Cemetery Links to my Postings
All my cemetery pictures will be posted at Find A Grave so they'll have more exposure to researchers who may be searching for ancestors. Visit Find A Grave and leave your relative a flower! My personal notes and links will be posted on this page by state/ by county/ by cemetery as I have time to scan, label, and post the photos. This link shows all my cemetery postings on Find A Grave.
CODE OF ALABAMA
The Code of Alabama sets forth laws for the state. Included are a number of laws regarding cemetery access and abandoned cemeteries. Several laws that affect continuing rights to visit an abandoned cemetery or cemeteries on private land are described clearly, and support family and genealogists having access to said cemeteries.
Section 11-17-1 - A group of 5 or more citizens can petition the county Probate Judge to appoint a commission to locate and mark boundaries, plat and survey the cemetery.
Section 18-3-20 - the family has the right to obtain a convenient right of way not exceeding 15 feet wide from the nearest road to the cemetery.
Section 35-1-4 - owners of cemetery or burial sites have a duty to allow family members, friends, descendants, plot owners, and any person engaged in genealogical, historical, or cultural research ingress and egress to the cemetery when given reasonable notice.
Alabama
Blount County
Bethlehem United Methodist Church Cemetery, near Dallas. Look for Gillespie, Gurley, Hallmark, Higginbotham, Huffstutler, Prince, and Vaughn.
Center Hill Independent Presby. Church When I visited the cemetery in 1998, there was a marker for George W. Huffstutler, husband of Georgia, and it appeared to be one of the oldest tombstones in the cemetery. (This cemetery mostly has rocks as markers.) I was surprised to find him here, because most of the Huffstutlers are further up the road, at Old Philadelphia. When I returned to take a picture in 2006, I couldn't find the tombstone, so whether I missed it, or it isn't there anymore, I don't know. I took pictures of a few very old tombstones, but don't think they are of my family.
County Line Baptist My gr-uncle Henry and Agnes Prince, some Doyle's, and Huffstutler, Gurley, and Faucett's that haven't been linked into my family yet.
Elvester Baptist Gurley, don't know how they are related.
Hays Cemetery, Hayden
Hopewell UMC Village Springs
White's Cemetery (Huffstutler Cemetery) Several of us have been calling this cemetery Huffstutler Cemetery since it doesn't have a name posted. Recently, I discovered the real name of this cemetery, which is White's cemetery. The story is that the original church associated with this cemetery met with Mother Nature, once by burning, once by being destroyed by a tornado. Afterwards, the church was rebuilt on a nearby hill, and is currently known as Old Philadelphia. There are a number of unmarked graves in this cemetery. I have talked with the owner of the property, and met the man who maintains the property (two different families). Mr. Reid's grandmother, Lucinda Lawrence Reid, is buried in this cemetery.
Love's Chapel Chrissy Prince, my gr-gr-gr-grandmother, and first wife of Reubin Prince, is buried here. The family says she died of a broken heart. One of the relatives says they remember a baby's grave beside her when they visited as a child, but if so, it is not marked. I posted pictures of every single tombstone I saw, and provided a cemetery view to show how empty parts of it are. I suspect there are lots of unmarked graves in this cemetery. The cemetery is easy to miss. It is not visible from the road, and there is only a fading sign at the bottom of a dirt road heading up a hill to let you know it is there.
Remlap Methodist Church My gr-gr-gr-grandfather William P. Gillespie and his wife Millie Frances Higginbotham Gillespie are buried here, as are her brothers Shannon Kyle and William H. Higginbotham.
Tidwell-Allgood Cemetery An infant daughter of Henry Clinton Vaughn is buried here, as are a few Vaughan's who are probably not related.
Cherokee County
Daniels Chapel Vaughn
Sand Valley Hartwell Vaughn bought the land directly across the street from this church and cemetery and the land to the north in 1849. Most of what he owned is now under Weiss Lake. Hartwell and his wife Nancy came to Cherokee County, Alabama about 1835, along with my gr-gr-gr-grandfather Thomas Absolem Vaughn. Thomas Absolem moved to Blount County Alabama around 1850, but many of his children were born in Cherokee County. Hartwell's son, Hartwell Jr., was living in Blount county in 1860, but was in Cherokee county for the rest of the census years. I have not discovered the relationship between these men, but it is obvious they are related, as the name Hartwell is used by Thomas Absolem's descendants. I strongly suspect Hartwell is his father, but at the very least, an uncle. In a quick survey of the cemetery late one evening I did not spot any last names that I recognized.
Union Methodist Vaughn
Etowah County
McCauleys Chapel UMC Cemetery Gadsden. James McCauley gave the land where this church is built. It is very near Noccalula Falls in Gadsden. James and his wife Elizabeth Gartman are buried here in the old section, nearest the church, and their daughter, Julia McCauley Barnes is also buried here. The church cleaned a lot of tombstones in 2006, so there are images on Find A Grave of the old tombstones that I took, and the clean ones the church took after being cleaned.
Jefferson County
Bethlehem Methodist, Thermal/Warrior A few Vaughn's and Higginbotham's buried here.
Elmwood Cemetery Birmingham. Reubin T. Prince and his second wife Susan Ann are buried here, as are two of their children, William R. Prince and Mary Emma Prince Houlditch, and her husband, Carol Clifford Houlditch. William and Clifford have tombstones at each end of the burial plot, the others are in unmarked graves between them. The sequence is: William R. Prince (has a stone), Reuben T. Prince (no stone), Mrs. Susan Ann Prince (no stone), Mrs. Mary Emma Houlditch (no stone), Carol Clifford Houlditch (has stone), then an empty spot.
Hopewell Baptist Church Cemetery Pinson. Quite a few of my Dorman relatives are buried here, as are Higginbothams and Loves.
Jefferson Memorial Gardens, Trussville My grandfather, Grover Webster Vaughn is buried here (his mother was a Prince), and a number of Prince relatives are also buried here. As I was searching for their markers, I spotted some last names that have ties in my family, including Campbell, Rhodes, Rodgers, Gray, and Phillips, but do not know if these people are related.
Massey Line Church of God Pinson. Prince relatives are buried here.
Moncrief Cemetery Gardendale. My son's Lais grandparents, and a great-grandfather Kennedy on his father's side are buried here.
Mt. Olive Mt. Olive, near Gardendale. No relatives that I know here, but was in the area and took a picture of the cemetery.
Oak Hill, Birmingham Birmingham. Tannehill's and Mudd's are buried here, and there are business connections when Elyton was first organized (the original Birmingham) with my Gillespie line. Also, Carlton Thomas F. Tannehill married Margaret P. Gillespie in 1827, and I'm still searching for more links between these families. A lot of Birmingham's founders and VIP's are buried here. None of my postings at this cemetery are of known relatives.
Oakwood Memorial Gardens , Gardendale, across from Moncrief Cemetery
Providence Methodist, Crosston Several Rodger's family members are buried here, as are my son's gr-grandmother Kennedy and her son.
Trafford Baptist/ Trafford Memorial Gardens - a lot of Gillespie's and Higginbothams.
Valhalla Cemetery Birmingham/Bessemer. Farley's and Dorman's.
Walker Chapel Cemetery, Fultondale My grandmother Vaughn, a couple of uncles, and a distant relative Higginbotham.
St. Clair County
Box Cemetery, Ragland Originally known as Phillips Cemetery. Several Philips/Phillips families arrived in this general area (St. Clair, Talladega, Etowah, Calhoun) in the early 1800's, and were consistently found living near each other through the years in various census records. As one family would show up in a new census location, invariably the next census would show some other Phillips families had moved to be close to them. Thomas Philips, who married Lavinia Box, gave the land for this cemetery. Circumstantial evidence and DNA indicates that Thomas Phillips and Joel Phillips are closely related, and are most likely brothers. There is an old road leading up the mountain across from the cemetery. Follow that road up, and on top of the mountain is where Joel Phillips lived. I've heard there was a crossroads by his house and a store of some kind. Follow the crossroad to the left, and it came out around Macedonia Church. I've traced the family across the river, to Calhoun County, and Mountain Road. It appears that Joel, his parents, and siblings lived on or near this road.
Hopewell Cemetery, St. Clair, near Ashville . Phillips, Greene, but they don't appear to be my line of Phillips. Based on DNA there are at least 5 different Phillips families radiating out in a large circle from Ragland, and none of them are related; DNA of each family is totally different.
Macedonia Cemetery, Ragland - most of the people buried in Macedonia are kin to me, either by blood or marriage. Arnold, Bice, Bunt, Campbell, Chambless, Ghio, Gibbs, Gray, Hawkins, Higginbotham, Lawley, Layton, Phillips, Rainey, St. John, Trammell, and Wood.
Talladega County
Blue Eye Cemetery My gr-gr-gr-grandfather William Gray and his wife Lucinda Roark Gray are buried here. Their son, William, married Zada M. Watson and lived in this area about 1850. I feel certain my Zada is kin to the Watson's buried at Blue Eye, but have been unable to find their relationship.
Old Refuge Baptist Church records dating back to July 1851 mention William and Lucinda Gray, and William and Zada Gray as being among the founding members of the church. William and Lucinda Gray are buried at Blue Eye, and William and Zada are buried at Macedonia in Ragland, Alabama. There is a cemetery across the road from this church, but it is the "new" cemetery. The original cemetery is down the road a piece, next to the original church site, which now is just an empty spot between two huge trees. This cemetery was in the woods, overgrown, with very few marked graves, and unless someone gave you exact directions, you wouldn't spot it. Note I said "Was". In recent years the church members have mounted a massive clean up effort, and the area is now cleared of trees, vines and brush. Many rocks, and several markers with just initials. Some of the few marked stones are buried so deep the words are underground. Jemima Watson (probable sister of Zada Watson Gray) married James Sterling Meadows, and some of their family is buried here. UPDATE - the cemetery has been cleared of brush, and extends much further than I thought. Also, a large new home has been built between the two huge trees and the cemetery. Careful in the summer - the cemetery was filled with poison ivy when I visited in 2010, and some trees had been cut but had not been hauled off yet, so there were brush piles all around.
Tallapoosa County
Carrville City Cemetery Several members of my Dorman family are buried here.
Guthrie Family Cemetery This well-kept cemetery is out in the country, no houses or buildings in sight, and is on property formerly owned by members of the Rodger's family. I've been told the land and the lumber to build the church down the road, Beulah, was provided by the Rodger's family. As early as 1923, this cemetery was known as Guthrie Cemetery.
Georgia
Fayette County
Blalock Family Cemetery
Fayetteville City Cemetery
Putnam County
Cox-Griggs Cemetery - This cemetery is in the middle of the woods, on land that Cary Cox once owned. The house where they lived is still standing (click for photos). It's in the Oconee National Forest, used as a ranger check in station in 2009, when I last visited. There are additional photos posted of the Cox-Griggs Cemetery on this site; most were not posted on Find a Grave.
