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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 246
Pearl remembered some of those who were interred in the cemetery: “One grandchild, Lankford Horton. He was 9 months old. Sophie Horton, Maria Jacobs, Earnest and Maria Russell, Piccula Robertson, John Grimes. Maybe Alva Jacobs. Maybe Beck Jacobs, Frank Jacobs' mother, and maybe Pearlene Lacy [male].” She said the graves “mostly had markers that were I.D. cards with name and birth date that were covered in plastic.” The Church. Pearl commented that the old Cedar Grove Church in Pond Beat was near the Community Cemetery. It was on a hilltop with a lot of Cedar trees on top, which was how the church got its name. The Cemetery was called the Community Cemetery because people who were buried there didn't necessarily go to that church. Where the Cowan Family Lived Pearl's grandfather, Andy Cowan, owned Parcel B-82 on the south side of Huntsville-Triana Road. Pearl said, “Tim Williams [J. T. Williams (B-83)] had a family [that lived on his property] by the name of Gladys (?), and then Papa had some people that lived over there on his farm.” She also commented, “The Penlands were a large family. Pappa [Grandfather] used to buy fish from them.” Pearl said, “There was another farm across from Papa's??"Ellie Toney on that side.” Pearl spoke of Jeanetta Toney, a friend of her mother. Harris Toney was the father of Jeanetta and Ellie. Ellie (male) and Kittie Toney had two boys (Herbert and James) and two girls. Ellie Toney owned various pieces of land bordering Andy Cowan to the east, west, and south (Parcels B-98, B-81, B-85, and B-86). Pearl said their farm and her grandfather's were “joined by a fence.” Cowan Family Cemetery Pearl said her family's cemetery was on her Papa's land (grandfather, Andy Cowan). The Army named the cemetery after the landowner of the parcel (B-82, Andy Cowan) at the time of sale. Pearl said Cowan Cemetery was a “right name” for it. According to Pearl, her grandmother is buried in the cemetery, but Andy Cowan himself was buried in Huntsville. He lived to be 104 years old. She said Yancy Horton Sr. was older than that when he died because he died sometime after Andy Cowan. Yancy Sr. and Andy Cowan were both buried in Glenwood Cemetery. Her comparison of her grandfather and Yancy Horton Sr. indicates they were contemporaries. Yancy Horton Sr. was born in 1861, which would put him at age 19 in 1880. The 1880 Madison County census shows Andrew Cowan as age 25, so Yancy Horton Sr. was actually a few years younger than he. 246 - (4279)