Lane Street Project: Saint John Missionary Baptist Church, Atlanta.

Though I will always be of Wilson, I have lived in Atlanta nearly all of my adult life. It is very much “home” for me, too, and is a bottomless well of African-American culture and history that often informs the way I process research and work related to Black Wide-Awake and Lane Street Project.

I’ve begun visiting metro Atlanta’s historic African-American burial grounds. How have they weathered exploding population growth, shifting demographics, outmigration, land loss, and other pressures? The eleventh in a series — Saint John Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery in Adamsville, Atlanta, Georgia.

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My friend Jessime McGarity casually mentioned that her family had helped found a church in Southwest Atlanta and that church had a cemetery. I followed up on a drizzly day last week to get a rough location.

Saint John Missionary Baptist Church is no longer active, but in its time was one of the oldest black churches in the Adamsville community. The Young family was at its core.

Jess’ great-great-grandfather Green Young was about ten years old when Freedom came. He had been born, possibly in Clayton County, to a Virginia-born father and Georgia-born mother. By 1880, he was living in Adamsville district as a hired farm laborer in the household of farmer John A. Lee.

On Christmas Day 1882, minister of the gospel Moses Peacock married Green Young and Emma Martin in Fulton County.

By 1900, the Youngs had seven children, including Toby, the third son, born about 1888. Rev. Toby Young would grow up to lead Saint John, and he, his parents, and most of his siblings and children are buried in the church’s little cemetery.

Saint John’s burial ground is now sandwiched between the parking lots of two newer churches on Fairburn Road. It climbs a low wooded hill toward the backyards of houses on a parallel street.

The Youngs’ family plot lies near the front of the cemetery, surrounded by a low cinderblock wall.

Mrs. Kizire Butts’ grave marker was made by noted folk artist Eldren Bailey, but is an unusual form. Butts died in 1948, and Sellers Brothers handled her funeral.

The cemetery is weathered, and many of its 100+ year-old grave markers are sunken or broken, but it is obviously regularly cleared of overgrowth. 

Hester Sloan died in early 1902. 

Talley and Onnie Mae Freeman are buried near one of hundreds of large boulders making up the massive, ancient geological formation known as the Ben Hill Batholith. These egg-shaped granite boulders—some the size of cars or small buildings—extend across the west side of Atlanta, running from Boulder Park down through East Point and into Palmetto. 

Classic Eldren Bailey temporary markers.

When this family upgraded to a permanent granite marker, it incorporated the temporary marker into a brick wall around their plot.

Close-up of Willie Frank Lewis’ temporary marker with its characteristic rosette. His funeral was handled by Ivey Brothers.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, November 2026; thank you, Jessime!

Simpson and Earp judge some White Caps.

In which a mistrial is called for jury tampering, and two black men, William Simpson and Sidney Earp, are selected for the new trial of two White Caps accused of terrorizing their white neighbors over a road dispute.

No. 38 State vs Pharaoh Rowe, Ephraim Bass et als.  }  Order

In the above entitled cause the indictment alleged conspiracy between Defendant & other parties to tear down a fence of one Leora F. Lucas, also to burn tobacco barns of said Lucas, and also charged the overt act. The jury was empaneled on Monday afternoon and evidence was introduced tending to show that a secret organization known as “White Caps” existed in certain parts of said County for unlawful purposes and that one or more of defendants belonged to the same and that said white caps had torn down the fence and attempted to burn barns of said Leora F. Lucas: Court adjourned at six o’clock P.M.

On Tuesday morning the solicitor for the State asked that the jury be allowed to retire a few moments and they repaired to their room. The solicitor then stated that information had come to him that one Coleman a juror was a member of the white cap organization. The state then introduced evidence that said Coleman was frequently seen in conference with Defendants just before the trial, and that he went with Defendants to office of counsel. It was admitted that juror did go to atty’s office but did not go in to the conference but remained out on the porch.

The Court thereupon withdrew a juror and ordered a mistrial.   A. W. Graham, Judge presiding.

No. 38 State vs Pharaoh Rowe, Ephraim Bass et als.  }  Order

In this action it appearing to the court that there are two defendants and the regular jury being exhausted, and the sheriff having announced that nearly all bystanders in the Court House were either kin to defendants by blood or marriage or were witnesses in the cause, it is therefore ordered that the Sheriff of Wilson County summon from the body of said County 170 citizens being men of good moral character and freeholders as a special venire to appear forthwith from which a jury shall be drawn to try this cause. Sheriff shall take them from that part of said County as far remote from the scene of the alleged burning.  A. W. Graham, Judge presiding.

And from the said special venire he following jury were drawn and sworn as a jury to try this cause:

Joshua Haynes, W.S. Williamson, J.C. Morris, G.P. Bryant, Haywood Winstead, Wm. Simpson, col., E.C. Winstead, Sidney Earp, col., J.L. Batts, W.T. Pittman, C.L. Brown & A.T. Stott.

Pending the trial of this cause the Court takes a recess till tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock.

A. W. Graham
Judge presiding

Here’s the back story:

Wilson Times, 12 June 1896.

The case finally went to trial in November 1896 and, after all the evidence was introduced, the defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy and nolo contendere to the rest of the charges. Per a 15 November 1896 News and Observer article, judgment was suspended upon payment of costs, estimated at more than $1200. While “very heavy punishment” due to defendants’ poverty, the punishment was generally viewed as “charitable and merciful.” (Especially, perhaps, for Rowe, who got gut-shot for his antics.)

Two months later, Rowe and his compatriots were back in court to answer for more White Cap vigilante hooliganism and, as we’ve seen, four black men sat in judgments of those crimes.

Wilson County, N.C., Superior Court Dockets 1886-1897, http://www.familysearch.org.

Studio shots, no. 272: the Charles and Eva M. Hines family.

Back in late spring, when the design of interpretive signage for Vick Cemetery finally got underway, I reached out to the McIntosh family — “could we include a photo of their patriarch Charles Hines in the sign’s graphic?” Ever generous, they said yes, and Charles A. McIntosh sent me an image.

Today, as the McIntosh family prepares to lay Mrs. Henrietta Hines McIntosh to rest, I thank them again and say a prayer for the life of a woman whose generosity to Lane Street Project was just the tiniest portion of her munificent spirit. Rest well, Mother McIntosh!

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Charles Hines, wife Eva Messick Hines, and children Anna Lee, born 1916, and Charles Erwin, born 1919. (That’s Picture-Taking Barnes’ one-armed chair.)

On 9 April 1885, Charles Hines, 22, married Sophia Williams, 28, at Lewis Williams’ in Edgecombe County. These were Mrs. McIntosh’s paternal grandparents.

Sophia Williams Hines died in the late 1890s, and on 8 September 1898, Charley Hines, 33, son of Wesley and Olive Hines of Edgecombe County, married William Ann Wilkins, 25, daughter of Richmond and Pollie Wilkins, of Toisnot, in Toisnot township, Wilson County.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Charles Hines, 39; wife William Ann, 25; and children James Lewis, 14, Charles, 12, Emma, 10, Olive C., 8, Shady, 7, Dora, 4, and Charlie, 3.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Railroad Street, Heneretta Hines, 28, and her brother Charles Hines, 20, office janitor.

On 22 February 1913, Charlie Hines, 23, and Eva Messedge [Messick], 22, were married in Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony in the presence of Nancy Taylor, Bessie Farmer, and Willie Wells.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Wiggins Street, Charlie Hines, 31, grocery man; wife Eva, 29; children Anna, 3, and Charlie Jr., 7 months; and cousin Maria King, 10.

Charlie Hines died 23 May 1935 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 45 years old; was born in Wilson County to Charlie Hines and Sophia Williams; was married to Eva M. Hines; lived at 310 Walnut Street; and worked as a laborer. Dora Hines was informant.

On 24 November 1938, Willie Robinson, 25, of Wilson County, son of Linnie and Louise Robinson, married Anna Lee Hines, 22, of Wilson County, daughter of Charley and Eva Hines, in Nashville, Nash County, North Carolina. Eva M. Hines applied for the license

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 303 Elba Street, Eva Hines, 50, household servant; son Charlie, 21, yard boy; and daughter Henrietta, 13, shared a household with Louis Hines Jr., 21, whiskey storage loader; wife Dolly M., 19, tobacco stemmer; and daughter Martha L., 6 months.

In 1940, Charles Erwin Hines registered for the World War II draft in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was born 28 March 1919 in Wilson; lived at 303 Elba Street; his contact was mother Eva Messick Hines; and he worked at Imperial Tobacco, Barnes and Lodge Streets.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 303 Elba, widow Eva M. Hines, 60, cook; daughter Anna Lee Robinson, 33, and her children James T., 11, and Annie E. Robinson, 10; daughter Henrietta Hines, 23, widow, and her children Patricia, 3, and Janet L. Hines, 2.

On 15 May 1954, Andrew McIntosh, 22, son of James and Mary Holmes McIntosh, married Henrietta Hines, 27, daughter of Charles and Eva Messick Hines, at Saint Alphonsus Catholic Church, Wilson.

Eva Messick Hines died 24 May 1971 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 12 February 1890 to James Messick and Isabella King; was a widow; and lived at 303 Elba Street. Henrietta McIntosh was informant.

The Civil War pension application of Gilbert Hadley.

Twenty year-old Gilbert Hadley slipped away from the Wilson County farm on which he had been held in bondage. On 31 January 1864, he, John Hadley (who may have been his brother), and Freeman Blunt presented themselves to a recruiter in Washington, North Carolina, and enlisted in Company D of the 37th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops.

Twenty-eight years later, crippled with rheumatism and pained by an inguinal hernia (a “rupture”), Hadley filed for a veteran’s pension from his Wilmington home. On 25 November 1892, having been adjudged partially disabled, he was awarded twelve dollars per month, an amount later reduced to eight dollars. In July 1897, Hadley applied for an increase, asserting increased disability and a new “trouble of the head.” A year later, he notified the Bureau of Pensions that his wife had died. Finally, in July 1899, the Bureau rejected his application.

Freeman Blunt died in May 1904.

File #1,098,636, Application of Gilbert Hadley for Invalid’s Pension, National Archives and Records Administration.

Lane Street Project: Rev. Bill Allison Memorial Cemetery, South Fulton, Georgia.

Though I will always be of Wilson, I have lived in Atlanta nearly all of my adult life. It is very much “home” for me, too, and is a bottomless well of African-American culture and history that often informs the way I process research and work related to Black Wide-Awake and Lane Street Project.

I’ve begun visiting metro Atlanta’s historic African-American burial grounds. How have they weathered exploding population growth, shifting demographics, outmigration, land loss, and other pressures? The tenth in a series — Rev. Bill Allison Memorial Cemetery in South Fulton, Georgia.

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Named for the Fulton County chaplain who performed most of the burials here, this cemetery was founded as a potter’s field for black indigent county residents. The Paupers Graveyard was established at the former Negro Industrial Farm on what is now Fulton Industrial Boulevard and operated from 1934 to 1969.

The cemetery sits between the entrances to two industrial properties and is completely surrounded by them and fenced in. I didn’t try to get in. I’m not above a bit of trespass, but the cost-benefit analysis here stopped me from hopping over in broad daylight on a weekday.

The graves lie in long rows marked with small cement crosses.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2026.

The last will and testament of Sidney Earp (1910).

Sidney Earp dictated his last will and testament on March 1910. The will entered probate 24 July 1914.

After providing for payment of his funeral expenses and debts, Earp directed:

  • to his wife Nancy, the 170-acre tract on which he resided for her lifetime or widowhood, and then a life interest in that property to daughter Mercilla
  • to son Joe and his heirs, a 60-acre tract on Turkey Creek
  • to son Johnnie, the balance of his land
  • also to Johnnie, his personal property after his and wife’s deaths, except Mercilla was to receive a “good bed and necessary cover”
  • in so many words, Joe and Johnnie to act as co-executors

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On 25 August 1866, Sidney Earp and Nancy Richardson registered their cohabitation with a Nash County justice of the peace, legalizing a marriage made during the period of slavery.

In the 1870 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: farmer Sidney Earp, 30; wife Nancy, 24; children Mercilla, 4, Loverton, 8, and Chestina, 2; and Edmond White, 60.

In the 1880 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: farmer Sidney Earp, 39; wife Nancy, 35; and children Marzilla, 14, Chistiny, 11, Cissy, 7, Tysaney N., 6, Octavia, 4, and Joe Sidney, 2.

On 16 December 1891, William R. Robinson, 20, of Old Fields, son of Katie Freeman, married Sallie W. Earp, 19, of Old Fields, daughter of Sidney and Nancy Earp at Sidney Earp’s residence.

On 1 January 1894, Josiah Wilder, 27, son of Ishmael and Sarah Wilder, married Chestina M. Earp, 25, daughter of Sidney and Nancy Earp, at Sidney Earp’s residence in Oldfields, Wilson County.

On 8 October 1899, Joe Briant Holder, 25, of Johnston County, N.C., married Octavia Earp, 23, at Sidney Earp’s residence in Oldfields, Wilson County.

In the 1900 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: farmer Sidney Earp, 60; wife Nancy, 57; children Siller, 34, Joseph S., 22, Aldora, 18, John, 17, and Tisana, 26; and grandchildren Omus, 5, Jasper, 2, and Ida, 1.

In the 1910 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: farmer Sidney Earp, 70; wife Nancy, 68; and Mersilla, 44.

Octavia Holder died 2 May 1915 in Oneal township, Johnston County. Per her death certificate, she was about 35 years old; was born in Wilson County to Sid Earp; and was married.

Nancy Earp died 30 December 1929 in Oldfields township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born in 1858 in Wilson County to Ben Williams and Diana Pridgeon; was the widow of Sidney Earp; and was buried in the family cemetery.

Sissie Robinson died 26 October 1941 near Bailey, Nash County, N.C. Per her death certificate, she was 69 years old; was born in Wilson County to Sidney Earpe and Mary Nancy [no maiden name]; was the widow of William Robinson; worked as a farmer; and was buried in New Vester Cemetery. Mary Nancy Reid was informant.

Mercilla Earp died 6 May 1953 in Oldfields township, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was born 8 October 1864 in Wilson County to Sidney Earp and Nancy Richardson; was single; and worked in farming. Joseph Sidney Earp was informant.

Eldora Barnes died 30 April 1957 in Rocky Mount, Nash County, N.C. Per her death certificate, she was born 17 September 1881 to Sidney Earp and Nancy Todd and was married to James Henry Barnes.

Joe Sidney Earp died 6 May 1959 in Oldfields township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born 28 January 1892 [actually, more like 1878] in Wilson County to Sidney Earp and Nancy Richardson; was married to Lucy Earp; was a farmer; and was buried in the family cemetery.

John Earp died 28 July 1962 in Durham, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was born 24 December 1882 in Wilson to Sidney and Nancy Earp; was a widower; and was married to Mamie Earp.

 

The Hargrove heirs settle an inheritance.

Deed book 290, page 587, Wilson County Register of Deeds office.

We first met Duncan J. Hargrove here, going down slow after believing himself to be hoodooed. The deed above reveals a different source of stress in Hargrove’s latter years, financial foes that led to the loss of much of his real estate.

About 1913, Hargrove bought a lot on Carolina Street from Wilson Insurance & Realty Company. Sometime later, on a basis unstated here, a man named Hugh Sheppard won a substantial judgment against Hargrove and his wife Viney Hargrove. A thirty-foot-wide strip of the lot was set off for the Hargroves as homestead property, and the rest of the lot — a twenty-foot strip — was sold at public auction to R.E. Townsend, a white real estate manager with a fat East Wilson portfolio.

Duncan Hargrove died 27 May 1935, leaving his wife and four sons, Willie, Ben, Jacob, and John Hargrove. Viney Hargrove died 9 April 1943.

Via the deed above, Willie Hargrove and wife Mary Lou Hargrove of Wilson, Ben Hargrove and wife Alice of Washington, D.C., and Jacob Hargrove and wife Curtis Hargrove of Washington, D.C., sold their interest in the Carolina Street lot to John Hargrove of Wilson.

Freeman Blunt, Co. D., 37th United States Colored Infantry.

Freeman Blount, born in what is now Wilson County about 1830, enlisted in the Union Army on 31 January 1864 in Washington, North Carolina. He mustered in not quite three weeks later in Norfolk, Virginia.

Blunt mustered out of Company D, 37th United States Colored Infantry, in Raleigh, N.C., on 11 February 1867.

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Probably, in the 1870 census of Federal Point, New Hanover County, N.C.: farm laborer Freeman Blount, 50; wife Maggie, 31; and children John, 15, and Charles, 13.

And in the 1880 census of Wilmington, New Hanover County: laborer Freeman Blunt, 55; wife Maggie, 36; and Henry Mumford, 35, butcher.

Freeman Blount has not been found in further North Carolina, and the 1890 veterans’ schedule for New Hanover County lists “Maggie J. Blount, widow of Freeman Blount.”

However:

Per this Civil War pension index file, Freeman Blunt applied for an invalid’s pension on 6 April 1895, four and a half years after Maggie applied for a widow’s pension. Blunt applied from Florida. Florida marriage records list the marriage of Freeman Blunt and Susan Howard on 23 December 1882 in Duval County, Florida.

Had Freeman Blunt disappeared from Wilmington, leaving his wife to assume his death? Only to marry again and settle near Jacksonville, Florida?

Only the pension files can straighten this out. Stay tuned.

In memory of a beloved child, Parthenie Sanders.

In memory of our beloved child Parthenie Sanders daughter of Branch and Pollie Sanders Born Nov. 2, 1890 Died Aug. 19, 1892. We mourn your loss.

We protect cemeteries not only because they hold the remains of our loved ones, but because they document the lives of people whose existence is otherwise unrecorded.

Parthenie Sanders was born in 1890 and died not quite two years later in 1892. North Carolina required neither birth nor death certificates during her lifetime. She was born too late to have been counted in the 1890 census, which, in any case, was destroyed by fire for Wilson and nearly other county in the United States. She never attended school. If her birth or death were noted in church records, they have not survived. Her immediate family is long gone.

But in the old Elm City Colored Cemetery, now known as Heritage Cemetery, we find her parents’ memorial to their baby girl, and thus we remember Parthenie on the 132nd anniversary of her birth.