Grave concerns in land survey

The city of Montgomery is moving forward with the purchase of land on the corner of FM 149 and Texas 105, but before closing the sale, city officials plan to bring in an archaeological survey team to locate the graves of two infants buried on the land more than 160 years ago.

The Montgomery City Council approved the cash purchase of the undeveloped land at 21050 Eva Street by Montgomery Economic Development Corp. on June 28 for $600,000. The city currently leases the lot where it has erected an electronic sign.

Bea Rouse with the Montgomery Historical Society said the babies are the first two children born to Montgomery attorney Nathaniel Hart Davis and wife, Sarah.

The babies — an unnamed girl who was born and died in October 1851 and Nathaniel Hart Davis Jr., who was born Nov. 23, 1853, and died April 26, 1854 — are buried next to each other. Their father served as county attorney, commissioner and chief justice of Montgomery County.

Rouse added the MHS currently has headstones to memorialize the babies on the grounds of the Nat Hart Davis Pioneer Complex. However, the babies are believed to be buried on the neighboring lot the city is now purchasing.

“We knew they were buried on the other lot, but we don’t own it so we didn’t have the authority to put anything there,” Rouse said, adding in 2021 a cadaver dog alerted to an area on the property where they believe the babies to be buried. “We want to make sure the babies’ graves aren’t disturbed.”

Montgomery Economic Development Corp. Board Member Wade Nelson, owner and broker of commercial real estate firm The Nelson Company, said while the study does not have to be done to purchase the land since the city is not financing it, he recommended it.

Mayor Bryon Sanford said the price is high but called the property “very critical” to the future of the city “for lot of different reasons” at the council’s June 28 meeting.

The city is expected to close on the sale next

month.