CAMPTOWN CEMETERY ASSOCIATION RECEIVES $10,000 DONATION
Camptown Cemetery in Brenham is the beneficiary of a donation from a family whose roots trace back to the area’s first settlers.
left) presented a $10,000 donation to the
Camptown Cemetery Association during Thursday's
Brenham City Council meeting. Also pictured, from
Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church, are (from
left) Rev. Randy Wells, Dr. John D. Harris, Deacon
Dennis Sanders and Cheryl DaBera.
During Thursday’s Brenham City Council meeting, Dr. Robert Bubb and his daughter, Abby Bubb, presented a check for $10,000 to the Camptown Cemetery Association, which manages and protects the city’s oldest predominantly African American cemetery. The donation is part of a youth project organized by Abby, whose three-time great grandmother, Louisa Mangrum-Yoos, is buried in Camptown Cemetery and was emancipated from slavery in Brenham.
Dr. Bubb, who lectures at Auburn University, gave a presentation to the council about the connection between his enslaved ancestors and the Old Three Hundred colonists, who received land grants in Stephen F. Austin's first colony. He also talked about Mangrum-Yoos’ life in Texas and California, from owning over 500 acres of land, to helping to protect battered women and care for the poor, to being part of the first social settlement in California, and to having Brenham’s Mangrum Street named after her.
Dr. Bubb encouraged the city to be active and engaged in preserving the cemetery and local African American history as a whole.
In addition to Abby’s youth project, she has cleaned headstones and family plots at the cemetery. She hopes to get different organizations involved to help preserve the cemetery, which has received historical designation and undergone rehabilitation efforts led by figures like the late Eddie Harrison.
Dr. Bubb, who is also an Army National Guard chaplain, recalled a recent presentation he made while dedicating an African American burial ground in Georgia, where he discussed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He mentioned that many of those laid to rest in historic African American cemeteries are unknown, and there is no national monument recognizing unknown enslaved Americans. He suggested that perhaps Brenham and Camptown Cemetery could take on that role.
Dr. Bubb plans to dedicate a memorial bench for Mangrum-Yoos at Camptown Cemetery on January 4, 2027, the 100th anniversary of her passing.