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Archiver > GACHATHA > 2002-08 > 1030561195


From: John Garst <>
Subject: Re: [GACHATHAM] wish we could go, too!
Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2002 14:59:58 -0400
References: <200208281500.g7SF0cEK006624@lists2.rootsweb.com><006a01c24eaf$69301f80$6ea8fea9@gdrexel1><002a01c24eb2$18cd05f0$2ce97e18@maureens><005701c24eb7$ee5c4000$44ea27a2@mcmcustom>
In-Reply-To: <005701c24eb7$ee5c4000$44ea27a2@mcmcustom>


At 1:25 PM -0400 8/28/02, Paula wrote:

>Ha! Have 17 rolls of film and a disposal camera. I plan on taking
>pictures. I have to warn you though that my addiction is to cemeteries.

Late Christmas Eve, 1900, at a gathering in a house in Yamacraw
where, according to some, a half-dozen sober people were singing
hymns, but according to others, about 40 rowdy drunks were doing
other things, Moses "Cooney" Houston, black, aged 14, shot Delia
Green, also black and aged 14. She died early Christmas morning at
her home at 113 Ann St., where she lived with her mother. According
to her death certificate, she is buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery,
presumably the black section. The undertaker was Johnson (presumably
J. H. Johnson, No. 331 Jefferson St.) On March 14, 1901, Cooney was
convicted of murder with a recommendation of mercy. He was sentenced
to life in prison, for which he thanked the judge, the alternative
being execution. He served about 12-13 years, being paroled in 1913.

According to Robert W. Gordon, founder of the Archive for American
Folksong at the Library of Congress and resident of Darien, GA,
1925-28, by spring, 1901, a song,"Cooney Shot Delia" or "Cooney and
Delia," was being sung in the area. By the 1920s this song was
widespread along the southern Atlantic coast and was known as well in
the Bahamas, where it was known as "Delia Gone" or "Delia's Gone."
The song persisted in the repertoire of Georgia songster Blind Willie
McTell until his death, August 19, 1959. He knew it as "Delia" or
"Little Delia." Otherwise, by the 1950s its popularity in the U.S.
had waned, but it was still commonly sung in the Bahamas. "Blind
Blake" Alphonso Higgs, a Bahamanian calypso entertainer, recorded it,
and when the great folk scare ignited by the Kingston Trio came
along, all the popular performers sang a version of "Delia's Gone,"
mostly from Bahamanian sources. As late as the 1990s a recording of
"Delia" was released by Bob Dylan and one of "Delia's Gone" by Johnny
Cash.

From the period 1960 to the present, this has been a widely recorded
song. It is certainly one of Savannah's claims to fame, although its
Savannah connection has been realized only recently.

I'd love to find Delia Green's grave. The tombstones in Laurel Grove
South (I think "South" is the black section) were inventoried
recently, but Delia Green does not show up on the resulting list.

In the City Directory of 1900, she is not listed as living at 113 Ann
St. The head of the household there is listed as John Singleton,
wife Fannie. As I recall (I can't find my records right now), the
census of 1900 doesn't list Delia Green either. However, living
nearby was another Singleton, whose stepchildren were named Green.
They go up to an age about two years less than Delia's - perhaps
these are Delia's siblings.

This leads me to believe that Delia Green might have been buried in
Laurel Grove South near some Singletons.

Does anyone have any ideas how to proceed further?

Thanks.
--
john garst

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