Tombstone Inscriptions from Black Cemeteries in Madison County, Tennessee, Volume Two
Compiled by Jonathan K. T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 2000
Riverside Cemetery
Rogers Cemetery (1) and (2)
Swink Family Slave cemetery
Rose Hill Cemetery
Talbot Plantation Slave Cemetery
Turk/Turkey Creek Cemetery
Utley Cemetery
Zion Hill Baptist Church Cemetery
Name Unknown Slave Cemetery
(Page 37)
RIVERSIDE CEMETERY
Located in Jackson, Tennessee on Riverside Drive. The following notes are added to the initial volume of Madison County cemeteries.
NOTE ONE
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TO (This man died Dec. 14, 1857.) |
NOTE TWO
Additional burials in Riverside Cemetery according to the death certificates of the following persons who do not have tombstones:
INFANT SON of J. B. BOSTIC, Sept. 25, 1914-Oct. 9, 1914
CARRIE PARKMAN, widow, Feb. 16, 1876-June 11, 1915
LOUIS LAMBUTH, Nov. 7, 1858-Nov. 7, 1915; born Aberdeen, Mississippi
J. B. BOSTIC, female, March 9, 1899-Dec. 22, 1915; parents: William and Pearly Bostic
NOTE THREE
On page 2 of TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS FROM BLACK CEMETERIES IN MADISON COUNTY, TENNESSEE readings from the tombstones in the Pope family lot were given. Further work with these tombstones reveals the following:
1. Tombstone of JAMES son of William and Martha (stone broken where family name was inscribed but upper remnants of letters of same suggest it was POPE). Having cleaned the stone with water and brush these dates are quite clear for JAMES: Born April 5, 1859; Died April 18, 1878.
2. ANNIE LACKEY
Born 1842
& Died Sept. 15th 1912
Enhancement of the letters under the death date reveals this reading:
Mother of Esstel Morrow. Perhaps this is the same person as the Isabella Lackey Morris mentioned as a major legatee in the will of Hannah Pope in Madison County Will Book B, pages 497-498.
3. MARY ANNIE
Dau. of Willis and Hannah POPE
Enhancement of birth date reveals: Born July 28, 1860
A clay impression reveals her death date: Sept. 23, 1880
/In the U.S. Census, City of Jackson, June 22, 1880, this young lady was listed in her parents' household as ill with malarial fever./
NOTE FOUR
On page 3 of TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS FROM BLACK CEMETERIES IN MADISON COUNTY, TENNESSEE was reported the double tombstone of DANIEL ALLEN (1877-1950) and BESSIE L. ALLEN (born 1887). Mrs. Allen, who was born June 16, 1887, spent her last years in Chicago, Illinois where she died Jan. 24, 1991; is buried there in Glenwood Cemetery.
(Page 38)
Also in the burial area just west and southwest of the Lane lot is a small tombstone without dates, reading PETER LANCASTER. Perhaps he is the man of that name in the 1875-76 Jackson city directory, page 70; colored, res. ss of Tanyard St. w Cumberland.
Also, an upright tombstone bears these names/dates: FANNIE V. ESTES died Feb. 25, 1902 aged 33 Ys. (north side); FRANCIS HENRY ESTES died July 25, 1902, Age 5 mo. 11 ds. (south side). This is the wife and infant child of Henry Estes, black, living on Elm St. in June 5, 1900 U.S. Census, City of Jackson, with wife, Fannie Virginia Estes, born Aug. 1868; married 16 years; one child, Gussy Estes, born March 1885. Henry Estes is given as born in October 1867.
Also, JANIE B. EDWARDS, 1861-1959, has a tombstone beside the Estes tombstone.
NOTE FIVE
Buried in Riverside Cemetery, in recent years, black persons, on the south slope:
COLUMBUS McRAY died September 25, 1995
TONEY TAYLOR, April 10, 1926-February 1, 1996
DANNY RAY JAMES, August 16, 1914-January 25, 1997
ARLEN SNOW, Feb. 18, 1942-April 16, 1998
DEBRA MYERS, Sept. 8, 1955-November 29, 1998
ROBERT ELLIS EMBERTON, August 13, 1930-April 27, 1999
JAMES C. MATHIS, July 1, 1927-June 13, 1999
JOHN HANKINS, August 21, 1922-December 6, 1999
FLORA DAVIS JOHNSON, August 28, 1907-May 14, 2000
ROGERS CEMETERY (1)
Located 1.3 miles west of Highway 45, Pinson, Tennessee; situated on the north side of Bear Creek Road. Mrs. Alene Woodson, an elderly black lady, told the compiler that tradition had it that a slave burial ground, with no markers, was located just east of the white section of the Rogers Cemetery here but hat it has been covered by a residence.
ROGERS CEMETERY (2)
Located 2.5 miles north of Interstate 40 via Law Road and Lakewood Drive East. Situated 1.7 miles west from the junction of Law Road and Lakewood Drive East on the south side of the latter road. A large cedar tree marks the location of this burial ground which is just of f the road. Whatever tombstones may have been at this location have disappeared. Mr. James A. Boone (born 1909), black man, stated that his grandfather, ALLIE ROGERS, is buried here.
SWINK FAMILY SLAVE CEMETERY
Located back in the woods a short distance fr6mn the juncture of Riverside Drive and Highway 18 in Medon, Tennessee, is the grave of Peter J. Swink (1796-1851) marked by a box-vault tombstone. This burial site is located to the north of the historic Swink residence. Between Swink's grave and this residence, in an area near an old barn, tradition has it that the Swink Slave Cemetery is located but all evidences of its existence have long since disappeared. It is listed in this publication because of a persistent tradition among older residents thereabout that such a cemetery did once exist here.
ROSE HILL CEMETERY
Located just east of Jackson in the East Union community. At a point 4.5 miles from the southeast corner of the public square in Jackson, by way of East Chester Street and Beech Bluff Road, turn south from the latter road onto an access road that leads .1 mile to this burial ground. It was the cemetery for the Deberry-Hurt families on the Rose Hill Cemetery Plantation and was variously known as well as the Hurt, Leeper Cemetery. Mrs. Betty Young Hopper, a direct descendant of Mathias Deberry (1788-1839) who first developed Rose Hill Plantation, told Mr. Robert D. Taylor, Jr., August 6, 1996, that it was traditional in her family that black family servants were buried on the south side of this burial ground; that the fieldhands were probably buried elsewhere on the plantation. There are no grave markers for the blacks buried here.
TALBOT PLANTATION SLAVE
CEMETERY, JACKSON
In a memoir published in THE JACKSON SUN, December 27, 1944, Dr. Herman Hawkins an elderly citizen of Jackson wrote of the James L. Talbot homeplace, Beuna Vista, from the portico of the mansion "down the long avenue to the entrance of Talbot Avenue, his eyes rested, just on his left and about the corner now of Cedar Street and King Street on the 'sacred burial grounds of the family' with its marble grave stones almost hidden by the honeysuckle vines which surround it. Its walks were bordered by a profusion of roses and lillies while graceful seats for those who wished to linger a while were placed conveniently. It was separated on the west from the extensive garden by a box hedge and west of the garden and farther north was a circle of cedars 400 feet in diameter forming the burial ground of 7the slaves used on the place. This box hedge on a broad curve bordered the extended carriage drive to the carriage house and stables. The same kind of hedge divided the cabins and their yards from the rest of the premises to the back." Jack D. Wood of Jackson who researched the historic Talbot property states that by a "rough guess" the location of the Talbot slave graveyard was south of Arlington between Prospect and Campbell streets. When this area was developed around the turn of the century for residences there is no record that the slave remains were removed, hence these are probably covered by house sites.
The St. Luke Episcopal Church, Jackson, register, 1855-1903, lists the following burials on James L. Talbot's homeplace:
FLORENCE child of Fanny, J. L. Talbot’s servant, died July 2, 1860
CHARLES servant of J. L. Talbot, died November 22, 1861
TEMPERANCE servant of J. L. Talbot, died July 5, 1862
TURK/TURKEY CREEK CEMETERY
Located about 2 miles south of the Chester-Madison counties border, being in the extreme north of the former county. Situated on the east side of North Pisgah Road about .7 mile south of its juncture with Wilson School Road and 2.9 miles south of Pinson, Tennessee. The Turkey Creek CME Church was located adjacent the cemetery but this congregation disbanded in 1979 and the church building was eventually demolished.
C. E. STEED, Died 4/3/34, A. C. Ford /Funeral Home/
IRENE LOLLER, Mother, 1897-1976
THOMAS LOLLER, Mar. 15, 1882-Mar. 31, 1978, In Loving Memory
LIZZIE TOWNSEND, 1896-1967
GUY COMBS, PVT Co A, World War I, July 14, 1894-July 27, 1966
ISAIAH STEED, U.S. Navy, May 27, 1926-Jan. 24, 1983
(Page 40)
HENRY McKNIGHT, Nov. 5, 1857-Nov. 30, 1929, At Rest
BABY /no other information/
WILL McKNIGHT, Oct. 17, 1896-June 11, 1973
LIDDIE TRICE, 1909-1984
ANNIE McKNIGHT, 12-17-1907-1-25-1987
ATHENEAL J. DAVIS, 1907-1956, At Rest
WILL SPENCER, Tenn. Pvt Co H, 808 Pioneer Inf. W.W.I, December 25, 1891-November 29, 1971
Rev. LUTHER E. HAMLETT, Aug. 3, 1892-Aug. /no day/ 1929
Double tombstone: JEFF McKNIGHT, Died Jan. 21, 1949\CALLIE McKNIGHT, Died Mar. 20, 1957
JAMES DAVIS, May 1905-Nov. 5, 1940, Gone but not forgotten
Mr. FRANK SMITH, Died Oct. 30, 1992, age 71 yrs., Stephenson-Shaw Fun. Home Marker
MARTHA LOU LOCKETT, Aug. 13, 1928-Mar. 21, 1980, Our Beloved Mother
CAKLIP, hus. of Lucy STEED, Born 1844, Died Oct. 6, 1917 [His Madison Co. death certificate states that Calib Steed was born in 1852 and died Oct. 7, 1917. Born in Chester Co., Tennessee]
ROBERT LEE WYNN, April 18, 1885-Feb. 6, 1965
Other Persons Buried in this Cemetery with Madison County Death Certificates:
MACK HUNTER, died Aug. 5, 1916, aged 31 years
FRED HOPPER, Oct. 31, 1892-Dec. 17, 1916
HASSIE NEAL, March 10, 1888-July 7, 1917
CATHERINE LOLA /Loller?/, Nov. 1922-April 14, 1923. Daughter of Jim Lola
RUBY HARRIS, died Nov. 25, 1924, aged 2 weeks
UTLEY CEMETERY
In 1921 there were two known places in old Civil District 12 that could have been the location mentioned in a death certificate referred to as "the Utley Place." On Medina Road, about .2 mile west of Spring Creek (village) was the residence of Horace and Minnie Utley; on the same side of this road, south, at .8 mile is this community's old cemetery long called the Utley Cemetery, evidently for the reason that several members of the family of that surname are buried here. Likely the child named below was buried in the Utley Cemetery.
SADIE BOND, stillborn May 6, 1921 to Walter Bond and Sadie Burton Bond (Death certificate information)
(Page 41)
ZION HILL BAPTIST CHURCH CEMETERY
Located east of Jackson, Tennessee on the south side of Mifflin Road about 6.5 miles east of its juncture with Beech Bluff Road. The cemetery a short distance west of the Zion Hill Baptist Church.
LUCY MAE HUNT, April 10, 1980, funeral home marker
Mr. GOLDIE BELL, 4-25-1900-12-19-1979, funeral home marker
HOMER GODWIN, 12-22-1992, Mercer Funeral Home . Marker
Mr. E. WASHINGTON, SR., 10-30-1993, Mercer Funeral Home MarkerNELLA CAVER, Nov. 5, 1983, Mercer Funeral Home Marker
JUANITA GODWIN, Jan. 30, 1986, Mercer Funeral Home Marker
Mr. ACIE H. HART, Nov. 29, 1979, Mercer Funeral Home Marker
GEORGIA ANN ROSS, 2-22-1900-6-22-1982
Double tombstone with no surname inscribed: BESSIE MAE, 2-12-1927\JOHN L. JR., 2-22-1923
JAMES EDWARD BROOKS, June 3, 1935-July 12, 1999
Mrs. Veola Jones, long-time member of Zion Hill Baptist Church, says that Mr. E. Washington is Mr. Emmitt Washington, Sr. That the surname of John L. and Bessie is ROSS. That the grave with a funeral home marker with panel of information missing, next to Mr. E. Washington, Sr. is that of BARBARA WASHINGTON, his daughter, who predeceased him.
NAME UNKNOWN SLAVE CEMETERY
This graveyard is located just north of the entrance of Lowell Thomas Road into Hurts Chapel Road. Mr. J. B. Hurt, a black man, born in 1927, a life-long resident of this area, told the compiler, June 15, 1998 that in a pasture or field this old cemetery is located, its precise location now being lost as no tombstones are at the site. He could not recall particular names of any persons buried in this cemetery.
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