Download
[Page]
[Document]mcc-ns1-046
Farming For A Better Future, page 20
Surveyed by the WPA from about 1930 to 1933
Last Name First Name Birth Year Death Year Notes
Johnson Burt 1878 1878 Son of Eliza & G. A. Abernathy
Johnson Callie Aged about 70 years
Johnson Caroline V. 1805 1876 Aged 71 years
Johnson Grant 1880 1899 Son of WJ & Mary Johnson
Johnson Stark 1908
Johnson WJ. 1842 1925
13
Johnson Cemetery
The Johnson Cemetery is located near the Mississippi border on the east side of Allsboro Road. It is a small family cemetery on private land behind a home. In the 1930s, the WPA surveyed Colbert County cemeteries and identified the Johnson cemetery as one of the
few solely African American cemeteries in the county. At that time, six graves were recorded - all Johnsons - dating from 1876 to 1925. This is not an active cemetery but one other grave has been recorded there - that of Albert Bowling, Sr, however, there are no dates associated with this grave.
(Below Left) Excerpt of 1908 Map of Colbert and Franklin Counties, Alabama Showing W. J. Johnson and L. B. (Levy?) Johnson Owning Land in Section 27 (University of Alabama, Historical Map Collection, Online via Geological Survey of Alabama) (Below) 1926 USGS Topographic Map of Lane Springs, Gravelly Springs, Alabama Quadrangle
William James Johnson (1942-1925) was the patriarch of the Johnson family. From at least 1900 to 1920, he owned a farm in the northwest corner of Colbert County in the census district of Riverton. Although the censuses record Johnson as living in Riverton since 1870, it is possible that he also owned land in Allsboro where the cemetery is located.
11
Lane Springs School (Rosenwald)*
The Lane Springs School was one of the eight Rosenwald schools in Colbert County. It was a one-room, one-teacher school located in Lane Springs, about five and a half miles north of Cherokee along present-day Rutland Chapel Lane and Riverton Rose Trail. The school's application was made for the years 1925-1926. It cost a total of $2,000 to build with $1,150 of donations from the African American community, $450 from public funds, and $400 from the Rosenwald Fund. The schoolhouse was insured for $1,350. According to the historical marker for Cherokee High School, the Lane Springs School
(Above) Aerial Photograph of Lane Springs School in 1958 (University of Alabama, Historical Map Collection, Online)
is said to be one of the grammar schools that sent graduates on to Cherokee High School.
The nearby Rutland Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and Cemetery are adjacent to the former location of the school and most likely served the same community. The church is labeled on the 1924 USGS topographic map, just prior to the construction of the school. On the 1936 USGS/ TVA topographic map, the school and cemetery are labeled, but there is no church. Finally, the 1954 USGS topographic map labels only the church and cemetery. While the cemetery dates to at least 1935, there are few graves recorded for the Rutland Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery - all dating after 1975.
* Indicates a Historical - Non-Extant Resource - (4548)