ST JOHN'S Cemetery: A report detailing how Denton County Commissioner Hub Clark stole a cemetery from a Pilot Point freedpersons community in 1938.

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Description

This report was submitted to the Denton County Commissioner’s Court on December 12, 2023. The independent research contained herein was inspired by a collaborative community effort to highlight the emerging historical narrative of the St. John's freed-persons community of Pilot Point, its unexplained disappearance in the 1930s, and the events that led to the community's cemetery becoming landlocked and inaccessible to the public for more than eighty years.

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45 p.

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Luther Rummel, Jessica December 12, 2023.

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This report is part of the collection entitled: UNT Graduate Student Works and was provided by the UNT College of Arts and Sciences to the UNT Digital Library, a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries. It has been viewed 87 times, with 33 in the last month. More information about this report can be viewed below.

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This report was submitted to the Denton County Commissioner’s Court on December 12, 2023. The independent research contained herein was inspired by a collaborative community effort to highlight the emerging historical narrative of the St. John's freed-persons community of Pilot Point, its unexplained disappearance in the 1930s, and the events that led to the community's cemetery becoming landlocked and inaccessible to the public for more than eighty years.

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45 p.

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Abstract: Introduction
The historic St. John's Cemetery is located near FM 455 and Hub Clark Road in Pilot Point where the majority of the areas earliest African Americans are buried. This historic cemetery is currently landlocked, i.e. encapsulated by private properties, and inaccessible to the community.
Purpose
The primary purpose of this report is to share research which reveals how the St. John’s Cemetery became landlocked and lost to history after the date of the last known burial at the site in the late 1930s/early 1940s.
Summary of Findings
The approximate 1.5 acres of burial land known as St John’s cemetery were purchased in the late 1800s by three trustees of St. John's Baptist church, the primary house of worship for the Pilot Point/Aubrey African American community of the time. These were the same citizens who purchased land for the church's establishment. In 1918, white landowners executed a deed of sale in which boundaries were fraudulently described and thereby incorporated the St. John's cemetery which was unlawfully included in subsequent sales executed between white landowners between 1918 and 1938. Considering the original land deed from the 1800s granted and promised with full authority of the law that the land upon which the cemetery resides would pass on to their rightful heirs, the descendants of these original landowners have a substantial legal claim to the cemetery which would have to be acknowledged in a court of law despite any transactions that have taken place since. These rightful heirs may also have grounds for potential legal action against Denton County for civil rights violations. Thus, further genealogical research to identify the descendants of these original landowners is paramount.

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  • December 12, 2023

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  • Feb. 13, 2024, 8:11 a.m.

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Thumbnail image of item number 1 in: 'ST JOHN'S Cemetery: A report detailing how Denton County Commissioner Hub Clark stole a cemetery from a Pilot Point freedpersons community in 1938.'.
Thumbnail image of item number 2 in: 'ST JOHN'S Cemetery: A report detailing how Denton County Commissioner Hub Clark stole a cemetery from a Pilot Point freedpersons community in 1938.'.
Thumbnail image of item number 3 in: 'ST JOHN'S Cemetery: A report detailing how Denton County Commissioner Hub Clark stole a cemetery from a Pilot Point freedpersons community in 1938.'.
Thumbnail image of item number 4 in: 'ST JOHN'S Cemetery: A report detailing how Denton County Commissioner Hub Clark stole a cemetery from a Pilot Point freedpersons community in 1938.'.

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Luther Rummel, Jessica. ST JOHN'S Cemetery: A report detailing how Denton County Commissioner Hub Clark stole a cemetery from a Pilot Point freedpersons community in 1938., report, December 12, 2023; (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2280587/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT College of Arts and Sciences.

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