Trees & Landscaping - Cedar Grove Cemetery

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Cedar Grove

Welcome to Cedar Grove cemetery, Augusta, Georgia. Cedar Grove cemetery is one rich in black history. The staff of Augusta-Richmond County Cemeteries Division compiled the following information. It is our hopes that you will find a taste of Augusta’s history and the people that helped build it. If at any time during your visit the staff of Cedar Grove cemetery can be of any assistance to you, please do not hesitate to ask.

In 1820 Augusta allotted 40 acres of land where slaves were laid to rest in wooden boxes or were simply wrapped in clothe and buried in unmarked shallow graves. The first records of burials at Cedar Grove cemetery is found on page 100 of Book A, July 1840. It reads “6 blacks, 2 of whom children”. At this time in history names of the deceased or their masters were not listed. It was not until June of 1862, that the records began to show the “Colored Report” giving, date died, names were sometimes given, disease, age, sex, wards in which they lived, and property of_________________. In June of 1865, the report started listing the deceased as “Freedmen” instead of property. In April of 1880, separate books from Magnolia Cemetery burials were started. The record books can be found in a safe at Magnolia Cemetery, containing records of the past up till present day, but no index is available until after 1930.

The oldest marked grave to be found in Cedar Grove cemetery to date is 1835. The stone has been broken for many years. It reads:

“Here lie all that was mortal of my dear Mother, Sister and Brother. Mary Jane Kent
Born 14th Sept. 1832. Died 4th Oct. 1835 Aged 3 yrs. & 20 days. Munroe Johnson Kent

Born 31st Oct. 1834. Died 31st March 1835 Aged 5 months. (e.side of the tombstone)
Sacred to the Memory of Matilda Devroux. Born in Milledgeville 12-16-1811. Died
In Augusta 9-10-1859 Aged 47 yrs. 8 mos. 24 days etc.etc.” (w.side of the tombstone).

Other notable graves

Other notable graves that lie behind the fence of Cedar Grove cemetery are:

Mr. James Carter, Sr

Augusta’s first black dentist.

Mr. R. A. Dent

The first black from Augusta elected to the Legislature.

Mr. B. L. Dent

First black Augusta city council member since Reconstruction.

Mr. Silas Floyd

Minister, educator, poet, & writer of the biography of C. T. Walker.

Mr. Walter S. Hornsby

President & one of six co-founders of Pilgrim Health & Life Insurance Co.Mr. A. R. Johnson: First black in Georgia to receive teacher’s license.

Mr. A. R. Johnson

First black in Georgia to receive teacher’s license.

Dr. T. W. Josey

He died on September 3, 1956 & T. W. Josey High School which opened in 1964 was named in his honor. He was a prominent physician & community leader active in many charity events.

The Rev. W. P. Russell

Opened the free African school at Ellis & Ninth Sts. in 1865.

Dr. George Stoney

. .

A prominent physician responsible for setting up Lamar Hospital, located at 1223 Laney-Walker Blvd. Where Tabernacle Baptist Church now stands.

Mrs. Amanda Dickson Toomer

. .

Richest black woman in the U. S. after the death of her father, David Dickson (plantation owner) on February 18, 1885. There has also been a movie made about Mrs. Amanda Dickson Toomer.

Rev. William J. White

Founder of Augusta Baptist Institute, which became Morehouse College in Atlanta. Studies were conducted in the basement of Springfield Baptist Church.

Miss Margaret Louise Laney

She was the niece of Miss Lucy Craft Laney. She died in a house fire on June 23, 1986.

Mr. Charlie A. Reid, Sr.

He was interred in the 1st crypt placed in Cedar Grove. Co-founder of Blount-Reid Funeral Home, presently called C. A. Reid, Sr. Memorial Funeral Home.

Rev. Jacob Walker

He is not buried in Cedar Grove; however, he was listed in the city sexton’s burial record book’s remark column of book A, folio 117 as follows: African preacher aged 80 years. He died on the 30th July 1846 from the effects of a Paralytic Stroke received when preaching about three weeks before his death. On the 31st he was followed to his burial place in the Church Yards of the African Church known as Springfield (at which place the City Council had given permission to inter his body) by more than one thousand of his race. He had possessed the confidences of whites and blacks and general infusion of regret was manifested at his death.

Unknown Bones

. .

Eight boxes of unknown persons’ bones in one vault was buried on November 7, 1998. The bodies were “stolen” about 140 years ago for the Old Medical College of Georgia with the assistance of their slave and who later became their janitor, Grandison Harris, Jr. to be used as cadavers. Ironically, Mr. Harris is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery, he died on June 6, 1911 at age 95 years.

Origins of the street names

The origins of the street names in Cedar Grove are as follows:

WHITE BOULEVARD: Named for educator & publisher William Jefferson White. Mr. White was born in 1832 & before the Civil War organized a secret school for blacks. By 1866, he was an ordained minister. He co-founded Augusta Institute, which became Atlanta’s Morehouse College.

JOHNSON DRIVE: Dr. S. S. Johnson was a medical doctor & a bank president.

HARPER BOULEVARD: Laura Harper, daughter of a free black family in pre-Civil War Augusta, was one of the first graduates of Paine College.

SCOTT DRIVE: Janie Scott, born in 1895, was the daughter of Charles M. Scott, who served with distinction in the Spanish-American War with the “Tan Yanks”. She was in the first graduating class, in 1916 from the Lamar School of Nursing & was one of the first black registered nurses in Georgia.

MURRAY BOULEVARD: Solomon W. H. Murray, born in Augusta in 1868, was a minister & a trustee for Walker Baptist Institute.

WILBORN DRIVE: William Wilborn was both a businessman & a farmer.

PINKERTON DRIVE: Earl Stone Pinkerton was a manager of the Lenox Theater on Ninth St. & was active in several civic organizations.

LYONS DRIVE: Judson W. Lyons, born in Burke Co. in 1860, became the first black to practice law in Augusta.