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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 141
preparation for burial. However, the Love family used the Royal Funeral home. At that time, the Royal Funeral Home was “uptown” on Holmes Street. The Royal Funeral Home, run by James Jones, is still in existence today, although the location changed, and it is on Ardmore Highway. The Royal Funeral Home was for Black people, as Whites had their own funeral homes. Cemetery. James was five years old when his mother died in 1925. Moses buried his wife in the cemetery that was on his land. James said the cemetery where Moses buried his wife was “in back of our house.” The Army gave this cemetery the name Jordan Cemetery, based on the name(s) on cemetery markers. James said the cemetery was on the land when his father bought it. White people had been buried there in the past. Those Moses buried there were: Beulah Love (his wife), Julia Florence Love (his daughter who died at age 12), his son David (who James said was born in 1922 and was really young when he died), and his daughter Beulah (named after her mother). James said his father “would let other people be buried there” as well. Typical funeral home grave marker. Photograph by John P. Rankin. John Rankin provided a photograph of one of the grave markers in Jordan Cemetery. He refers to them as “funeral home markers” as they were provided by the funeral homes and are common. Some of the numbers on them are discernible. Since the funeral homes keep records, it is possible that the name of the person interred could be learned from funeral home records. The researcher had noted that Royal Funeral Home was the one most people who were Black said they used. The reader will recall that James was only five years old when his mother was buried??" the first entry of a Black person in the White cemetery. When asked if the Royal Funeral Home was patronized only by Blacks, he answered that it was, and at the same time commented that Blacks and Whites “were not buried in the same cemeteries either.” In fact, they may have been in some cases, but it was probably the result of Blacks purchasing land previously owned by White settlers. This could also explain why a cemetery might be found to have different names, each reflecting a particular period in time. School. James went to Silverhill School. His favorite teacher married Mr. Jamar, who was the principal at the school. James said she was his favorite teacher because when he was a little boy, he would cry sometimes, and the teacher would be nice to him and “kind 141 - (4174)