Welcome to Gardenhire Cemetery. Our story begins... well, I'm not too sure when our story really begins. Flanked by affluent homes, this cemetery was presumably on land donated by Stephen Gardenhire, a white man who came to Texas with his family from Tennessee. According to a Facebook post citing the work of a local historian, "Faye McCurry Savage", Stephen's wife Lucinda Lee's family "became disenchanted with slavery and wanting no part of it, they took their inheritance in gold...". Stephen died in 1896 and was survived by Lucinda and his mother, Sally. Most of the known graves in this cemetery are of Black Texans born in the 1890s. Their story is a tale of survival against the oppressive behemoth we know as the white power structure.
As you might be able to guess by now, there isn't a lot that is "known" about this cemetery or its permanent residents. Tom Bratton's tombstone is a block with his name crudely chiseled. Tom was 29 when he died in 1922- of what, it is not clear. The grave of another Tom, Mr. Thomas, has toppled onto the ground. According to the occasionally dubious source of Find a Grave, Tom Thomas lived with his wife and seven children on Fannin St.
On your visit, you might see some American flags at a few graves, like Carl Powell and Horace Morrison. They were veterans of the First World War, which had dramatic consequences for Jim Crow. Powell and Morrison served their country in segregated units. According to the website "Black Soldiers Mattered", Powell served in Company B, 355 Service & Labor Battalion. He was a cook at Camp Alexander, VA. Morrison was a private in the 165th Depot Brigade in Camp Travis, TX. Put simply, the Depot Brigade received and organized recruits. When we remember African American veterans in WWI, the image of the heroic Harlem Hellfighters comes to mind. Because of racial segregation Carl and Horace were stuck behind doing menial jobs.
As WW1 wound down, African Americans began demanding more freedom at home. This reckoning of racial equality simultaneously occurred during a pandemic. The "Influenza" spread quickly thanks to war-time media censorship and troop movements. It raged across the end of the 1910s and even into 1920.
Clara E. Walker is one of the unmarked graves at this cemetery. In Jan. 1920, she died of TB, according to her death certificate. The link between TB and Influenza is still being unraveled. TB tends to kill more men than women- was her death mislabeled? Or like 1/3 of Americans, did she catch the influenza, which made her more vulnerable to TB? Clara was only 23 when she died. The final burial here was in the early 1940s.
Like all other cemetery caches, only hunt this one during daylight hours, as it is surrounded by homes. The entrance in the wooden gate is located near the corner of Russwood St. and Spring Creek Dr. As far as I can tell, this is the first cache placed at this cemetery. Please try to rehide the cache as you found it when you leave.
Congrats to Weelock for the FTF!