Monday, September 25, 2023
  • Advertise
  • Submit Story Idea
  • Submit Event
  • Calendar
Arlington Today Magazine
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • People
    • Community
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
    • Uncategorized
  • Digital Editions
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • People
    • Community
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
    • Uncategorized
  • Digital Editions
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Arlington Today Magazine
Home Community

Restoring history

Karen Gavis by Karen Gavis
December 20, 2016
in Community, People
0 0
0
Restoring history
0
SHARES
234
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Texas Appliance April 2020

 

 

Related posts

Happenstance or Destiny?

A Richard and Sylvia Greene Honor That Will Last A Lifetime

September 6, 2023
Jack’s Snacks

Jack’s Snacks

September 6, 2023

 


About a dozen volunteers recently met at an historic Arlington cemetery, determined that the graveyard, and its markers, would be properly cleaned, identified, and cared for. Some were armed with spray bottles, others wore straw hats, and one maneuvered dousing rods.

Arlington Historical Society Director Geraldine Mills says nearly 80 graves have been identified at Johnson Cemetery, also known as Mill Branch or Mill Creek cemetery, where some of the region’s early African American graves are located.

Many of the volunteers represented the local Lucretia Council Cochran Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who were performing service work for a sought-after grant to repair and restore all the headstones in the graveyard, which is located on Arkansas Lane just east of Matlock Road.

“In this small, historic, family cemetery lie the remains of one of the principal figures in the history of Arlington and Tarrant County, together with those of his family, his slaves and their family members,” reads the City of Arlington’s website. “Colonel Middleton Tate Johnson was a member of the Congress of the Texas Republic, namesake of Johnson County, and known as the ‘Father of Tarrant County.’ He arrived in this area in 1846, as commander of a company of Texas Rangers.”

As about a dozen volunteers moved from grave to grave with their cleaning utensils, tombstones and grave markers at Johnson Cemetery were returned to pristine condition. Dr. Catrina Whitley of the Tarrant County Archeological Society provided the ground-penetrating radar used to help locate graves. Project manager Geraldine Mills of the Arlington Historical Society spearheaded the cleaning efforts. (Photos: Toni Randle-Cook)

Dr. Catrina Whitley, with the Tarrant County Archeological Society, has been working in the area with ground- penetrating radar. She says that while the technology can’t completely identify a grave, it can reveal when something is underground. Five suspected graves were located in a northwest section of the property using the radar.

Dr. Whitley points to a pile of sandstone rocks, including one in the shape of an obelisk. She says she believes some of the markers may have been moved around by people not realizing they were tombstones. She also wonders if the road that once ran though the property was a dividing line with the Johnson family together “and everybody else that are poor, regular folk” elsewhere.

Graveyard plots sold in the early 1900s seemed to be concentrated on the property’s outer edges, Whitley says. In addition, GPR shows an unexplained, larger-than- what-a- single-grave- would-be area of what could possibly be ground disturbance near a tree.

The Arlington Historical Society has been trying to get a wrought iron fence put up around the property, Mills says, but funding for the project has not been forthcoming. “Each [fence] section will cost $300,” she notes. “And we need 147 sections to fix the entire cemetery.”

Mills’ reasoning for the fundraising effort is this: Asking for individual sponsors of $300 per fence section would give residents “a sense of ownership,” plus it would be easier than asking for $50,000 for the entire project.

Mills and Dr. Whitley say they were motivated to care for the cemetery partly because of Eulyssee Pointer, whose family members – including his mother, father, brother and first wife – were buried there. Pointer, who is now deceased, “raised cane,” Mills says, when at one point the cemetery gate had been locked and he could not get inside to visit the graves of his relatives.

“He was about the only one who was fighting for [the cemetery,]” she says.

Mills says she feels Pointer’s need to take care of cemetery, “and make it known that there were important people buried out there not only important to him but important to the town.”

Mills says that includes Arlington residents who had “started businesses in The Hill, raised kids, cooked in people’s houses, and did all the labor that was done.” She is hopeful that people will realize the important, historical element that the small, historic graveyard adds to the city: “Cemeteries, they tell stories.”

Tags: Arlington Historic SocietyTombstone Cleaning
UTA April 2020

Follow Us

  • Want to know what’s All Around Arlington? Check out our calendar at www.arlingtontoday.com and send us YOUR upcoming event at info@arlingntontoday.com!
  • Marie’s Cherokee Lounge celebrates 60! Celebrate with us in the link in our bio!
  • It’s raining FUN with Arlington’s Value of Water Mini Poster Contest! 🎨 Grab your art supplies, your WATER colors and submit TODAY! 🌧️
  • Long Live our Levitt! Read our exclusive interview with Letatia Teykl in the link in our bio!
  • Read how Richard and Sylvia Greene have made their mark on Arlington in the link in our bio!
  • Are you up to date with Arlington? There’s only one way to find out! Click the link in our bio.
  • This Hilton is Homewood SWEET! 🦆 Read about TCC Graduate, Mark Amin, and how  the Travel Sports and Legacy Foundation guided his path to General Manager in the link in our bio.
  • This Patriot Day, we honor and reflect on the brave men and women lost on 9/11. May we #NeverForget. 🇺🇸
  • Jack’s Snacks are providing a taste of inspiration! Read all about Jack Richardson’s story in the link in our bio.
  • 12 Mighty Orphans: There’s a fascinating ‘story behind the story’ regarding this fine film

    12 Mighty Orphans: There’s a fascinating ‘story behind the story’ regarding this fine film

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • March Scene

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Visionary Who Didn’t Give Up

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Boot-scootin’ Boogie

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • In case of emergency: Mansfield Fire Department introduces the ‘Vial of Life’ initiative to keep residents on the ready

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Arlington Texas Area News and Events Magazine

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

  • TCC Graduate Appointed General Manager of Homewood Suites by Hilton
  • A Richard and Sylvia Greene Honor That Will Last A Lifetime
  • Pearl’s Cherokee Lounge Turns 60

Category

  • Arlington News
  • Business and Education
  • Commentary
  • Community
  • Design and Interiors
  • Featured
  • People
  • Scene
  • Sports
  • Uncategorized
  • Wellness

Recent News

TCC Graduate Appointed General Manager of Homewood Suites by Hilton

TCC Graduate Appointed General Manager of Homewood Suites by Hilton

September 10, 2023
Happenstance or Destiny?

A Richard and Sylvia Greene Honor That Will Last A Lifetime

September 6, 2023
  • Advertise
  • Submit Story Idea
  • Submit Event
  • Calendar

© 2023 Arlington Today - Designed by

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Arlington News
    • Community
    • People
    • Commentary
    • Business and Education
    • Featured
    • Wellness
    • Scene
    • Design and Interiors
  • Digital Editions
  • Join the Newsletter
  • Contact Us

© 2023 Arlington Today - Designed by

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist