CEMETERY-L Archives

From: "Lois Mauk" <>
Subject: [Old Bones CEMETERY-L] BRIGHTON, AL: Descendants sought to join in cemetery destruction lawsuit
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 10:52:02 -0500

I've already forwarded a copy of this message to the List Manager for the
Jefferson Co., Alabama e-mail group on Rootsweb. I hope that we on this list
can help these folks find enough descendants to participate in this litigation
as a class action. If what I've read on the Birmingham News website is true,
family historians everywhere should be outraged.

Lois Mauk
=================
Clark County Cemetery Preservation Committee --
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5881
Clark County, IN GENWEB Project:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~inclark
Indiana Pioneer Cemeteries Restoration Project:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp
=================

"Possum Valley plight -- Descendants in lawsuit say old cemetery destroyed"
03/08/2000
Birmingham News

Written by ANNE RUISI, Birmingham News staff writer (Phone: 205-325-2222)

Possum Valley Cemetery on Jaybird Road.

The Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Eugene Verin has given plaintiffs in
a lawsuit over the destruction of Possum Valley Cemetery on Jaybird Road in
Brighton, Alabam until early April 2000 to find a minimum of 30 people to join
them as plaintiffs.

The 10 current plaintiffs want to pursue the case as a class action. The
judge also has to decide whether the plaintiffs, as class-action
representatives, can represent those persons interred in the cemetery who have
no known next of kin.

To have a class-action suit, the plaintiffs need at least 40 people in the
suit.

The plaintiffs say the mostly wooded cemetery was destroyed when a bulldozer
cleared the land more than a year ago.

Possum Valley Cemetery, also known as Key's Hill or Joley Cemetery, was
originally a burial ground for slaves. It was established about 1843 and was
mostly used by poor black families in the area.

Jefferson County, AL records indicate the presence of a cemetery on the
property. Records in the county tax assessor's office say the property
contains a TEN-ACRE CEMETERY. One of the defendants says that the property
was checked for graves before a contractor cleared the site. The only graves
found were a few near the road, which were roped off and left untouched.

It is listed in a 1941 survey of cemeteries taken by the county Health
Department.

Funeral home records indicate Bedeingo Curry, who died in January 1915 at age
105 was buried at Possum Valley Cemetery at the expense of Woodward Iron Co.

The Alabama Department of Vital Statistics also holds death certificates for
several people buried at Possum Valley, like 19-year-old Sallie Thomas, who
died from tuberculosis on Sept. 2, 1913.

Mandy Hardy was buried there after dying in the 1919 Spanish flu pandemic.

Anyone who is descended from those buried at Possum Valley Cemetery, or who
has potential information on their families, may call Lucy Carlisle at
205-428-9406.

Full story at:
http://www.al.com:80/news/birmingham/Mar2000/8-xcemeter.htm

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