MY RIVERSIDE CEMETERY TOMBSTONE
INSCRIPTIONS SCRAPBOOK PART II
By Jonathan K. T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1992
RIVERSIDE CEMETERY,
JACKSON, TENNESSEE
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I.
As I reported in my first Riverside scrapbook, the Lancaster family established what became the city cemetery, but what for years had been their family burial ground, just to the southwest margin of Jackson. They sold off lots to other townsfolk and this high ground soon became a popular place to bury the local dead. In 1850, Samuel Lancaster sold "his" graveyard and adjoining acreage (the "south slope") to the city, whereupon the old cemetery that had served the municipality for years was abandoned. From this first cemetery many remains were disinterred and brought for reburial in the new cemetery.
For years, the more western part of the south slope of Riverside Cemetery was used for burials; small lots were available there as well as single graves. Early in the Civil War period, after the Battle of Britton Lane and throughout those sad years, Confederate soldiers were buried in a large lot set aside on the mid-south slope. Perhaps in an effort to reserve civilian lot spaces on the south slope, other Confederate soldiers were buried on what we now call Lot 224. Whatever the reason for there having been set aside two specific lots for such burials, all were long revered burial areas.
After the war, the south slope filled up with burials, as well as the lots purchased there by families in years past. The higher elevation had been largely sold, some in really large lots. In the early 1870s, James F. Hadaway was sexton for this cemetery, known at that time simply as the "city cemetery." (WHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, August 26, 1871) In the winter of 1871-1872, the remaining "dust and bones" of persons buried in the older cemetery (located where Johnson Street now enters Airways) were brought to Riverside for reburial. (For more information about the old Johnson Street cemetery, see in this scrapbook, Addendum I.)
The north margin of the cemetery at this period was basically what is today called fifth street within the grounds of Riverside. Some effort was made to negotiate purchase of land extending out from the south slope, to no avail. Thomas L. Robinson owned the field and a house lot on the north of the cemetery. He proposed to the city council (as the mayor and aldermen were wont to call themselves back then)that they purchase this small tract from him, as an addition for the cemetery; to sell the lots therein and pay him the proceeds, thereby making it easier for the city to pay for the land. (IBID., Feb. 10, 1872)
With Jackson's steady growth, the railroad industry bringing in more and more people, more burial ground was needed. An acre and a sixth were purchased from Robinson, for $1340.75, on June 3,
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1872 and he was to be paid for this acreage by installment. Lots sold rather well in this new section of the cemetery that was known to that generation of Jacksonians as the "1878 Addition" to the burial ground. However, a worrisome hitch developed with the legal ownership of this very property. Robinson had bought the tract from the Stoddert family and hadn't finished paying for it when he sold most of the tract to the city. Over a long period, there was constant turmoil about this ownership. Mayor L. E. Talbot mentioned it in his "inaugural" speech early in February of 1877. As for the cemetery, he said, "The real estate in controversy is the new purchase of the city cemetery; there are a number of persons who have purchased lots from the city upon which they have buried their dead. . . ." (TRIBUNE-SUN, Jackson, Feb. 9, 1877)
The litigation reached the Madison County Chancery court; on January 22, 1878, the court ruled that in the case Harriet C. Stoddert and others v Thomas L. Robinson and the Mayor and Aldermen of Jackson, that as Robinson had purchased from the Stodderts, on Nov. 2, 1871, a certain tract of land on Depot Street, for $1552, with installment payments due annually on May 2 and November 2 of each year until the land was paid for; whereas Robinson had on June 3, 1872 sold most of this tract, or some 1.6 acres to the city for a burial ground; therefore Robinson still owed $257.03 to the Stodderts and the city owed $808.66 or $1046 in all; therefore if these separate payments had not been made by March 21, 1878, the clerk and master could proceed to sell the lots, or the lot not paid for in full. (Madison Co. Chancery Minute Bk. 9, page 300)
The Court noted, on November 11, 1878 that T. L. Robinson had paid his debt, as of May 23, 1878, but the city had not. (IBID., page 439) The city minutes show that the city had to take several hundred dollars from the municipal sanitary funds to make the final payment to the Stodderts. Whereupon, the Court ruled on January 8, 1879, "And it appearing to the Court that the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Jackson are now entitled to a decree vesting them with the title to the parcel of land held by the said city":
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Beginning at the northwest corner of the cemetery, at a stake, on McClanahan's Turnpike road and runs thence with said road to the south-corner of a lot deeded to T. L. Robinson; thence east 206 feet: thence north 133 feet to Depot (Sycamore) Street; thence east with said Depot Street 186 feet; thence south to the northeast corner of the cemetery; thence west to the beginning. |
The Robinson deed was registered by the city on July 2, 1879. (See Madison Co: Deed Bk. 30, pages 202-203; IBID., 29, page 224.)
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Black people were buried in a section at the extreme western edge of the south slope, among many whites. More lots were set aside, under the social priorities of that age, for the blacks in the new addition, the western-most lots between second and fourth streets in the cemetery. Several respected black families, including the Popes and Reids bought large lots in this area. Years later, Bishop Isaac Lane and members of his family were buried in this area also.
Sextons made monthly and/or periodic reports to the city council, like the one submitted by James Hadaway, early in May of 1876, when he reported that for the month ending May 2, he had buried one white, James Brimm, aged 35, who died with bilious fever and eight blacks. (WHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, May 6, 1876)
In a report (dated December 25, 1878), to the city council, the current sexton, John Lake, urged them to make "arrangements for more ground for the purpose of burying colored people. That part of the cemetery set apart for that purpose is nearly all occupied, only room for 10 or 12 more graves." (City Council/Board Minutes Book C, page 132)
On January 22, 1879, Lake reported the number of burials made in the cemetery since April 1, 1878 (to date). They were whites: 69; colored: 67; for a total of 136 interments. (IBID., page 183)
Finally, on May 5, 1880, the city council approved the purchase of three acres of ground, north of the city, from Wyatt A. Taylor, for a black cemetery. (IBID., Book D, page 13) This was the beginning of Mt. Olivet.
The efforts made in recent years by the city council to beautify the city cemetery didn't go unnoticed. A comment made in the WHIG-TRIBUNE, May 13, 1876, under the title, "Our Cemetery" will indicate something of the community's appreciation. "The cemetery committee, appointed by the Board deserves the highest commendation for the efficient manner in which it has discharged the duties assigned. The grounds have been thoroughly renovated and greatly beautified. New walks and streets have been opened and fifty new seats have been placed upon the grounds for the convenience of visitors. The one hundred and fifty dollars allowed by the Board for this purpose has not been misspent. In fact, the cemetery committee and any of the aldermen who interested themselves in this laudable enterprise have the thanks of the entire community. Now it behooves the Board to continue the good work which has been begun. . . . Our cemetery is a very dear and sacred place to many in the community. It is there where sleep the dearest friends and relations of days gone by. The thread of humanity which bound them to earth has been broken by a divine power and now they repose in the city of the dead. . . ."
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A new survey and map had also been approved in May of 1878, (IBID., Book C, page 5) and yet another one in April of 1882. (IBID., Book D, page 495) The old frame house located on a north section of the new addition was ordered removed in June of 1878 and a new wooden fence and gates were built on the north side of the cemetery for $114. (IBID., pages 5, 23, 48) An entry in the city council minutes, January 20, 1879 reflect an improvement effort for the cemetery (IBID., page 175):
Throughout this general period, the local newspapers highly praised the efforts made to improve the cemetery grounds. It was about 1878, so old Captain Tom Gates later wrote, that the city's cemetery committee asked the citizenry to submit possible names for the city cemetery. A cotton merchant, Benjamin Davidson, suggested the name "Riverside" and this name was adopted, although no official notice of it appears to have been made in the city council minutes. By the spring of 1880, however, the new name had caught on very well. RIVERSIDE!
A new burial location, Hollywood Cemetery, was laid out by a private cemetery company in 1887, just to the northwest of the city. A proposal was made in the spring of 1891 by several responsible citizens that the city purchase Hollywood Cemetery, adopting it as the city's new cemetery. (IBID., Book G, page 103). This proposal was duly considered but pressure was brought to bear to resist this move and the committee appointed to make its report to the city council, recommended that seeking a new location for the city cemetery "had best be deferred for a few years at least." (IBID., page 111) Even so, many people bought lots at Hollywood, thereby relieving the space problems at Riverside.
The city employed sextons for the cemetery, allowing them occasional assistance in maintaining the grounds. In the spring of 1919, the tool-house was relocated from the north side of the cemetery to the extreme southwest corner (IBID., Book N, page 279), where it or its successors have since remained.
By the second decade of this century, a cemetery association had been organized that lent sustained support for the maintenance of Riverside Cemetery. By the mid-1920s, the city's role in the well-being of the cemetery became a cooperative effort with the cemetery association. A new survey had been platted in 1903;
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yet another in 1937. Lots were sold through the city recorder until some years ago. The association's membership "aged" and as an organization, it waxed and waned and finally became defunct. Mr. W. Ed. Terry, local banker, assisted in record-keeping for the cemetery for years and yet renders assistance to people searching for graves and/or lot locations in Riverside. He has rendered a very estimable civic contribution in this manner. The city itself maintains the grounds of the cemetery, keeping them neatly cleaned and cleared of debris.
The names of the sextons of Riverside Cemetery follow; those persons who were actually employed to serve as sextons. I gleaned their names from the city board/council minutes in Mr. Russell Truell's office (City Recorder) and found him and his staff most cooperative in making their records available to me and a desk at which to peruse them. The sextons, then:
James F. Hadaway, from Reconstruction times to his death, 1878;
John Lake, 1878-1879;
W. B. R. Glover, briefly, 1879;
Fidal Spah, 1879-1882;
Abner C. Shelton, 1882-1906;
Charles Cook, 1906-1907;
James E. Hughes, 1907-1913;
Wm. C. Bray, 1913-into 1920s.
II.
Once again I would remind a reader in this scrapbook that my purpose in having compiled tombstone inscriptions, at Riverside Cemetery, has been to read and copy the less easily read inscriptions, those that in a few years will most likely be totally unreadable. For a full listing of the cemetery's inscriptions (names and vital statistics), one is referred to the publication for that purpose published by the Mid-West Genealogical Society, Jackson, in 1975. It has been useful, to me, to have the Riverside tombstone inscriptions listing prepared by Mr. Ingram James for the W.P.A. in 1937. It was a way of double-checking some of my own "interpretations" of some difficult inscriptions through his work. However, I am responsible for the tombstone inscriptions as I've read and reported them.
I am grateful to the professional staff members of the Jackson/Madison County Public Library; the State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee; the Memphis Public Library and Information Center. Mr. Jack D. Wood, of the Jackson library, continued with his reliable assistance in the Tennessee Room Collection. (The librarians and aides in the Jackson library can hardly be excelled for cheer and knowledge. Mr. Thomas Aud, head librarian, has much to his credit for developing such competence among his staff.)
Special expressions of gratitude from me, for Mr. Mickey G. Granger of the Griffin Funeral Home, Jackson; Mrs. Vivian Stockard, secretary to Dr. Coltharp at First Baptist Church, Jackson; Mrs. Betty Currie, parish secretary, St. Mary's Catholic Church, Jackson; Ms. Ann Robbins Phillips, archivist, Lambuth University; Mrs. Bernice Cargill of Fayette County for her sharing of genealogical data, generously and thoughtfully. So many others have lent assistance and they are mentioned in this scrapbook. I would include Mr. Charles H. Farmer for his sincere interest in Riverside's preservation in his role as Mayor of the City of Jackson, Tennessee.
Jonathan K. T. Smith
Jackson, Tennessee
June 1992
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