Gratts Family Reunion
Great Great GrandMother Mahala Dedman Anderson
Mahala Dedman was born in Mississippi in 1847 and was brought to Parker County when she was 13 years old. Grandmother was a slave to Parker County Judge A.J. Hood and his wife Lizzie Hood of Aledo, Texas. At the age of 16 Grandmother gave birth to Rose Ann Cass by Webster Cass of Weatherford. It is acknowledged that Great Great Grandmother is the first documented African American in Parker County, making her family one of the First Families of Parker County and Weatherford Texas.
In November of 1863 A.J. Hood sold Mahala to the Ryder family of Weatherford, Of course, this sale took place well after the Emancipation Proclamation because Texas did not get word that slavery had ended until two years later in 1865.
In 1870 grandmother moved to Albany Texas at Fort Griffin, A Texas Fort Where Buffalo Soldiers once occupied. She made a living for her and Rose Ann by doing laundry for Officers of the Base and working for a local farmer named Platt. After Lawson Gratz was discharged from the army, he moved to Fort Griffin where he met Mahala and Rosa Ann. He soon would court Rose Ann, although Grandmother Mahala was interested in the soldier herself. Lawson and Rose Ann were married in 1877 and soon had a son, Bernard Jobe Gratts (1879)
Mahala remained in Albany doing laundry for the Military officers until moving back to Weatherford. At one time Mahala wanted to move from Fort Griffin because she thought Black people would be put back in slavery because that the time Black people were getting arrested for Murder, rape and many were getting drunk and acting up that. She moved because Lawson moved his family bought a farm in Annetta, She went back to work for the Cotten family who family had previously owned her and daughter Rose Ann. Grandmother would purchase a small house at 1105 North Main Street and would be seen walking to and from town and where she worked which was a good five mile walk each way every day. Grandmother would take in the wash from neighbors and friends in order to live and pay for her home.
In a letter written by Judy Bortz Martin telling the story of her father who lived hear grandmother in the early 1920's, tells the story of his fondness for the negro woman in the neighborhood, everyone lovingly called her Aunt Mahalie ! The story goes that she (grandmother ) was a former slave had her last bill of sale from the time she was sold! Mrs. Martin said that her Aunt Mary talked about Aunt Mahalie dipping snuff, she would save the snuff jars and would line her flower garden with them. At one time this lady Aunt Mary was walking home from town and had a corn on her foot and grandmother told her to stop and rest and let her take a look at the lady's foot. Grandmother made a Poultice for this lady's foot so she could get some relief.
Grandmother would often time lock up her home and walk North on North Main street and would care for Mr. J. R. Couts who in his earlier day was a Cowboy and Gunfighter. Mr. Couts was a businessman who had made money driving cattle and was the founder of the Citizens National Bank of Weatherford. In his later years would become ill and at that time is when Great-grandmother would leave her home and walk to the Couts home where she would cook, clean and nurse Mr. Couts back to health. Grandmother would be seen returning home after being away for weeks at a time. Mr. J.R. Couts made it possible for the African American Community to have a School by donating land in 1888. That school, Mount Pleasant Colored school would serve many of us from 1907 to it closing in 1963. Look at Mt. Pleasant school at "mountpleasantcoloredschool.org"....Great Grand Mother passed away in 1934 at her home which still stands today on North Main Street and was awarded a Historical award in 2014. Several Items missing from her home, the slave document and a photo album, have been searched for by the family for many years. We know where they are and who took them but have not been able to get any cooperation from the family who has them. With that photo album, we can establish the true identity of Lawson Gratz, Rose Ann Gratts, and Great-great Grandmother Mahala Deaman Cass Anderson. The problem with research into Black family life is we need to identify photographs and make sure the information that we use is real and is our family. We cannot just afford to haphazardly through up information that has not been vetted.
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