During my research a few years ago, I came across this description of the Rutherford County, Tennessee – Benevolent Cemetery. I referenced it as a source for my Great Grandparents place of burial. Several months later I went back to the site to check on a new name that I’d come across only to find the website gone. Fortunately, I recently found a re-posting of the same information. This time, with all the proper citations and references in place, I post it here where I can control how long its available for research.
Rutherford County, Tennessee – Benevolent Cemetery
Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by Jim Walker – J-Walker@worldnet.att.net
From RUTHERFORD TODAY
1100 Broadway,
Nashville, TN 37203 fax # 259-8093
By Trine Tsouderos, Rutherford Today
Murfreesboro – A person could pick his way through the scrubby field off
Highway 231 and never know he was stepping on and over the remains of 320
souls. Johnson grass and other weeds obscure the stones marking hundreds of
graves, mostly of African-Americans, in the Benevolent Cemetery.
Pushing aside the weeds, the names on some of the stones are difficult to
read.
Some date back 100 years to when the cemetery was new and its owners, the
members of the Benevolent Lodge No. 11, were many and strong. The Benevolent
Lodge was an African-American club in Murfreesboro made up of members who
agreed to care for one another in illness and in mourning. Part of the
lodge’s legacy – the club itself is defunct – is its cemetery, which was
deeded over to Allen Chapel AME Church by one of the lodge’s oldest living
members, Mary Goodman.
The Rev. Melvin E. Hughes of Allen Chapel said his congregation periodically
received checks from local funeral homes because they had buried someone in
the Benevolent Cemetery. That helped pay for the upkeep, Hughes said.
But a few years ago, funeral homes stopped burying people in the cemetery,
and the checks stopped coming. Since then, the weeds have grown tall, the
graves have become obscured, and it has become easy to dismiss the cemetery
as a field of weeds. Hughes bemoans the state of the cemetery. The church
is in the midst of a major building program and simply does not have the money
to keep up the cemetery.
Donations or some kind of grant money is needed, he said. “At least to insure
it and keep it up,” Hughes said. He estimates it would take about $50,000 to
insure the cemetery and maybe put a fence up. Several people have made offers
to buy the cemetery land for business uses, which lies in a well-placed spot right
off Highway 231. So far, the church has turned them down. But Hughes said he has
contacted some local franchises about buying the cemetery. One half of it is still
available for burial, Hughes said. So far, there has been little interest in using
the cemetery for future burials, Hughes said.
Hughes said he hopes interest in the cemetery’s history and importance to
the county’s African-American community will spark donations to help pay for
its upkeep. Or perhaps people will start researching who is in the cemetery.
If some kind of historical significance can be attached to it, the church may be
able to obtain some kind of grant, he said. For instance, several people buried
in the Benevolence Cemetery apparently served in the Spanish-American War, in
which the United States joined Cuban rebels in the island’s fight for independence
from Spain in 1898.
For more information about the Benevolence Cemetery, call Allen Chapel AME
Church, 893-7842. The following names were taken off the tombstones in
Benevolent Cemetery in Murfreesboro and published in A History of
Rutherford County’s African-American Community by the Rev. Melvin E. Hughes
Sr. Some of the information is incomplete because of deterioration of the
grave markers.
NAME BIRTH DEATH COMMENTS
===============================================================================================
Walter Rucker Oct. 23 1924 September 24 1926
Savannah Rion Feb. 20 1898 Oct. 2 1899
Ellen Alexander 1831 Oct. 30 1911
Samuel and Minnie Shanes Family
Edgar Shane
Joe Shane
Willie Shane
Nexie Virginie Murfree March 2 1884 Nov. 1 1903
John B. McClellan Jr. Nov. 26 1894 May 13 1934
Joe Alexander 1820 June 15 1904
Louis McDowell Feb. 23 1910
Nathan Turner Jan. 7 1847 Jan. 11 1906
Ike Foster 1864 1959
Adam Delbridge
John Cheers
Isaac and Fanny Fisher:
Issac April 20 1904
Fanny April 4 1894
Sir Thomas Moore Sept. 24 1874 Jan. 22 1901
Nacissa Turner
Hattie Newell May 27 1879 Sept. 2 1898
Mindora Carney Aug. 28 1879 Aug. 30 1898
Richard Vaughn Nov. 5 1900 Dec. 18 1912
Frances Thompson 1893 Nov. 15 1903
Deck North Sept. 7 1909
Henry Smith
Belle Roberson May 10 1846 April 5 1908
Joseph R. Pickett March 12 1846 Oct. 21 1899
Rev. B.F. Anderson Feb. 15 1840 March 3 1915
Mattie B (rest of identification was destroyed)
Fred Barns 1850 1926
Lidda Howse April 9 1880 May 31 1931
Charley F. Howse
George Keeble Feb. 5 1910
Sons of William and Mary
L.I. Harden May 25 1856 1914
Dr. G.C. Harden Jan. 18 1856 July 28 1932
Ollie L. 1880 1954
Virgil 1884 1966
Oscar Sehorn
Fannie Alexander Lytle Nov. 13 1898 Nov. 13 1936
James and America Eules
Luke Malone Feb. 22 1933 July 11 1916
Mattie Pickette April 25 1897 July 17 1916
Rev. E.D. Childress April 19 1917
Matthew Thompson Sept. 18 1891 Dec. 12
Salem Jordan Sept. 27 1879 Oct. 11 1916
Annie Tilford 1870 May 27 1919 Star Chamber 399 Quite,TN
Willie Jarrett Feb. 6 1887 June 16 1939
Eldres Miller 1900 1967
George Scruggs March 17 1919
Nannie G. Williams
Lethia Cunningham
Lizzie AUSB April 13 18? Dec. 16 19? (Remainder of information
was destroyed)
Seward
Mattie Sue Long Aug. 25 1872 July 15 1955
Mariah 1845 1929
Hillard 1848 1918
Gustic Lasiter
Jimmie Lasiter 1851 1935
Felix Avent Oct. 28 1876 Aug. 6 1961
James Childress Feb. 4 1897 April 19 1927
Roxie and H Dillard
Annie Bell Butler 1898 1973
William Fletcher 1841 1926
Eugene M. 1881 1925
Fannie K. 1883 1927
Fannie Cowan 1889 1828
Winter 1831 1931
Terrie Fuggett 1886 1938
Thompson Feb. 19 1916 Dec. 5 1928
Dee Phillips Jan. 25 1928 ?
Minnie B. Woodson March 20 1881 Nov. 14 1929
Robert T. Johnson July 6 1902 Oct. 17 1929
Vernon Robinson
Seppie Quarles Dec. 21 1987
Mable Mitchell July 16 1988
Oscar Gordon Jr. July 19 1928
Carrie T. Weatherly Black June 9 1920
Homer Weatherly
Ben Sublett Sr. Oct. 5 1894 March 6 1933
Jim Hickman April 1 1957
Joseph Alexander 1867 1932
Maranda Hodge Sept. 10 1880 Aug. 6 1933
Van Hickman Feb. 23 1938
Wyoming Smith Nov. 11 1947
Clemmie E. Price Smith Nov. 11 1947
Ed Williams 1877 1947
Zera Smith March 25 1951
Hattie M. Johnson Sept. 6 1984 Oct. 27 1948
Irene James Keeble 1864 1951
Susie Murray Lyons 1866 1949
Fannie Prim Jarrett April 18 1898 July 14 1948
Fannie Ree Woodson 1916 1948
Nora Moore 1879 1944
Rufus Brandon Feb. 6 1963
Mattie Frazier McClain Aug. 25 1881 Dec. 25 1955
Robert Hyde Aug. 1 1905 Aug. 4 1955
Johnie 1984 1962
Carrie 1897 19?
Smith
Eva Mai Smith Feb. 21 1970
Ruth Smith Nov. 21 1969
Charlie Smith July 4 1879 April 11 1948
Alta Bonds
James Pickett 1871 1957
Eugene M. Woodson April 17 1912 May 12 1961
Frank Sublet 1876 1961
Rev. Jessie C. Alexander 1906 1968
Jim E. Gaine May 14 1964
Edna Mitchell May 1 1964
joe Robinson 1883 1963
Willie Robin King 1883 1967
Andrew King Nov. 13 1970
Joe W. McIntyre 1901 1971
Minnie H. McIntyre 1900 1966
Leana M. Jordan May 20 1870 Dec. 19 1964
Sam Ella Sanford 1910 1983
Pearline Haynes 1912 1963
Bessie Allen Oct. 12 1907 Feb. 10 1974
Armenta D. Norris May 17 1919 April 24 1974
Cora Ramsey
Early McGowan Sr. 1909 1984
Mary E. Davis Dec. 20 1984
Lutisha Allen Nov. 12 1886 Oct. 20 1972
Bishop S. Jarrett 1892 1970
Ruby Lee Womack Feb. 22 1919 May 10 1974
Rev. Hugh Trimble Feb. 8 1976
Everleana Reece June 27 1976
Vella McKnight 1886 1969
Millie Bass
Fannie C. Taylor Dec. 14 1906 Dec. 10 1971
Mildred Brown Jan. 18 1972
Leana Ramsey Dec. 12 1971
Annie Lou McGowan Oct. 22 1912 Dec. 24 1972
Minnie J. Hatchett 1910 1973
Nannie H. Jordan June 22 1985
Howard Moore 1900 1984
Maggie Kate Howse 1903 1984
Victoria Taylor Feb. 24 1886
Brenda Bigsby March 20 1986
Lucille Smith Nov. 10 1983
Joe M. McGuire (remainder of identification was lost)
Caleph Smith 1909 1983
John Thompson Jr. July 2 1932 April 23 1983
Wayman Johnson Jan. 1 1983
Minnie Brown Jan. 19 1983
H-llum Howse (remainder of identification was lost)
Leon Williams Sept. 24 1982
Cal H. Puckett May 26 1982
Johnny Crocckett May 26 1982
Hattie Crowford (remainder of identification was lost)
J-h Ferguson (remainder of identification was lost)
Christie Burns Dec. 5 1980
Earl Gatson Jan 1 1899 Nov. 6 1980
Bessie Nunn June 19 1919 Oct. 26 1979
Eugene Franklin Dec. 25 1927 Feb. 7 1979
Alonza Williams June 13 1978
Andy Drake March 5 1909 March 7 1978
Roosevelt Davis Feb. 13 1978
Randall Davis June 13 1989
Lizzie Maney May 26 1989
Charles Majors Jan. 17 1989
Walter Allen Dec. 3 1912 Dec. 15 1988
Goldie M. Davis 1912 1988
Joe Mosley March 31 1988
Calvin Anderson Feb. 19 1988
Mattie Mae Mullins May 14 1907 Feb. 23 1988
Lee. C. Fields Feb. 20 1903 Jan. 23 1988
Annie B. Smith June 12 1987
Henry C. Puckett Oct. 29 1932 Aug. 12 1987
William I. Brown May 18 1977
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< J-Walker@worldnet.att.net >
====================================================================
Filed under: Brown, Genealogy | Tagged: Brown, Cemeteries, Maternal, Surnames, Tennessee | 5 Comments »
