Part 5, Note 10

Click Here to See All Notes to Part 5

Baptismal Records, Sts. Peter & Paul Church, Frelsburg; Colorado Citizen, August 15, 1857, January 30, 1858. The slaves who were baptised in Frelsburg belonged to a family named Spann, several members of which lived in Washington County. After they were emancipated, they formed the core of the Washington County community known as Spann's Settlement, notable for its predominantly black Catholic population (see James F. Vanderholt, The Catholic Experience at Old Washington-on-the-Brazos Washington County, Texas (n. p., 1988. Rev. 1995). This community is incorrectly called "Spain's Settlement" in the New Handbook of Texas (6 vols., (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1996) vol. 6, p. 2), and in the local history publication which is cited therein (Bruno Gorzycki, History of St. Mary's Parish, Brenham, Texas, and Catholicism of Washington County and Early Texas (n. p., 1986) p. 117).