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Saint John Missionary Baptist Church is no longer active, but in its time was one of the oldest black churches in the Adamsville community.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