While today Canaan Cemetery is one of the only remnants still standing representing the communities it served, in the late 19th century there were many vibrant rural settlements in the area, including the cemetery’s associated freedom colony, Canaan.
One of the first mentions of the Canaan community in historical records is from 1878, when a school was established at Canaan Church, one of two churches that would eventually serve the surrounding communities. It is possible that the Canaan community was established as a freedom colony not long after Emancipation as the church and cemetery were active by the 1870s.
Even though Canaan Cemetery today lies just outside Bryan city limits, in the late 19th century it would have felt incredibly removed from the city. Rural farm roads were of poor quality and freedom colony residents mostly walked when they traveled, which meant trips into town were relatively rare. In the 1890s, a railroad spur was constructed, linking nearby Mudville (also known as Steele’s Store) with the Hearne and Brazos Valley Railway. Although the railroad made trips into town easier, Canaan and other nearby freedom colonies were largely isolated during the end of the 19th century.
The earliest known headstone is from 1882 and is for two siblings, Sarah and Henry Persons, who died in a house fire. There were six more burials in the 1880s and the number of known burials increased to 12 in the following decade. The number of recorded burials, although it is possible there were unrecorded burials, indicates that the population of Canaan was relatively young. This is further suggested by the pattern of burials in the 20th century. While newspaper references to Canaan and the surrounding freedom colonies during this period are rare, the few mentions that do exist give us glimpses into the vibrant social world of these communities. For instance, an edition of the Bryan Daily Eagle in June 1896, mentions emancipation celebrations taking place in 11 nearby communities, including Canaan.
Little changed in the daily life of those living in the communities surrounding Canaan Cemetery in the first decade of the twentieth century. Canaan Baptist Church, and eventually Progressive Baptist Church, were important centers of the community, serving not only as places of worship but as schools and community centers.
Although the coming of the railroad had made an essential step towards connecting rural communities to urban centers, residents of Canaan and the surrounding communities still mostly walked wherever they needed to go and used a ferry whenever they needed to cross the Brazos River. The biggest change for the Canaan Baptist congregation in those early years came in 1904 when Progressive Baptist Church was established just a stone’s throw away.
Other changes to life in Canaan happened slowly; a levee, and later a series of dams upriver, gradually mellowed the previously-unpredictable Brazos River into the settled riverbed we see today and residents no longer had to fear frequent floods. The construction of State Highway 21 in the 1920s included a bridge over the river, which made ferry service obsolete, and in the 1930s Brazos County began to pave roads, although paved roads were slow to come to rural settlements, if they ever did at all. In 1935 the Rural Electrification Administration began operations to bring electricity to rural settlements across the United States at a time when only 2.3% of rural Texan farmers had electricity, although it would take until after World War Two to bring that amount closer to 100%.
The three events to have the biggest impact on Canaan were the Great Depression in the 1930s and the subsequent rise of mechanized farming, the activation of Bryan Army Air Field in 1943, and the destruction of Canaan and Progressive Baptist Churches by a tornado in 1954. The Great Depression hit Texan farmers hard and farmers in the Brazos Bottoms were not spared. The economic hardship suffered by the communities of Canaan Cemetery is reflected in the headstone styles that became common during this period, such as inexpensive, hand-inscribed concrete. This period was also when the population of freedom colonies across Texas began to shrink; residents moved to cities looking for better employment opportunities while the rise of mechanized farming reduced the need for labor. This population decline continued throughout the rest of the 20th century until some freedom colonies seemingly disappeared.
The activation of the nearby air base in 1943 also dealt a blow to Canaan, as the federal government took possession of many black-owned farms through eminent domain to build the base. Some families reportedly did not accept payment for their land, hoping for its return upon the conclusion of the war. The land, however, was eventually sold to Texas A&M University and is the site of the modern-day Rellis campus.
In 1954, both Progressive and Canaan Baptist Churches were destroyed by a tornado, and for unknown reasons, only Progressive was rebuilt. The number of burials every year continued to decline, and the last burials took place in 2003. Canaan Cemetery today occupies six acres with over 400 recorded burials