Australia Guy and Bedia Guy Kinnard markers, John Henry Kinnard

Amy the Spirit Seeker, a prolific poster on FindAGrave.com and researcher of Camptown Cemetery, took many photographs of the grave markers there before the cleaning of the site.  She has kindly granted permission for the use of those photographs, and many, if not most of them, will be used here in the future.

Here is the tombstone of Australia Guy, as she found it laying on the ground in the Guy plot, laying deep in the shadows.

(Courtesy of Amy the Spirit Seeker)

This next picture is is just to the right of his grave and marker, and in the Guy plot.  I include it mainly to illustrate the impressive degree to which Mother Nature begins to take over.  The railing surrounding this grave, which seems to be part of the Guy plot, had been incorporate into the tree, which then lived out it's life cycle and collapsed and ripped up the railing when it fell.  

(photo by Charles Swenson)

As mentioned in the previous post, Australia Guy had a sister, Bedia Guy.  She was born in May of 1887, and in the 1910 Census  is listed as a public school teacher.  She was listed as being first married at age 24 in the 1930 Census, though as divorced in the 1920 Census and then as married in the 1930 Census.  

According to Reggie Brown, she was married to John H. Kinnard, and on the 1930 Census her last name is no longer Guy, although it is difficult to make out seems to read Kinard.  In that 1930 Census, she is also listed as a school teacher in the occupation category, in the industry category the listing is R.R.  She is living with her widowed mother Ellen, aged 70, who is listed as head of the house (valued at $500) and listed as now able to read and write, which differs from earlier Census data.

She died on May 11, 1939, of post-operative complications following the removal of an ovarian cyst.

(photo courstesy of Amy the Spirit Seeker)

(Found at FamilySearch.org)

According to Reggie Brown, she was married to John H. Kinnard, and on the 1930 Census her last name is no longer Guy, although it is difficult to make out seems to read Kinard.  Henry Kinard is also living in the house as son-in-law and married at the age of 35 and is 65, though it may be 55.  He is also literate, and his occupation is listed as the proprietor of a barber shop. 

John Henry Kinnard was born on January 15, 1871, although he is listed in the 1920 Census with an age of 46.  At that time he was married to Carrie J. Kinnard, who was also buried at Camptown Cemetery after her death on September 10, 1920.  They had 4 teenaged children living with them at 1220 East Main Street, at a home he owned.  His occupation was listed as a barber at a barbershop. He also appears in the 1900 and 1910 Census reports in Brenham, as a barber in 1900 and in 1910 as a barber at his own shop.

In 1940, the year after Bedia died, he is listed as single and living at 1209 East Main Street, the same house he'd been living in since 1935.  He is still the manager of a barber shop, and is living with his son Isaac, who is also a barber.  Isaac's wife Seletia and their child Herbert are also living there.  Seletia was a casher (cashier) and although the data is unclear, it may have been at a picture show.

Henry Kinnard also shows up twice in the Brenham papers.  In the July 22, 1896 edition of the Brenham Daily Banner, a mass meeting was held at the Mount Rose Baptist Church protesting a recently enacted city law requiring all hogs be kept in a pen of at least 50 feet by 20 feet.  He was listed as one of  80 "law abiding and tax paying citizens" petitioning against this ordinance.

In December of 1913 there was massive flooding along the Brazos and Colorado River bottoms.  Many calls were made for contributions to help the victims, a disproportionate number of whom were black. In an article from the December 17, 1913 Brenham Daily Banner-Press, was a statement issued by Professor D. Porter, the principal of the Brenham Normal and Industrial College.  He suggested that "every colored citizen of our town proceed to give as liberal contributions as possible to the flood sufferers...in any  -money, clothes or provisions..."  He also "sincerely hoped that all and every one of the secret fraternities will get busy and in some way contribute something through the proper course...We should remember that at least 95 per cent of these suffering people are members of the colored race and that we should do something for ourselves in this sublime crisis.  I suggest, therefore, that all contributions of whatever character be turned over to Henry Kinard, John Armbrister and Floyd Haskell, at their respective places of business.  I take pleasure in stating that these men will see that each and every, and all contributions are placed in the hands of the regular organization."  

John Henry Kinnard died on September 20, 1949, and was buried in Brenham.

(Found at FamilySearch.org)

Australia Warren Guy, 1895 -1922

An often commented on grave marker at Camptown Cemetery is that of Australia Guy.  It lies in the Guy plot, on the eastern end of the grounds.  

Time and a bit of research have garnered only small bits and pieces of his life, but they do help to reinforce the fact that he was a living, breathing human being, far more so than is first intuited from the cool stone that remembers him.  

According to the 1900 census, Australia was one of eight children of William and Ellen Guy.  William  was born into bondage in Louisiana, Ellen in Texas, and neither had learned to read or write.  All of Australia's siblings, however, were granted the gift of literacy, and his old sister Bedia, eventually even became a public school teacher in Brenham.  

Australia speaks on opportunities at his graduation

(Brenham Daily Banner, May 23, 1912 p 5)

We do know that Australia graduated from East Side High School, which ironically was immediately adjacent to Camptown Cemetery.  He spoke at his commencement exercises on the subject of "Present Opportunities," a presentation which "showed careful preparation and research and proved that the colored high school maintains a high standard."  

Australia's draft notice 

(Brenham Dailiy Banner-Press, July 11, 1917 p 1)

Australia remained in Brenham after graduation.  When the United States entered into the First World War and the draft was enacted, he registered.

(found at Familysearch.org)

(found at Familysearch.org)

He was living at 309 Bragg, and working as a clerk for Clarence Scott, a black grocer.  His build and height is given as medium, and he lists himself as married with a dependent wife.  

(found at Familysearch.org)

He was formally married to Woodie E. Jones on April 14, 1919, with a license issued shortly after his demobilization from the service. 

(found at Familysearch.org)

Australia was drafted and inducted in San Antonio, at Fort Sam Houston on August 24, 1917.  He was assigned to the Medical Department, and then into the Sanitary Department, where he served until his discharge.  He served overseas from June of 1918 until February of 1919, in the Meuse-Argonne Defensive sector.  

(found at Familysearch.org)

After his demobilization in April of 1919 (and the formalization of his marriage to Woodie Jones) Australia moved to Dallas. He was living at 2507 Flora Street there when he filed an application for a Victory Medal. 

Death notice and card of thanks regarding his death

(Dallas Express, December 16, 1922)

​

Australia and his wife moved again, to 1016 Dodd Street where they lived with his brother, Terry and worked at the Adolphus Hotel.  The Adolphus had been the site of a particularly ugly incident in the spring of 1921 during a time when the newly reorganized Ku Klux Klan was resurgent in Dallas.  Bellboy Alex Johnson was accused of "doing something he had no right to do" and was dragged from the hotel by local Klan members.  He was whipped, the initials "KKK" etched into his forehead with acid, and forced to walk back bleeding and without his shirt into the Adolphus lobby. The Sheriff and police department refused to investigated. 

This was the environment in which Australia was working as a bellboy in November 30,1922, when he somehow fell down three stories in an elevator shaft.  He shattered his pelvis and died of internal hemorrhaging at 3 in the afternoon on December 2, at St. Paul's Sanitarium in Dallas. 

Australia was a member of American Woodmen and the St. Luke lodge No. 1 of the colored Knights of Pythias.  They assisted in the transport of his body to Brenham.  Flowers were sent from the Adolphus Hotel and Titche-Goettinger's department store.  He was buried on December 15 in Camptown Cemetery, in view of the high school he had graduated from and Mt. Rose Baptist Church, of which he was a member. His story is but one of the many the cemetery waits to tell us.

Death Certificate

(as found at Familysearch.org)