MAPLE HILL CEMETERY Phase One

MAPLE HILL CEMETERY Phase One ROBEY, JOHNSON, JONES and ROBERTS Maple Hill Cemetery circa 1863. Courtesy of the Tennessee State Library and Archives, Gilbert M. L. Johnson Collection. The same general view, 1995. ii MAPLE HILL CEMETERY Phase One by Diane Robey Dorothy Scott Johnson John Rison Jones, Jr. Frances C. Roberts 1995 The Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society Huntsville, Alabama (Post Office Box 666, Huntsville, AL 35804) Copyright 1995 The Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society Huntsville, Alabama Printed in the United States of America iv DEDICATION In memory of Diane Robey, a native of Gig Harbor, Washington, who came to Huntsville in 1964, and spent more than twenty years in researching and recording with painstaking exactness the inscriptions on the tombstones in the oldest part of Maple Hill Cemetery. Her fascination with the subject caused it to become her life work. It was her wish that any profits derived from the sale of this publication would become part of the Perpetual Care Fund of Maple Hill Cemetery. v INTRODUCTION This publication, which is being sponsored by the Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, contains a brief history of the land transactions which started and later expanded the boundaries of Maple Hill Cemetery, one of the oldest public cemeteries in Alabama. It also includes the location and descriptions of the markers and monuments in the fifteen oldest sections in the cemetary. This compilation was made possible through the work of Diane Robey who, over a period of twenty years, researched and recorded with painstaking exactness the inscriptions on each tombstone. Unfortunately, Diane Robey did not live to see her work published, but it was her hope that any profit derived from this project would be dedicated to a perpetual care fund for Maple Hill Cemetery. Some ten years ago the Huntsville Pilgrimage Association was organized to sponsor the showing of homes in the two historic districts of Huntsville. Profits from this annual event go toward the restoration of broken monuments in the oldest sections of the cemetery, especially those headstones marking the graves of prominent Huntsvillians without local descendants. All profits from the sale of this volume will go into a perpetual care fund to assure that restoration continues in the oldest sections of the cemetery. Today Maple Hill Cemetery has reached near full capacity; in a certain sense, property in Maple Hill is among the most desirable in the city. The general serenity of the area, the splendid colors of the dogwood trees in the spring and fall, the literal "presence" of history makes this spot a truly peaceful park for Huntsville's citizenry. Researchers, strollers, joggers are seen in the area daily. Every effort has been made to assure the accuracy of the material contained in this volume. It must be noted, however, that the ravages of time have defaced some monuments, making it difficult to verify inscriptions, especially dates. The authors hope there is minimal error. Each section contains the final date the stones were verified, and no burials after that date were entered. Committee members from the Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society who worked on finalizing the project include Dorothy Scott lohnson, John Rison Jones, Jr., and Frances C. Roberts. Dorothy Johnson labored to transcribe Diane Robey's field notes and prepared that part of the manuscript for publication. John Rison Jones, Jr. and Frances C. Roberts provided historical notations and compiled the brief history of the cemetery. In addition to these three individuals, the committee wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Brenda Webb, who has the responsibility for oversight of all cemeteries in the city; Nan Hall for editorial help; George Mahoney for technical advice; Ranee Pruitt and Denise Terry for library assistance, and Betty Frazier who preserved and protected Diane Robey's efforts. The architectural firm of Jones and Herrin reproduced the cemetery map, the Huntsville Museum of Art provided the John Reese photographs, Stuart Siniad enhanced the antique photograph of the cemetery, and John Rison Jones, Jr. provided the remaining photography. This volume covers only the oldest fifteen sections of the cemetery, and it is hoped that its publication will inspire future researchers to continue the work and record the remaining sections before the information is lost to the ravages of weather, vandals, and unintentional damage from maintenance machinery. vii MAPLE HILL CEMETERY: ITS ORIGINS AND EXPANSION, 1822-1930 Early pioneers of Tennessee and Georgia knew that south of the new State of Tennessee lay a rich and fertile valley claimed by two Indian tribes and the State of Georgia. Although the tribes did not occupy the land at the time, the Georgia claims were, at best, spurious, and were based on the dubious concept of "sovereignty without occupation." That philosophy was to have severe consequences throughout the nation as a result of the infamous Yazoo frauds of the 1790s. Based on its concept of "sovereignty," the Georgia legislature sold these lands to private companies, who, in turn, sold the land to gullible citizens hungry for new western acquisitions. The territory, known as "the land of the big bend of the Tennessee River," had intrigued pioneers, especially a fabled big spring, located beneath a limestone bluff at the foothills of an Appalachian spur later to be called "Monte Sano." John Hunt, the earliest documented pioneer to settle by the spring, had built his cabin there as early as 1805. About the same time, James Ditto settled some 10 miles south on the Tennessee River where he maintained a trading post, and established a ferry in 1807. There is ample evidence that Tennesseans and Georgians were well acquainted with the entire area. Obviously, this fertile land would be of great importance to the government of an expanding Mississippi Territory, more so with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The decision to incorporate this land into the United States developed well over several decades. President Washington put into place the necessary steps toward acquisition which were subsequently carried out during the administrations of Presidents Adams and Jefferson. First, Georgia's claims (1802) had to be satisfied which, of necessity, included the settlement of the claims generated by the Yazoo frauds. Second, the Chickasaw (July 23, 1805) and Cherokee (January 7, 1806) claims were negotiated by treaty and purchase. Third, in accordance with the Land Ordinances (1785 - 1800), each new land had to be surveyed so that the territory could be described with mathematical exactness, i.e., based on latitude and longitude, to be sold at public auctions with a minimum purchase of a quarter section. This would end the longtime practice of descriptions based on the distance from inanimate objects such as trees, rocks, and rivers. 1 The land ordinance system divided land into townships of 6 square miles of 36 sections and then subdivided into quarter sections. According to the Chickasaw and Cherokee treaties, the United States Secretary of War, Henry Dearborn, directed Thomas Freeman to proceed to the new territory to plot its location and to prepare the land for government sales. Freeman had come to the United States in 1784 from Ireland and settled in western Pennsylvania where George Washington placed him in charge of his lands along the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. Ten years later, Freeman assisted in the completion of the survey of the City of Washington and the District of Columbia initiated by Andrew Ellicott and Charles Pierre L'Enfant. He was involved with Ellicott in determining the thirty-first parallel boundary line of the southern United States resulting from the Treaty with Spain in 1795. Further assignments were made by President Jefferson in the newly added lands of the Louisiana Purchase. Thomas Freeman, thus, was no stranger to the American frontier. 2 On September 11, 1807, Freeman, Return J. Meigs, a Cherokee Indian Agent, General James Robertson, and Indian representatives met at Chickasaw Island (now Hobbs Island) to establish boundaries for the newly purchased Indian lands. A triangular area of 345,000 acres, south of the Tennessee state line, was created which became "old Madison County." At 86° 34' 18" longitude, a point almost midway of the base of the triangle, Freeman established the Huntsville Meridian from which point all the lands of northern Alabama were surveyed. Because of Freeman's ix reports of a land teeming with squatters, some 2,223 white inhabitants and 522 slaves, the Secretary of the Treasury, Albert Gallatin, required a census of this group. Freeman's report of January 1809 listed individual names of some 353 "Heads of F a m ilie s.T h e next decisions were to shape the political and social history of Huntsville and, subsequently, Alabama. Robert Williams, Governor of the Mississippi Territory, organized in 1798. created Madison County in the new territory by Executive Proclamation on December 18, 1808. The Territorial Legislature then extended its jurisdiction over the area on February 27, 1809, and shortly afterwards, President James Madison announced sales in the new territory to begin August 1 and to extend for three weeks at a land office in Nashville, Tennessee. Although the squatters were given the right to remain on the lands they had settled and begun to cultivate until the lands were sold, few had the necessary funds for the initial quarter section purchase required, i.e. 160 acres. John Hunt's spring was especially desirable, and this quarter section was originally bought by LeRoy Pope, a landowner from Petersburg, Georgia, with William P. Anderson and James Jackson of Nashville. This trio paid $23.50 per acre for the site while surrounding acreage went for much less, and some for the minimum asking price of $2 per acre.

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