Newspaper Page Text
Cedar Grove Cemetery:
A link to past - Augustans
has been restored
By Lillian Wan
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
Cedar Grove Cemetery, 120
Watkins Street, is a 40-acre property
allotted by Augusta as an official black
cemetery in 1820. It has been the rest
ing place of some of the area’s most
esteemed citizens: Amanda America
Dickson, described as “the richest col
ored women in Georgia” at the time of
her death in 1893; T. W. Josey, the
physician and community activist; and
R.A. Dent, Augusta’s first black state
legislator.
It is also the site of massive grave
robberies between 1852 until 1905.
Grandison “Resurrection Man” Harris
was a 36-year-old slave bought by the
staff of then Medical College for S7OO
in 1852 in Charleston, S.C.
Considered the property of all seven
Medical College faculty members of
that time, he was used expressly as a
grave robber up to 1905 in order to
provide bodies for study by the stu
dents of Medical College. As many as
590-610 cadavers (per historian Dr.
James Carter III) were robbed. Over
9,000 bones and bone fragments were
found in 1989. Georgia State
University studied the bones and
turned over the bodies to MCG which
re-interred the remains, sealed in a
2,500-pound vault, on November 7,
1998, into Cedar Grove under a mark
er entitled “Known But to God.”
Since 1999, sociology and social
work students at Augusta State
University, under the supervision of
Professor Ernestine Thompson,
worked to complete a project of map
ping grave locations at Cedar Grove.
They also voluntarily cleared fallen
branches and debris during almost
weekly outings to the cemetery.
Coupled with the efforts of the Cedar
Grove cemetery workers, the graveyard
is in good condition. The students
published a booklet in 2002 listing the
results of their research, including an
alphabetical list of all known names of
people buried in Cedar Grove. For
more information about the booklets
or about the work by ASU students,
call Prof. Ernestine Thompson of the
sociology department at (706) 737-
1735. Copies of Cedar Grove Cemetery,
Historic Augusta
Cemetery, Founded
1820 can be found
at ASU Reese
Library, Lucy Craft
Laney Museum of
Black History and
the Augusta
Museum of
History.
The
Information
Technology depart
ment of Richmond
County has been
working on a proj
ect of computeriz
ing burial sites in
city cemeteries, and
records, for accurate
location of graves
and improvement
on record keeping.
If volunteers
are interested in
being trained to
work on Cedar
Grove, there are
two projects that
can be worked on.
Volunteers need
only a willingness
to work and learn.
Workers are mainly
needed to enter
burial records
already transcribed
from the original
record books to a
card file. There are
only two personal
computers available.
The schedule for -
volunteers would
run between 7:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
with the time from
12 to 1 p.m. closed
for lunch. People
lacking in technical competence with
computers can be trained if they do
not have a fear of computers. For the
mapping of the cemeteries, anyone
who can operate a GPS after a train
ing session with the city’s Information
Being Black in America: A Real Picture
“Tell me...why?”
The greatest ?111: a child
brings to the world is a sense
of wonder. Suddenly, the old
becomes new and things we
took for granted are brought to
life through fresh, bright eyes.
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that the most brilliant advances
in industry have been made by
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Technology department can assist with
mapping the cemetery. These are
much needed and valuable projects.
For more information on the Cedar
Grove project, contact Jerry Murphy,
the records clerk for city cemeteries, at
That is why sponsoring
programs that benefit education
is a corporate priority.
A real picture of being
Black in America includes all
of us. Reaching out to find real
answers to tough questions is
the beginning of the kind of
self-awareness that leads to
mutual understanding.
Building a future in partnership
with the community. _
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COMPANIES
© 1998 Anheuser-Busch Companies, inc.
(706) 821-1746.
When computerization of grave
site locations and records are complet
ed, the data will be posted on the
Internet web site of Augusta-
Richmond County. .
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