Austin's First Black Cemetery - Bethany Cemetery

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Bethany cemetery is located in East Austin on the 1300 block of Springdale Road across from Sims Elementary School. In 1892 C.W Jones paid $432.60 for the property that would become Bethany Cemetery. When the Austin Oakwood Cemetery was laid out in 1856, a small section in the northeast corner was designated “for colored”. When the space was filled as was the section for whites, the cemetery was expanded across Comal Street to the east but did not include a section for blacks. The negro men in the community decided to open their own Cemetery. Attorney William M Tears and five other men bought a lot from Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jones. The men involved in the forming of the Bethany Cemetery Company were John H. Holland, Henderson Rollins, William H. Holland, Allen Bradley, C.W, Jones.

These men purchase the property from C.W. Jones. Whether Mr. Jones had the intent to begin a cemetery when he first purchased the land is not clear. However, during the time of his purchase two graves of young children were already present on the property. Hellen Moore, an infant was buried in 1879. Alice Maud Miller, 9 months old, was buried in 1886. Little is known about these two children. Other sources indicate that more burials may have been present on the property. 

In 1893 Mr. Jones and his wife Emma sold a 4/5ths undivided interest to John M. Holland, William M Tears, Henderson Rollins and Allen Bradley. In the Bethany Cemetery Company, Jones was Superintendent; Holland was President; Tears with Secretary; Rollins was Treasurer, and Bradley was Assistant Secretary. These five men responded to the need in their community. 

Like many of the people who would find Eternal rest in Bethany Cemetery, Henderson Rollins, C.W. Jones, Allen Bradley and John Holland were ordinary folks who did extraordinary things. Mr. Rollins was listed in the City Directory as a laborer. C.W. Jones was a plumber. Allen Bradley was a proprietor of a meat market on 1108 East 11th Street. John M. Hollands was a real estate agent. Only two of the men, William H. Holland and William M Tears reached prominence in Texas history.

In 1849, William H, Holland was born in bondage. as a slave he received a college education in Oberlin College. After Freedom, William Holland return to Texas, He worked in Austin’s post office, taught school and was elected as a Wharton County representative in the Texas House. There, he wrote and presented the bill for the establishment of Prairie View University. Through his efforts, the bill was eventually passed and today, William M. Holland is recognized as “the Father of Prairie View”.

Throughout his life, he supported education. During the time he served as president of the Bethany Cemetery Company, William H. Holland helped found the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Colored Youth in Austin Texas, for thirteen years, he served as its president. Later, he began the Friends in Need, an organization that supported African Americans.

Two years after founding the Bethany Cemetery Company, William M. Tears became one of Austin’s first African American policemen. He served for six years. Then, in 1901, he founded the Tears Mortuary, known as the oldest established business in Central Texas, in 1893, Bethany Cemetery was subdivided into burial plots. The Bethany Cemetery officers granted William Tears power of attorney to conduct all sales of burial plots. 

In 1914, Bethany Cemetery Company hired a caretaker who worked there until 1930. In 1928, the City of Austin open Evergreen Cemetery. With knowledge of family members receiving perpetual care, African Americans choose to buy burial plots at Evergreen. Some who were financially able had their departed loved ones removed from Bethany and interred in the newly opened cemetery including the Tears Family. This silent migration was the start of the hardships for Bethany Cemetery.