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Farming For A Better Future, page 105
105 - DEKALB, JACKSON & MARSHALL
Excerpts from the Federal Census from National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com (Top) Excerpt of 1940 Census Record Showing James J. Sandridge Owning a Farm (Above) Excerpt of 1940 Census Record Showing William Sandridge Owning a Farm (Left) TVA Family Removal and Relocation Survey Form for J. J. Sandridge, 1936
Sotherland (1868-1943), owned the farm until at least 1940 and most likely her own death.
Kirby Cemetery
James Sandridge (sometimes spelled Sandrige) is buried in Kirby Cemetery with his wife, Sarah Doss Sandridge (1847-1913). Other members of the family are laid to rest in Kirby Cemetery including their children Ada (1871-1927), James Jasper (18801974), Manning G. (1884-1971), John Elisha (1889-1988), and Edd Clarence (1892-1947). Jesse and Caldonia Kirby and John and Mollie Sotherland are also buried in the Kirby Cemetery.
Kirby Cemetery is located at the corner of Murphy Hill Drive and Lois Lane, just north of Sandridge School
and Church in the area owned by James Sandridge and his family in the early 20th century. It has about 175 known burials. The earliest is Mary E. Cowan Kirby (1828-1866), the wife of Francis Marion Kirby (1815-1887), the white landowners of the area for most of the 19th century. F. M. Kirby (Kerby) is listed on the 1860 slave schedules as owning 16 slaves in eastern Marshall County. The cemetery which was originally for F. M. Kirby and his family was used by the local African American community by the 1920s.
Sandridge School*
The Sandridge School was the only Rosenwald school in Marshall County. It was located in the community of Kirbytown along the Sauty Creek on the Marshall-Jackson County border. The school was located in the fork between South Sauty Road and Haygood Drive across from the Sandridge Church. Little else is known about the school other than what is recorded with the Fisk-Rosenwald database. The school was built about 1928 as a two-teacher, two-room schoolhouse. It cost a large sum of $3,450 and was insured for $2,512. The community of color gave $1,100 for the school, the white community donated $300, the county allocated $1,300, and the Rosenwald Fund gave $750 to the school. The TVA family removal records indicate that a school was located on James J. Sandridge's property in the mid-1930s - possibly the Sandridge School. He inherited that land from his father after his death in 1910, making James J. or his family the likely donor of the land necessary for the Rosenwald school.
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Lebanon
The small community of Lebanon is located in the Big Wills Valley in central DeKalb County. It is not remarkable for its African American population; however, it does serve as an example of the county's small and isolated towns since it is centrally positioned between Fort Payne and Collinsville. In the early 20th century, the small town began with 150 total households and grew to a peak of 187 households in 1920 before declining to only 109 households in 1940. For most of this time, about 10% of the total households were African American, with the exception of the peak year when there were slightly less (7%). The number of African American households in these decades peaked in 1900 with 17 households of color. The number steadily decreased to 11 households by 1940. Despite the low number of African American households, there was a high percentage of those households that owned their own farm.
At the turn of the 20th century, a total of 8 households were African American farming landowners. Owners include William and Benton Malone, Amanda and Sam Bynum, George and Charles Hammock, Jordan Malory (Mabry), and Noah Kelly. Together they represented nearly half of all the households of color in Lebanon. Unfortunately, - (4633)