Enslaved Cemetery, or Very early settler burial (Tennessee)

Evening gents, and .......

I was recently contacted by a someone on my social media page that claimed he had stumbled across a set of graves on his property. I gather the address and do a weeks worth of searching at the library before making a good saturday afternoon trip to his property. (this is not a duplicate post)

so far
* There is absolutely no information about this cemetery online.
* It was not recorded in the cemetery census of 1990 due to the fact that it could not be found.
* The only mentions of it, are from the now deceased local historian who theorized it to be a burial ground for the enslaved, however she provided no sources in her book.
* There are two objects identifiable as fieldstones, and 4 sunken holes not natural to the rest of the landscape that suggest a re-interment
* The cemetery is not mentioned in the TVA re-interment records, suggesting this was a private matter.
* This cemetery is known to have existed before 1914, as per the property owner, who asked a living relative of the family that lived there priorly.
* The cemetery is presumed to have not been seen by the public in a very long time, however it is marked on google maps.

I have found in the census records two black families, one from the 1870s and one from the 1880s that both share the same name of the cemetery, with one person having the first name of the family that inhabited the area, and the same surname of the cemetery.

I am not educated enough on the subject of freedmen or enslaved person burials, however I do know that often times the enslaved would bury their deceased away from 'the big house' and some times would not even put any information on the tombstone.

But I have not ruled out that this could be a very early settler burial, or even a hastily buried civil war soldier. But even in those cases, even the poorest of white folk usually carved something into the field stone.

Just posting for thoughts on the matter as I gather the resources and necessary people to come with me to do a proper evaluation, as the property owner is very interested to learn the history of the area and just who these people might be.

duncanness said:

Online sites such as Find a Grave and Billion Graves. Not only for its online records but to ascertain who is cataloging in your area (most information donors can be reached via the website).

One last thought. If there were several grave removals (and looking at your pictures, I agree with your guess), there may be record of the reburials.

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I am pretty resourceful, and have tried most of the above stated methods, there are no names on these stones, only just that the cemetery is called 'smith' cemetery (name withheld) I have looked up the 'smiths' and thats where those 2 different septs of the 'smiths' come from. It is near an area called 'Johnson bend' (name also withheld) which had a pretty large 600 acre century farm that sat there, with the house recorded as being built in 1781. theres no doubt they held enslaved people, and the location of this would have been far away from the house on the edge of their property.

It isnt my first rodeo searching for obscure stuff, but for the government to not even know about it is just a different level! I mean there is nothing on this cemetery anywhere.

I am headed up to my courthouse in just a moment to do searches on the deeds. and land records.

Just a second update, I have found that the cemetery was bought buy the trustees of our local first baptist church.
I have also found some 1940 topo maps that show no known or recorded roadway as being anywhere near the cemetery, after 1940 a road way was cut through there, but the cemetery wasnt recorded until 1961.

I have placed an email with my state cemetery specialist to see what can be found on his end

Update #3.
*going out this weekend, with hopes of no rain, and plan on probing the ground, and later, running a GPR over it, as so far, there are 0 records of any burials, or re-interments there from the local funeral homes.
*The state cemetery man gave me a call, and plugged in a man who works at TVA, turns out it was recorded in 1939 as having 15+ graves, a far cry from the 2 tombstones, and 4 open crypts.
*The property owner reached out to a relative of the prior family that lived there, and they had known about it since 1914.

All of this evidence is highly suggesting that this is a cemetery for the enslaved, or a freedmen black cemetery.

Update #4 A 3rd grave has been found. and a 4th exhumed crypt has also been discovered. I have taken the liberty of measuring the distance between the observed headstones, they are all in a line, with between 15 and 25 ft separating them.
I myself, in my non educated opinion highly theorize these to be the burials of the enslaved, some have suggested very poor people, or early settler, but there were no settlements near this area, no roads came through here prior to 1940, and even the poorest white burials contain some form of hand carved info, atleast in my area anyway. The enslaved would have been illiterate, and they would have buried their dead far away from the house, and out of the way of the farm... still lots of work to do
*no info in any of the surrounding county deed offices, archives, or tax offices
*a church bought it in 1986 but they dont even know why
*TVA recorded 15 graves, but no names
* none of the funeral homes local have recorded any exhumations....

Tercios Espanoles said:

A crypt seems rather elaborate for a slave, doesn't it? (I know nothing of these things). But my money would be on a family plot.

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Crypt is just a term I am using. there were definitely bodies in those holes, they are not natural features. I too think this was some sort of family plot, perhaps for freedmen or slaves

Silesius Smithee said:

I wouldn't necessarily rule out Civil War.

Heck, I'm ex-military. I could bury a fallen comrade, even make a rudimentary marker and some notes in my logbook as to location. I wouldn't have the slightest clue how to carve a lasting stone monument. More importantly, in the fluctuating circumstances and lines of battle, would I have time to?

It might be worth looking at the ACW angle, if for no other reason than "process of elimination". Did any unit in that area at the time lose any men that are otherwise unaccounted for?

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i had considered Civil war, but my county had no major battles, just small skirmishes, bullets have been found but nothing that suggests any major conflict. A general made his headquarters in the nearby village in 1863 and 64, and he brought some 25000 troops with him, but they were on the way to gettysburg at that time.

Chlodio said:

Are these graves close enough to the road that the bodies may have been exhumed to make room for the road construction? If that's a possibility then maybe find out when the road was built or paved, or widened. As for why the three graves were left intact, might they be so obscure that the road crew didn't see them?

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No, they are not close enough to the main road, the road shown was a driveway that was a former entrance for a farm. but thats it. I think they just bulldozed over them unknowingly. the farm was pretty old.