Sondra Hernandez Staff writer October 17, 2024

A Montgomery graduate who was once a pitcher for the New York Yankees will be one of the historic figures portrayed at the 5th Annual Voices from the Past Cemetery Tour in Montgomery Saturday. 

The tour covers two Montgomery cemeteries dating back to the 1800s and is coordinated by the Montgomery Historical Society and the Montgomery County History Taskforce. 

What to know about the tour

Baseball player Norman “Red” Branch who died in November 1971 is buried in the New Montgomery Cemetery on Old Plantersville Road. His life and legacy will be celebrated along with early Montgomery residents including Charles B. Stewart, the designer of the Texas Lone Star flag, and his wife; Owen Shannon, Revolutionary War soldier from Georgia, two of the figures from the “Montgomery Miracle” story and others prominent in early Montgomery. 

The tour includes the 1838 Old Methodist Churchyard Cemetery on Pond Street and the 1868 New Montgomery Cemetery on Old Plantersville Road. Tours are from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday. 

“The tour, which began as an educational event for the seventh-grade history students in the Montgomery school district in 2019, has now become an entertaining and educational event for everyone interested in the history of the area,” said Ann Meador, chairman of the history taskforce. “When visitors arrive at these burial grounds, they will be escorted in small groups by docents to the burial spots of numerous interesting people in the area’s history. Actors, representing these people and costumed by historical society member Eva Rains, will recount to visitors the stories of their lives.”

Baseball royalty

Branch was born in Spokane, Washington in March 1915. 

Rains said Branch’s family moved to Montgomery and he grew up playing baseball here. He is coordinating the historical figures and those who portray them for the tour.

Branch was a 1932 Montgomery High graduate. He played baseball at the University of Texas and made his debut as pitcher with the New York Yankees in May 1941. 

Rains said his nickname was “Red” because of his red hair. The 6-foot-3 inch athlete was on the team when the Yankees won the pennant in 1941. 

He suspended his baseball career to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II. In 1946 due to an injury he retired from professional baseball. 

Rains said he returned home to Montgomery and served as a rural mail carrier for the Montgomery area the rest of his life. He died Nov. 21, 1971 in Navasota at 56. 

History tour characters

Making his first appearance in the tour is state Rep. Reuben Jonathan Palmer, a prominent early lawyer born in Virginia in 1829 who came to Texas in the 1850s. He represented District 57 which included Montgomery, Grimes, and Brazos counties during the Civil War period from 1861 to 1863. 

Others on the tour include members of the Peel family who were prominent in Montgomery, historian Bessie Price Owen and William McGraw who was the first person buried in the New Montgomery Cemetery. 

In 1868 there was an incident in which some outlaws and townspeople had a shootout on Liberty Street at the center of the town. McGraw was among the victims. At the time of his death, he was also the city attorney for Montgomery. 

Visitors will also meet Martha Addison Gandy and her son, Bowe. The teen had a bullet removed from his intestines in surgery on her kitchen table after a hunting accident. Even after having his intestines put on a platter while the doctor worked and without antibiotics that had not yet been invented, Bowe lived to serve in World War I and died at age 85. He became known as the “Montgomery Miracle.”

Want to go?

Tickets for the tour are available on the Montgomery Historical Society website and may also be purchased on the day of the event at the Nat Hart Davis Museum at 14263 Liberty Street in Montgomery or at the entrance of each cemetery.

Information and maps will be available at the museum on the day of the event. Students younger than 15 get free admission. Tickets for students ages 15-18 are $5 and for people older than 18 tickets are $10. All the proceeds of this event go to the Montgomery Historical Society for their programs. 

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