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GERMANY, TEXAS: ITS COMMUNITY, CHURCH, SCHOOL AND CEMETERY, Willie Lee Gay, softcover, illustrated, spiral-bound, 1997. BOOK CONDITION: very good. The text block and illustrations are in near fine condition with no tears, dog-ears, or marks. There is no bookplate or name of a prior owner. Not a library book or remainder. The wraps are in very good condition but for smudges on back cover. 11 x 8 ½, 79 pages, 22 ounces. XX [From the preface] By researching and recording the events of the history of this small black community it is hoped that one day similar documentation will be done for the black communities in all of Texas. The historical accounts of most early African-American communities began With slavery. The slaves were considered as non-citizens and with few rights such as educational and economic opportunities, Their lives were typically seen as not being important enough to document. Therefore. little documentation can be found in school records, government records and the media until mid-twentieth century. Fortunately. rich accounts can be found in the local black family where oral histories, photo albums and church records have been passed from generation to generation. Basically, it was through the use of these resources that we are able to put together the puzzle of the Germany Community. [Wikipedia] According to legend, the slaves from this region gathered in 1865 at the ancient Cermark homestead site, about a quarter mile from the current Germany Road, to hear the Emancipation Proclamation read. The freedmen's mentions of a German family by the name of Grounds, who had settled in the region between 1829 and 1833 are thought to be the source of the community's name, Germany. There is still a cemetery nearby called The Grounds. On December 21, 1871, John Burt reportedly became the first freedman to settle in Germany. He filed on a 160 acres (65 ha) preemption plot on San Pedro Bayou on June 15, 1876, and on January 3, 1877, he was granted a patent for the property. Crockett is about ten miles to the northeast of the preemption tract. In 1872, two freedmen established their occupancy: Lewis Hall on June 7 (patent received on May 28, 1883) and George Smith on January 25 (patent received on May 29, 1876). Van Benton, a different freedman, demonstrated his occupancy on January 1, 1875, but he died before his patent was approved. His widow Jane Benton wed John Burt in 1882, and the two of them rose to prominence in this Black settlement. Around 1883, they gave property for a church building and a cemetery. Later, the New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church had several relocations. The initial church site is just in front of the old Germany Cemetery. Germany lacked a post office and other types of enterprises, but in the early 1930s George W. Allen built and operated a candy shop out of a two-story wooden structure behind the church. Houston County's 1930s oil finds had no noticeable economic effects on the area.
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