Mt. Pleasant Cemetery on CR 323The cemeteries for black burials for members of the Mt. Pleasant Church in southwest Grimes County are the story of two separate cemeteries that should be one. They are the Mt. Pleasant cemetery accessible on County Road 323 about one half mile north of Highway 2 and the nearby earlier grounds on what is now the Double H Ranch on Highway 2 about 3 miles east of Highway 6.
You can blame the separation of the two cemeteries on the Mother Nature and the weather. The Mt. Pleasant church dates to 1863. It was also the location of the early black Red Hill School. Over time, after the first several burials of Mt. Pleasant parishioners in an idyllic pastural setting to the west of the church, a gully between the church and the cemetery continued to deepen from rainfall runoff. By about the early 1970s, as best ascertained, the now isolated burial grounds on the Double H ranch became inaccessible. The Grimes County Commissioners turned down a request to create a road and bridge to reach the original burial site from the Mt. Pleasant church. The first recorded burial in the initial cemetery site on the Double H ranch is that of Nettie Thornton, born about 1886, who died on March 23, 1925. She was the first wife of Anthony Thornton. In the 1920 U. S. Census Nettie is listed as age 34 living with her husband Anthony and a son, John, age 5. There may be many earlier burials as several graves are unmarked and some without dates and/or legible markers. |
Others identified by markers buried there are Martha Ann White, born December 28, 1941, who died September 6, 1957. According to her death certificate she died tragically at the age of 15 of crushing injuries from being struck as a roadside pedestrian by an automobile. She was the daughter of Ennis White and Emma Perkins. Another marker burial is that of Francis White, widow of Tom White, born 1862 and died January 28, 1937 at age 75. Her death certificate states she died of severe burns from falling into her home fireplace. Another identified burial is that of a Mary Green, born 1886 and died in 1937. No official record has been found. One grave marker is identified only as E.L.W. This marker could well be for Ennis L. White, Sr., father of Martha Ann White.
The private property owner of this cemetery well maintains the grounds and it is fenced to protect from grazing cattle. |
Double H Cemetery off Highway 2
The 2nd Mt. Pleasant cemetery is on the original site of the Mt. Pleasant Church established in 1863. It burned in 1970. A new church was built and dedicated in 1975 a short distance south of Highway 2 on CR 323 on land donated by Roy Weaver, Sr. The cemetery is also the site of the black Red Hill Retreat School which was torn down in the 1930s with the students consolidated with the Templeman Hill School at the black Pleasant Hill Church located on Highway 362 near Beason Creek. Earliest burials at the 2nd Mt. Pleasant site are recorded in 1971, a year after the original church burned.
Twenty-three burials can be identified at this time in the active 2nd Mt. Pleasant cemetery accessible on CR 323 north of Highway 2. There are probably other unmarked graves. The two earliest burials are: A wife and husband, Carrie Lee (Edwards) Steptoe, born March 6, 1893, who died April 13, 1971, married to Bennie Steptoe, Sr., who was born August 3, 1891 and died December 31, 1971, just nearly 9 months following the death of his wife.
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