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mcc-jrr_511-022
Jordan - Lanier Cemetery, 51-1 Summary Report, page 22
• Luisa A. - 5th daughter by 2nd wife of William. Luisa (sometimes given as “Louisa”) was born in 1806 and died in 1833. She married Mr. Sumner and is buried near her parents in the Jordan - Lanier Cemetery on Redstone Arsenal. She left one son, who died in infancy, according to some accounts. However, the 1834 will of William Lanier leaves to his grandson William I. Sumner some land and Negroes (after the death of William's wife Nancy). It is suspected that the family memories summarized in the accounts that said that Louisa's only son died in infancy were somewhat confused with respect to Matilda's son who died in infancy, per the note below. • Matilda - 6th daughter by 2nd wife of William. Matilda was born in 1809 in Tennessee, per her listing in the 1850 census (page 93) of Limestone County, AL, where she lived with her husband James W. Allen. They had 8 children included in the 1850 census of their household. The head of the household, James, was given as age 46, a “Clergyman, M.E.” (Methodist Episcopal) by occupation, born in VA. James and Matilda had a son born in October of 1836 who lived only 11 days. This infant son is buried in the Jordan - Lanier Cemetery on Redstone Arsenal near his grandparents, in the northwest corner of the cemetery. James and Matilda were married November 14, 1827, per Dorothy Scott Johnson's book. A typed translation of the 1834 will of William Lanier, as found in the Family Files at the Heritage Room of the Huntsville - Madison County Public Library, has been scanned to image files and is added below, as well as to the photo files of the Jordan - Lanier Cemetery on this CD-ROM. It has several names of Negroes mentioned in the will. Most of these names of the Negroes were not given in the above text of this NOTES file. Per the usual practice prior to the Civil War, the Negroes had no surnames. However, after emancipation, it is likely that several of them took Lanier as their surname, and there is a Lanier Cemetery marked as “colored” on early maps of Redstone Arsenal. That cemetery is very near the Lanier Cemetery where Madison County pioneers Isaac and Burwell Lanier and their families are buried. There is also another cemetery just north of the Sparkman Center, on the west side of Patton Road and south of Neal Road. This cemetery has no markers, and is possibly a Lanier slave cemetery. 22 - (2041)