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Beneath old shade trees, a historic site in Carrollton continues to grow in prominence.
For area local Gwen Turner, the Carrollton Black Cemetery is the final resting place of her great-grandfather, Ned Welch, and a tangible connection to generations of family history she is still working to understand.
Born in 1938, Gwen Turner remembers Farmers Branch when it had neither a post office nor grocery store. There were only two houses on her side of the road and the city consisted of just a few hundred residents, many were farmers. Turner’s family owned livestock, though she said she was “afraid of everything but the chickens.” Other animals in the barn included two horses and a dairy cow. Her grandmother had pecan and persimmon trees west of the railroad track.
Turner’s roots in the region grow deep. Ned Welch’s daughter, and Turner’s grandmother, Mattie Jackson was born in 1877 in Carrollton near Old Denton Road and Burning Tree. The family later moved to Farmers Branch for quieter country living. Jackson would live long enough to be recognized by the Farmers Branch Police Department as the community’s oldest living resident in 1969.
In contrast to herself, Turner said neither her grandmother nor others in her family liked to discuss the past.
Turner remembers when she and a young neighbor boy would cross U.S. Highway 77, now paved over by Interstate 35, and take his wagon to the local general store to stock up on ice cream, soda and other goodies. Turner’s family went into Carrollton to attend church and do business.
“There was nothing but fields. When I was a kid, the roads didn't have names except one, it was Valley View,” Turner said. “Just to see how Farmers Branch and Carrollton have grown, it's just amazing. When I come to Carrollton and I look at it, I just think ‘My how this has changed!’”
For Turner, that change also serves as a reminder of how easily the area's history can be lost.
Turner grew up knowing little about her great-grandfather and only learned about his burial place around 30 years ago.
“One day my mom and I were driving down Belt Line,” Turner said. “Now back then there were no buildings. This was all trees. You couldn't see over here. All of a sudden, she said, ‘I have a grandfather buried over there.’ I was speechless. I was an adult and I had never heard it before.”
She hoped to visit the site together, but her mother became gravely ill and they never made the trip. At the time, the cemetery was so overgrown that it was difficult to see or access from the road.
Turner eventually began visiting the cemetery and researching her family's past. She learned that Welch had owned property in the area and that her grandmother had paid taxes on 93 acres. She also discovered that Welch had 13 children and that his wife was Sarah Elizabeth Miller Welch.
The Carrollton Black Cemetery first started being used by local Black farmers in the 1870s. Welch’s headstone is dated 1884.
Much about Welch's life remains uncertain.
Turner believes he came from Kentucky and may have arrived in the area as a slave. An interview from the Texas Slave Narratives Index appears to support her theory. She hopes to learn more about his life, property and family connections through additional research.
The cemetery's remaining gravestones offer some clues. A stone marked “Loving” has led Turner to believe that two young children in her grandmother's family may also be buried there. She believes the children died in a fire when they were about 2 years old and may have been buried near their father, Charles Loving, who was married to her grandmother.
Turner has also considered having Welch's gravestone repaired and cleaned so its carved details and inscription can be seen more clearly.
Turner's interest has been renewed in part through her work with Braden Scott, a young Eagle Scout whose recent improvement project brought more attention to the burial ground. She provided him with family information and historical materials, and their conversations have encouraged her to resume her own research.
“It means everything in the world to me,” Turner said. “I tell everybody about Ned Welch. Unlike Braden and me, most people don't seem to have a whole lot of interest in their ancestors. It bugs me.”
Scott and over a dozen volunteers from Boy Scout Troop 828 conducted cleaning efforts and erected 14 new memorial crosses and signage at the site.
“This project was very near and dear to my heart because I love history and I found this opportunity to preserve some of my own history (via) formerly enslaved people,” Scott said at an Oct. 6 Dallas County Commissioners Court Meeting. “It was just really rewarding to see at the end how clean it was and how the people I brought along with me, who I thought were going to be bored or tired of this, they felt fulfilled and they felt like they had done something.”
While “Ned Welch” and “Loving” are two of the only three names still visible, in addition to “Davis,” members of the nonprofit that cares for the cemetery believe they have evidence of at least 34 to 48 individuals who may be buried on the grounds or nearby. After decades of neglect, flooding and the loss of many original grave markers. The Carrollton Black Cemetery’s current fenced boundary may not encompass the full historic burial ground.
A 2025 archaeological survey commissioned by the city of Carrollton sought to better understand the cemetery's boundaries and the location of its graves. Stantec Consulting Services conducted ground-penetrating radar investigations in September 2025, examining approximately 0.3 acres within the existing fenced area.
The survey identified 14 possible graves, most clustered in the northern portion of the cemetery. At least three of the possible burial features corresponded with existing historic grave markers.
The results came with important limitations. Silty soils and repeated flooding complicated the radar readings. The report said the soil conditions largely weakened the radar signal for anything located more than two feet beneath the surface. Some areas around trees and the veterans' section also could not be surveyed fully.
Researchers cautioned that the radar findings do not definitively identify every burial. Several newer crosses and stone markers did not correspond with their findings, though flooding, soil conditions and the small size of some graves may explain why certain burials were not detected.
The report concluded that the cemetery was likely larger than its present boundaries suggest. The current fence line was established following a lawsuit against prospective developers in the 1980s.
The cemetery is not a place for silent thought and reflection. It currently sits in the middle of an industrial park, with noise audible from heavy machinery at Romco Equipment Company on one side and Gateway Tire of Texas on the other.
While the historic burial site itself has been recognized by the Texas Historical Commission as public historic property, landowners did not permit the archaeological team to investigate property outside the fence, leaving the possibility of additional graves unresolved.
Following the lawsuit, Rev. Willie Lee Rainwater, his wife Juanita, and the nonprofit Christ Community Connection have been the primary caretakers of the graveyard. The Rainwaters have both recently died of natural causes, but their nonprofit remains.
A longtime acquaintance of Rainwater and current president of Christ Community Connection, Anthony Todd, said it was his friend’s goal to see the site become a more prominent fixture in preserving the history of Dallas County’s early Black communities.
“Rainwater had envisioned a museum of some sort because of the vast amount of history that the black community had in this area here and throughout Carrollton as a whole,” Todd said. “That's something that we're discussing with our board members and hopefully one day will come to fruition.”
For now, Todd said, the priority is to improve the existing cemetery and continue working with the city and passionate volunteers like Scott and Turner. He is grateful to see support steadily building behind the Carrollton Black Cemetery in the nearly 20 years that he has helped care for it.
“It's been really a blessing to just be a part of doing something positive,” Todd said. ““Turner, she enlightened me so much because I learned a lot about the city.
“This ground is a holy ground because there’s a lot of memories, a lot of history here. A lot of people came through here and their voices and their story has not been told.”
Todd said the city's involvement has helped bring renewed attention to the cemetery and created opportunities for community members to participate in its preservation.
Recent improvements include a paved parking area with five parking spaces, part of a phased effort to make the site more accessible. Future phases are expected to include an iron gate and additional signage directing visitors to the cemetery from the road.
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