

Charity For Adult

At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident.
Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus.

Clean Environment

Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus.

Power of sharing

No one became poor by giving…


Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

$80,000.00 

$100,000.00

Upcoming Event

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla.

Funding for Children Education

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla.
At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium.

Fight Against Malnutrition

At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium.

Get In Touch

416-122-2882
123 Street Ave. Toronto, ON