Clifton's African American Lodges

 

This is hopefully the beginning of a series of posts looking at African American lodges in some of Tennessee’s smaller towns.

 

Clifton, Tennessee, is a town in Wayne County, Tennessee. It is situated on the Tennessee River, and is sixteen miles north of the county seat of Waynesboro. The town flourished in the decades following the Civil War. By 1876, it was described as “a flourishing little town of five or six hundred inhabitants, situated on the Tennessee River. It has five dry goods stores, two drug stores, two saloons, one saddler’s shop, one hotel, one foundry . . .”1 Despite its location on the Tennessee River, by 1920 the town’s growth slowed, and it was no longer considered as a bustling town.

Close up of Colton's Map of Tennessee (1876) showing Wayne County. Clinton is circled in red. Image from Library of Congress.

It may come as a surprise, but in the first two decades of the twentieth century, Clifton was home to a thriving African American community with at least 3 different African American lodges, 2 churches, and a school. The churches in the community were St. James M.E. Church, an A.M.E. church, and Mt. Tabor Baptist Church.

The Knights of Tabor had a lodge in Clifton. The Knights of Tabor was a fraternal group originally established in Independence, Missouri in 1871 by Rev. Moses Dickinson, an A.M.E. pastor. Both men and women were allowed to join the organization, with men meeting in “temples” and women meeting in “tabernacles.” The group paid sick and death benefits.2  In 1942, a Knights of Tabor hospital was started in Mound Bayou, Mississippi (http://knightsanddaughtersoftabor.com/taborian-hospital). In Clifton, the Knights of Tabor did things such as give a grand concert in 1910 and hold a picnic in 1912.

"Clifton Notes," from Nashville Globe, April 22, 1910

The United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten (also referred to as the U.B.F. and S.M.T.) were also a part of the African American community in Clifton. The U.B.F. started as a men-only benevolent organization in Louisville, Kentucky in 1861 and was made up of both the enslaved and freedmen. After the Civil War, the group reorganized and began to spread to states that bordered Kentucky. Women were allowed to join the group in 1878 when the Sisters of the Mysterious Ten were added to the U.B.F. There may have been as many as 250,000 members of the organization in 1906.3

Information on the United Brothers of Friendship from the Nashville Globe, December 29, 1911

In Clifton, members of the U.B.F. and S.M.T. held annual picnics and sermons. Local members of the U.B.F. were also active in both the Grand Lodge and in furthering the interests of the of the U.B.F. by setting up lodges in other towns. For example, in August 1911, it was noted that A.L. Warrington and Mrs. I.V. Mathes travelled to nearby Dixonville to set up a U.B.F. and S.M.T. lodge in that town. Also in 1911, several local Clifton members of the U.B.F. attended the Grand Lodge meeting in Memphis. Two of the members, Prof. M.C. Jones and George Johnson, were also elected to office at that meeting. 

Clip from the Nashville Globe, August 11, 1911

The Benevolent Society had 2 lodges in Clifton – Lodge No. 90 and Lodge No. 132. Lodge 90 met on the 1^st and 3^rd Monday nights of the month, and Lodge 132 met on the 1^st and 3^rd Saturday afternoons of the month. In 1926, Lodge No. 90 had 46 members, and owned property valued at $125.

It appears that the Benevolent Society owned a lodge building in Clifton, known as Benevolent Hall. For Christmas 1909, students of the Clinton Training School held their Christmas exercises at Benevolent Hall, before quite a large crowd. Other groups, such as the High Art Club, used the building for entertainments as well. The Benevolent Society was active, hosting annual sermons and giving picnics for the members.

"Clifton Notes," Nashville Globe, January 14, 1910

In 1913, the Nashville Globe reported on the election of officers in the Benevolent Society, which gives us the opportunity to look at the people who were officers in the organization. Both men and women were elected to office, with a woman, Mrs. B.E. Spears, elected as president. In addition to officers such as Secretary, Treasurer, Chaplain, and head of Sick Committee, there was also a Board of Directors and an Advisory Board.

Clip from Nashville Globe, April 18, 1913, listing the officers elected to the Benevolent Society

Who were these officers? While I could not find information on all of them, I was able to find information on some. Mrs. Bettie Spears lived on Morris Avenue of Clifton in 1910, and was married to John Spears, a day laborer. Bettie did not work outside the home, which probably allowed her the time to preside over the Benevolent Society. The Spears family did own their home mortgage-free.  Mrs. Nannie Montague, the secretary, was aged 29 in 1910, making her approximately 32 when she served as secretary of the Benevolent Society. She worked as a cook in a private home. In 1910, Nannie was married but lived in a home on Elm Street in Clifton with her brother and her 3 children.

Miss Allena Hendricks, assistant secretary of the Benevolent Society in 1913, was approximately 20 years old in 1913. In 1910, she lived with her mother and stepfather on Elm Street in Clifton. Allena worked as a cook in a private home, as did her mother. 

Mart Mayberry, the treasurer and member of the Board of Directors, may have been one of the older members of the group. He was born in c. 1848, making him approximately 65 years old in 1913.  He was a farm laborer and married to Susan, who worked outside the home as a washerwoman.

Jerry Dillahay, the chief marshal and member of Board of Directors, was born in c. 1863, making him approximately 50 years old when he was elected to the Board of Directors. In 1910, he worked in a factory and lived in Clifton. By the time he died in 1918, he was working as a farmer/farm laborer.

Husband and wife Man and Luella Cook served on the Board of Directors (Man) and Trustees (Luella). Man was born in c. 1879 and Luella was born in c. 1881, making them approximately 34 and 32 when they served as a director and a trustee for the Benevolent Society.  In 1910, they lived on Pillow Street in Clifton, with Man working odd jobs and Luella working as a washerwoman in a private home.

So what does looking at the officers of the Benevolent Society tell us? It seems to indicate that many of the officers were solidly working class. They worked in odd jobs, in factories, and in private homes as cooks or washerwomen. They probably needed the sick benefits and death benefits that the Benevolent Society provided to their members as a safety net.

It is interesting to see that Clifton was home to a thriving African American community that contained a number of community institutions such as lodges, churches, and a school. When studying Tennessee history, places like Clifton are often overlooked. Clifton was not a large town. It never served as the county seat, home to the governmental workings of Wayne County. But it does highlight what life was like for a number of Tennesseans in the early twentieth century. They lived in small towns. They were members of churches and lodges. They worked in their community. They lived a life worthy of documentation.

Notes

1. J.B. Killebrew, Introduction to the Resources of Tennessee, Vol. 2 (Nashville: Tavel, Eastman & Howell, 1874), 977-978.

2. Theda Skocpol, Ariane Liazos, and Marshall Ganz, What a Mighty Power We Can Be: African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 52-53.

3. Skocpol et al., What a Mighty Power We Can Be, 49-50.

Sparta's Benevolent Society

I have posted before about finding the Proceedings of the Fifty-eighth Delegated Assembly of the Benevolent Orders State of Tennessee, dating to 1926.  Part of this treasure trove of information is a section in the back with the lodge number and town of each Benevolent Society lodge in the state in that year. Other information also includes the number of members for each lodge as well as the value of their cash holdings and property at that time. I'm slowly working my way through this list to gain a better understanding of the scope of the Benevolent Society.

One thing that stuck out was that Sparta, Tennessee, the county seat of White County on the Cumberland Plateau, was the home of 3 lodges.  Being that this is not a section of the state known for a large African American population, I was intrigued by the number of lodges.  Additionally, these 3 lodges reported a total of 143 members in 1926.

Since no census record exists for 1926, I looked at the 1920 Census for Sparta to learn more about the African American population of the town at the period.  Of the 1,517 people enumerated in that 1920 census in Sparta, 245 were identified as black or mulatto. The remaining 1,272 residents were identified as white. This means that 16% of Sparta's population in 1920 was African American.  It was more than I had anticipated.  Furthermore, this means that possibly something close to 58% of the African American community was a member of the Benevolent Society.

Looking more deeply at the census records, I noticed a pattern to where African Americans lived. While there were some white households with individual African Americans living in the home (usually as servants or cooks), the majority of the African American population lived along South Jail Street, North Main Street, West Church Street, West Bridge Street, and Sand Bottoms Street. It was clearly a segregated town, not unusual in Tennessee or the South during this period.

A section of the 1920 Census for Sparta showing a predominantly African American population in this part of town.

I then turned to the Sanborn Insurance Maps, hoping to get a better sense of where these streets were located in the 1920s. While the 1921 Sanborn Map did not show most of these streets, I did find the African American section on the 1931 Sanborn Map of Sparta.

1931 Sanborn Insurance Map (Sheet 7) of Sparta, TN showing an African American section of town.

In a section bounded by North Bridge Street, Klondyke, Church Street, and an unnamed street, was the African American section of Sparta. Three African American churches are located in this area as well as the African American school. And sitting beside the 1st Baptist Church (Colored) (as labeled on the map) was a building labeled "Hall." Lodges, churches, and schools were often located together in African American communities across the state, so it is very likely that this Hall is a lodge hall. A second Hall can be found 2 buildings away from the 1st M.E. Church (Colored) (as labeled on the map).  And given that the Benevolent Society in Sparta had 143 members in 1926, it is very possible (and quite likely) that the Benevolent Society lodges met in one of these buildings.

A cursory glance at Google maps suggests that these buildings (as well as the churches) no longer exist.  Wali Rashash Kharif and William Lynwood Montell, in Reminisces and Reflections: African Americans in the Kentucky-Tennessee Upper Cumberland Since the Civil War (2005) states that the African American population of Sparta and White County declined significantly during the 20th century, and that there were only 518 African Americans left in the entire county by 1930.  It seems likely that the Benevolent Society did not survive long into the 1930s.

Mapping the Benevolent Society of Tennessee

As I mentioned in a July 2017 post, I recently found a copy of the proceedings from the 1926 meeting of the Benevolent Society in Tennessee. One of the interesting pieces of information in that is the list of every lodge that existed in the state of Tennessee at that time.

Although this list does not show the street address for each lodge, it does list the town the lodge was located.  To that end, I created a simple Google map to gain a better understanding of the distribution of lodge locations in 1926.

Benevolent Society lodges in 1926. Courtesy of Google Maps.

As expected, the majority of lodges were located in Middle Tennessee. There were some surprises (such as lodges located in Dayton and Kingston).  I plan on doing more work to narrow down locations, if possible, but I think this is a useful tool for understanding the spread and scope of the group in 1926.

To see the full map, you can visit my map here.

The Benevolent Society after World War I

My initial thoughts on the Benevolent Society (and other African American benevolent groups) were that these types of organizations slowly died out in the 1920s due to a variety of factors, such as World War I, the Great Migration, and (in the 1930s) the Great Depression. However, recent research has shown that this is not entirely true.

Cover page of the 1926 Proceedings of the annual convention of the Benevolent Society.

While at the Tennessee State Library and Archives last week, I found a copy of the Proceedings of the Fifty-eighth Delegated Assembly of the Benevolent Orders State of Tennessee. This assembly took place in Murfreesboro, Tennessee between August 9 and August 12, 1926. In addition to listing the speakers, what they spoke about, and the business of the annual meeting, a list of all of the presidents of every Benevolent Society lodge in the state can be found near the back of the book. This treasure trove lists the number of the lodge and the town it was located in. I am excited to spend some time in the near future combing through the proceedings to glean as much information about the structure and spread of the organization.

Another interesting insight from my initial look at the Proceedings is that this group was not solely confined to Middle Tennessee. Although the majority of lodges were located in towns across Middle Tennessee, there are also lodges in West Tennessee towns such as Humboldt and Jackson and East Tennessee towns such as Dayton and Chattanooga. I hope very soon to create a general map of all towns with lodges in 1926.

A partial list of lodges from the 1926 Proceedings

Beyond the 1926 Proceedings, I have found evidence of Benevolent Society lodges in Nashville well into the 1930s and beyond. The 1933 Nashville City Directory shows at least 4 Benevolent Society lodge halls still present at that period.

The 1933 Nashville City Directory shows the location of at least 4 Benevolent Society lodges.

In fact, one lodge listed as being located at 1338 Lewis Street can be found in the 1955 Nashville City Directory, making a strong argument for the persistence of the group well past World War I and the Great Depression.

1955 Nashville City Directory showing a Benevolent Society Hall remained at 1338 Lewis Street

While I am still working through various materials, I believe a strong argument can be made for the continuance of African American benevolent groups, and specifically the Benevolent Society, beyond the Great Depression and both World Wars.

Benevolent Society No. 84 Cemetery, Hamilton Church Pike, Antioch

One of my favorite Benevolent cemeteries, and one of the smallest, is Benevolent Society No. 84 on Hamilton Church Pike in southeast Nashville. One reason it is my favorite is pure bias - it is located not far from where I grew up. I also love it because it has an abandoned lodge building on site.

What is likely an abandoned lodge building located on the property of the cemetery.

The cemetery is small, not marked, well maintained, and backs up to a suburban neighborhood. I feel that some graves may actually be located in the back yards of the houses behind the cemetery. The cemetery was a bit overgrown at the rear when I visited it, and it seemed to possibly extend into the neighborhood behind it. There were not very many marked graves (not more than 20), although it is always possible there are unmarked graves at the rear of the cemetery. There is at least one veteran buried here.  Many of the stones dated from the last half of the 20th century.

Tombstone located in an overgrown area at the rear of the cemetery.

Tombstone at the cemetery

Graves at the cemetery.

There are several mentions of the lodge in the Nashville Globe.  It often met with Benevolent Society No. 107 of Una, another small community in southeast Davidson County. For example, that paper noted in August 1909 that the two groups met together at B.O. No. 84 on "Hamilton Hill" (what the community located around what is now Hamilton Church Pike was once called).

From the Nashville Globe, August 27, 1909

I have done a bit of research on the members buried at this cemetery, using the cemetery transcription from findagrave.com. (http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=2300072) I was hoping to see what I could learn about what types of people were members of this lodge.  I learned that Albert Miller (1854-1939) rented a home in the community and worked as a road laborer in 1930. His death certificate, however, lists his occupation as farmer. Mr. Miller was literate and was not a veteran. His wife, Victoria Trimble Miller (1874-1941) was born in Rutherford County.  After his death, Victoria lived at 54 Trimble Street in Nashville.

I also researched Bernettie Whitsey (1875-1968).  Mrs. Whitsey was a laundress in 1930, married to John Whitsey, a farmer. Living with them in their home were two stepdaughters and two grandchildren, ages 6 and 8.  Like the Millers, the Whitseys rented their home. John has been born in Williamson County, and he died in 1943 at the age of 74.

I hope to do more genealogical research of the people buried in the Benevolent cemeteries. It humanizes the group, and it gives me a much better idea of what the members were like.  It also gives me a better sense of the importance of the group to the members.  These members listed here likely did not enjoy great financial prosperity, so a group like the Benevolent Society, which offered sick and death benefits at a time when the government did not, was likely very important to the Whitseys and the Millers. In time, I also hope that I learn about the fate of the lodge, and whether there are any members alive who remember meeting in this building.

Side view of the building. It is a concrete block building with a gable front roof, brick chimney, and several windows.

Interior of the building as it appeared in late 2012.

Benevolent Society cemeteries of Middle Tennessee

Lately I have been thinking about the number of Benevolent Society cemeteries I have observed in Middle Tennessee, and whether there we can look at these cemeteries as evidence to tell us more about the group itself.  My thoughts are still being clarified, so this is something of an exercise in gathering thoughts in a semi-coherent manner.

To begin, I do not believe I have observed all the cemeteries in Middle Tennessee that were established by the Benevolent Society.  I think that, as the group died out in smaller communities, the cemeteries started by the Benevolent Society were given other names.  Also, I think that it is very possible that some cemeteries were surveyed by well-meaning transcriptionists in the past, and a name assigned to the cemetery that the community that established it would not have recognized.  For example, if a cemetery has fallen into apparent disuse, any sign that existed marking the name of the cemetery may have disappeared.  When a well-meaning genealogist then transcribed the names on the visible tombstones, a name, likely reflecting the last name of one of the families buried there, was assigned to the cemetery.  I also think some may have suffered from development, and after wooden grave markers deteriorated, they were overlooked and forgotten on the landscape.

Marker to the Benevolent Society No. 11 in the Benevolent Cemetery in Murfreesboro

Marker to the "B.O" (Benevolent Order, another name for the Benevolent Society), Port Royal

One thing I have found is that several of these cemeteries have a large, ornate marker to the local chapter of the Benevolent Society.  Examples include the Benevolent Cemetery in Murfreesboro, Mount Ararat in Shelbyville (a Benevolent Society cemetery), and the Benevolent Cemetery in Port Royal. Individual grave markers in these cemeteries are not often that ornate, and this leads me to think that while the Benevolent Society as a whole may have enjoyed some financial stability, the individual members did not enjoy the same level of financial resources.

Monument to the Benevolent Society in Mount Ararat Cemetery in Shelbyville. It reads "Sacred to the memory of the honored dead of the Benevolent Society. Their works do follow them. August 1897."

Commemorative marker for the Benevolent Society at Mt. Ararat Cemetery in Nashville. This cemetery was organized by the Benevolent Society and by the Sons of Relief, another fraternal group.

  Something else noticeable in the Benevolent Society cemeteries is that they are physical representations of the segregated landscape African Americans navigated in Tennessee. Some, such as the Mount Ararat Cemetery in Shelbyville and the Benevolent Society Cemetery in Goodlettsville, are located adjacent or across the road from an older, white cemetery. In the case of the cemetery in Goodlettsville, the two cemeteries, Benevolent Society (African American) and Cole Cemetery (white) are adjacent with no fence between. In that case, it is difficult now to know which cemetery is which, but my gut tells me the community was never in doubt of which cemetery was black and which was white.  I think that more should be done to document cemeteries as sites of segregation in Tennessee, and how Jim Crow pursued you even into death.

Mount Ararat (black) Cemetery in Shelbyville in shown in the foreground. The road and the cemetery in the background (surrounded by a fence) is the white Willow Mount Cemetery, established in the 1840s.

Mount Ararat Cemetery (Benevolent) - Shelbyville, Bedford County

Mount Ararat Cemetery in Shelbyville (March 2013)

Back in March, I had the opportunity to slip away to Shelbyville to look for a cemetery associated with the Benevolent Society. Although the conventional wisdom seems to be that benevolent lodges are dead and have no relevance in today's culture, I once again found a cemetery associated with a benevolent group that is in excellent condition.  Thanks to field work and seeing some of these cemeteries for myself, I have re-evaluated what I think I know about African American fraternal and benevolent groups.

The cemetery is located on West End Avenue, across from the large cemetery, Willow Mount, used by white citizens in Shelbyville since the 1840s.  Once again, the realities of segregated life in Tennessee showed themselves on the landscape - two cemeteries, separated by a fence and a gravel road, one for whites, one for blacks. Despite this separation, they are located adjacent to each other, and both very near the location of Turner Normal School, an African American school opened in the 1880s.

Division between the cemeteries.  You can see the fence and road that separate the white cemetery from the black cemetery on the left side of the picture.

Mount Ararat has an association with the Benevolent Society in Shelbyville.  There is a large monument to the Benevolent Society in the cemetery, which reads, "Erected to the sacred memory of the honored dead of the Benevolent Society. Their works do follow them. August 1897."  Additionally, the cemetery is referenced in the Nashville Globe, an African American newspaper, several times.  An article on May 17, 1918 states, "The benevolent order will hold its annual exercises in Mt. Ararat cemetery next Sunday. The speakers are Rev. W.A. Smith, Prof. McAdams, and Rev. E.F. Gooch."  Mrs. Lou Emma Tillman, beloved local teacher, is buried in what the Nashville Globe referred to as "the Benevolent Cemetery" in her death notice published July 19, 1918.

Nashville Globe May 28, 1909 blurb stating that Mount Ararat Cemetery is property of the Benevolent Society in Shelbyville.

 

Monument to the Benevolent Society located in Mount Ararat Cemetery.

As for the cemetery itself, it is unmarked but very well-maintained.  There are graveled roads throughout the cemetery, and a large number of trees.  There are approximately 400-500 burials, and Find A Grave has them transcribed here. In addition to the Benevolent Society monument, there are other evidences of fraternal groups throughout the cemetery, as several graves have carvings from the Masons, Knights of Pythias, and GUOOF.

Nashville Globe May 17, 1918

Nashville Globe July 19, 1918

Freedmen's Savings Bank Registers

Although this might not seem like a post about lodges, it actually is.  The registers for the Freedmen's Savings & Trust Company are a great resource to use when trying to find out more about the officers of benevolent and fraternal lodges.  The Freedmen's Savings Bank was incorporated in March 1865 and branches of the bank were located throughout the South.  In Tennessee, there were branches in at least Memphis, Nashville and Columbia.  The Bank went bankrupt in 1874; however, the registers for the account holders of the bank still exist for some of the branches.  You can find these records on microfilm at the National Archives or at your state archives.  Also, some websites such as Heritage Quest have digitized the records and made them searchable by name.

What makes these records so fascinating is the level of detail they contain.  They often list the name of the ex-enslaved's master and mistress, where the account holder was born, who their parents were, and a physical description of the account holder.  The ones for lodges and other groups will list the names of the officers of the organization.

Ledger for Henry Burney, officer of the Benevolent Society
Nashville branch of the Freedmen's Savings Bank

As this ledger shows us, Henry Burney was the secretary of the Benevolent Society in Nashville in 1872.  He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia and was about 34 years old.  He worked as a nursery hand and was married to Sarah.  The notation for his parents lists their names but states, "doesn't know whether he is living." The notation for his siblings reads, "don't where they are."  The ledgers bring home the impact slavery had on society, when people were separated from families and not able to locate them after the war.

Ledger for the Daughters of Zion No. 1 of Memphis
Memphis Branch of the Freedmen's Savings Bank

The ledger above for the Daughters of Zion No. 1 of Memphis is helpful in that it lists the officers of the group.  I then take these names and look for them in the census to learn occupations, where they lived, marital status, etc.

With the help of these ledgers from the Freedmen's Savings Bank, I hope to learn more about the people who were officials in lodges.

Benevolent Order No. 107, Una (Davidson County)

I grew up in south Nashville, near Haywood Lane and Una-Antioch Pike.  Imagine my surprise one day while scanning the Nashville Globe when I discovered a mention of an African American lodge in the Una community.  While I have not located where the lodge was located, I have since found several other mentions of the lodge, which I will share here.

I have blogged previously about other Benevolent lodges or cemeteries in Tennessee; this was a prolific and active group throughout the state.  I do not know when the lodge in Una was founded; the October 2, 1908 edition of the Nashville Globe states, "Benevolent Order Number 107 will dedicate its new hall on the third Sunday in October, with addresses by Grand President Swanson, Rev. Preston Taylor, J.H. Harding, B. Manier...." and a list of other officials.

Nashville Globe, October 30, 1908

The October 30, 1908 edition of the Nashville Globe contains a write-up of the grand opening under "Una Notes."  No location for the hall is given, but the article states, "The house was tastefully decorated by Mesdames Belle Cannon, Jennie Burnett, Ellen Leath, Annie Leach."

Other mentions of the lodge in the Nashville Globe throughout 1908 and 1909 mention the various entertainments and installations held at the facility.  On December 4, 1908, the paper reported that, "Quite an amusing entertainment was given by the Ladies of Benevolent Order No. 107, at their hall on Ethridge Avenue." I have not yet been able to find an Ethridge Avenue in Nashville, either on Sanborn maps from the period or on current maps.

The Benevolent Lodge No. 107 sounds like an active group, hosting a Christmas entertainment on December 29, 1908, electing officers in March 1909, and giving an entertainment in August 1909 at which Rev. C.H. Williams was the featured speaker.

Nashville Globe, December 25, 1908

Like so many other groups, this once activity community may have slowly dissipated.  It may have been struck down by the financial crises of the Great Depression.  African Americans leaving the South as part of the Great Migration may have diminished the membership.  Or it may still exist and thrive and continue to serve its purpose of creating community bonds.  I would love to know the answer one day.

Nashville Globe, March 19, 1909

Mt. Ararat Cemetery, Nashville (Davidson County)

Gate to Mt. Ararat Cemetery (photograph by author)

 
Looking out of place today amidst the industrial corridor that is the Fesslers Lane area of Nashville lies one of Nashville's oldest African American lodge cemeteries.  In April 1869, the Sons of Relief No. 1 and the Colored Benevolent Society in Nashville came together to purchase the land and create the cemetery (Bobby L. Lovett, The African-American History of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780-1930, 108).  Burials have continued since that time, and to date there are hundreds of burials in the cemetery.

Cornerstone of the stone gates installed c. 1914. (photograph by author)

The cemetery has undergone periods of neglect followed by transformation.  By the middle 1910s it was a largely overgrown, neglected burial ground.  A period of revival in the 1920s was followed by another period of neglect, and by the 1970s the cemetery was overgrown and businesses such as Purity Dairy and trucking companies encroached on the space.  In 1982 ownership of the cemetery passed to Greenwood Cemetery, an African American cemetery founded by undertaker Preston Taylor in the 1880s.  Mt. Ararat is currently owned by National Christian Missionary Convention.

View of the encroachment on the cemetery.  (photograph by author)

The creation of the cemetery by two African American lodges is not its only contribution to lodge history in Nashville.  A number of people buried in the cemetery had connections to a number of other fraternal and benevolent lodges in Nashville.  Mt. Ararat is the burial site of Nelson McGavock, first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Prince Hall Masons in the state of Tennessee.  A quick reconnaissance of the cemetery also yielded a tombstone showing the symbol of the Mosaic Templars, an African American lodge founded in Little Rock, Arkansas by ex-slaves, one of which was born in Moscow, Tennessee.

Tombstone of Nelson McGavock, Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons.

The symbol for the Mosaic Templars is located above

 the name of Lucinda Boyd.

I think Mt. Ararat is interesting also because it shows that lodges worked together to improve their communities. Places such as Mt. Ararat Cemetery I believe show the collaboration and cooperation that lodges displayed towards each other. Rather than competing for the membership and dues of the community, groups worked together to create community institutions. I also find it interesting that although Mt. Ararat has faced several threats over the years it is still an active cemetery. People continue to care for it and to find meaning in it.

The transcription for the cemetery may be found here and here.

Benevolent Cemetery, Murfreesboro (Rutherford County)

Benevolent Society Cemetery, Murfreesboro, January 2012 (image by author)

Tucked away in an industrial zone and virtually inaccessible by car lies the burial grounds of Benevolent Society No. 11.  Although this cemetery was once a vital part of the community, today it sits overgrown and overlooked.  According to research done by John Lodl and others at the Rutherford County Archives, more than six hundred African Americans are buried in this graveyard.  Yet the history of the group responsible for creating this cemetery is largely forgotten.

The Benevolent Society in Tennessee dates to at least 1865, when the Colored Benevolent Society was formed in Nashville.  The General Assembly soon amended the Articles of Incorporation of the group to allow for branches and lodges to be established throughout the state (A.A. Taylor, The Negro in Tennessee1865-1889, 156-157).  By 1900, lodges were located across the state, in locations such as Memphis, Jackson, Nashville, and Fayetteville.

It is not known when the Benevolent Society in Murfreesboro was organized, but it is known that they purchased land for their cemetery in 1897.  This property was located off of South Church Street (also known as the Shelbyville Highway).

The Benevolent Society in Murfreesboro must have thrived because the Nashville Globe reported in 1908 that the Fortieth Annual Session of the Delegated Assembly of the Benevolent Orders was held in Murfreesboro.  The headline boasted of "Complete Successful Four Days Work at Rutherford County Capital" (Nashville Globe, August 14, 1908).   Describing the convention, the paper stated, "The town of Murfreesboro has been all aglow with the major portion of this work with the spirit of Benevolence, having had the state assembly in their midst" (Nashville Globe, August 14, 1908).  The paper also described the event as "Historic Town of Murfreesboro overrun with Benevolent Workers."

Benevolent Cemetery, January 2012 (image by author)

    Despite the warm welcome given to the convention members in 1908, the Benevolent Society in Murfreesboro did not survive.  By 1988, the last surviving member of the organization deeded the cemetery to Allen Chapel AME Church.  Despite sporadic clean-up efforts throughout the last two decades, the cemetery remains overgrown and in poor condition.

Obscured tombstone (image by author)

View of Church Street from the cemetery (image by author)