Your Fair
Settlement
Starts Here.
At Texas Financial Divorce Solutions, we know what is required to arrive at a fair and equitable settlement for each and
every client. Our team is led by Mike Barron, a CPA, Financial Advisor, and the only Certified Divorce Financial Analyst in
Parker County. We will work with you every step of the way to help achieve a fair, financially equitable settlement.
817-341-6747
1841 Martin Drive, Suite 100
txfinancialdivorcesolutions.com
Weatherford, TX 76086
txfinancialdivorcesolutions
Now Serving Two Locations
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819 Santa Fe Drive | Weatherford, TX 76086
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old wife — Rosa (Rose Ann)
Dedman. In 1892, they moved
from Shackelford to Parker County
and a new life on a 180-acre farm
Gratz had bought. The marriage
lasted 32 years. He died in 1909.
Gratz proved his mettle at
a time when freed blacks were
expected to fail, exhibiting a
strong knack for adaptation and a
determination to carve out a better
life in a changing America. Ella
Mae Gratts learned at his knee,
evidently inheriting a good portion
of his grit.
“She was certainly a driven
person,” Ella Mae’s great nephew
Joe Gratts said. He recalled her
from Gratts family reunions he
attended as a boy. “I was younger,
you know, but she was one of the
people that I looked up to. A lot of
the old folks at the reunions would
talk about her. I guess I had ‘stars
in my eyes’ from hearing about
her.”
Ella Mae attended Swan School
in Annetta and later married Y.C.
Shamblee of Fort Worth. In 1924,
at age 21, she started working for
the Fort Worth Central Library.
She spent 40 years at the library
helping others along the road to
literacy, education and inclusion,
finally retiring in 1964.
Ella Mae’s tenure came during
a troubled era, a time when blacks
were not allowed to sit in librar-
ies, much less check out books. As
Fort Worth’s first African-American
librarian, she worked tirelessly
to provide books and learning to
those marginalized by prejudice
or circumstance. She often carried
boxes of books on streetcars and
buses, distributing them to the
black community of South Fort
Worth. She became a pillar of the
community, establishing library
services in a grocery store and at
a women’s club and a nursery,
and pioneered the “bookmobile”
before branch libraries existed.