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