It is documented that early humans were throughout the areas of Aledo, Annetta, and Annetta North. In fact, remains of prehistoric bison and wooly mammoths have been found in areas just off Old Annetta Road.
Those stories come courtesy of the life work of historian, artist, and geologist Homer Norris and live on through Lanie Garman, his daughter. Garman will join Annetta Cemetery curator Mickey Hoefer and Texas Archaeological Society past president James Everett for a historical presentation. The free event will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 26, at the Parker County Courthouse.
“I hope this event inspires people,” Hoefer explained. “There are still some of us who are trying to preserve history like Homer Norris did.”
Norris grew up a curious and imaginative boy in the Annetta area, and by the time he passed away in 2018, he had established himself as one of North Texas’ foremost historians by documenting indigenous people, places, and ancient animals in East Parker County.
“When he was nine, he would hunt in the creeks looking for fossils. He’d roam the area for hours,” Garman said of her father. “When he got older, he began studying and documenting his finds, taking pictures and noting their location and sometimes sketching them. I have boxes and boxes of photos and information he documented. He took pictures all over the area back in the ‘70s and he had pictures he collected from the ‘60s.”
As the area grew, Norris began speaking with older residents and photographing or sketching buildings and barns. For years he was a familiar guest at Aledo High School, the building which is now Aledo Middle School. Norris would bring boxes of fossils and photos and engage students with hands-on history. Norris is also the founding publisher of The Community News.
A portion of Norris’ vast collection is kept at the Doss Heritage and Culture Center, 1400 Texas Drive in Weatherford. The Heritage Gallery features hundreds of artifacts discovered and documented by Homer Norris.
Ancient animal remains are displayed as they were found. Early tools, toys, and a vast collection of arrowheads are identified and categorized, all found in the Aledo and Annetta areas. Some of Norris’ artwork is also presented in the Art Gallery, including Quanah Parker and his wife Tonarcy.
One of the most significant of Norris’ projects was documenting ancient human remains found in Annetta North. In 1985, an equipment operator uncovered remains on private property at the side of Annetta Center Point Road, about 100 feet west of FM 5.
At first thought to be those of a woman, Norris and a team from the Office of the State Archeologists later determined it was the remains of two men, possibly in their mid 30s, buried ceremoniously with a circle of shells and artifacts around them. One body had evidence of a violent death with two arrowheads found in the chest, and later examination at the Smithsonian Institute revealed both bodies had been painted with red ochre iron oxide, a tradition of some of the ancient native tribes.
After a 35-year stay at the Smithsonian, the remains returned to Annetta and in 2022, re-interred not far from where the men were originally laid to rest. A marker with a lengthy description of the story behind the remains signifies their final resting place in Annetta Cemetery, 2667 W. FM 5, Annetta. The marker is 80 yards past the cemetery gate to the right (north) and 20 yards to the right from the road.
“The re-interment was so solemn and respectful,” Garman recalled. “Several people familiar with the remains were there, including the landowners from where the remains were originally found, and we all took turns covering the urns. It is fitting they were laid to rest so near where they were originally found.”
Norris passed away before the research from the Smithsonian was complete and final internment of the ancient remains was arranged. Fittingly, the burial plot donated by Annetta Cemetery for the two urns containing the remains is next to where Homer and Rosemary Norris are laid to rest.
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