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Farming For A Better Future, page 112
shows Conyers having at least five neighbors of color who also owned a farm. To continue the trend, James T. Douglas (1877-1964) and wife, Ella Douglas (1878-1959), owned a farm in Gurley during the same time period and were also surrounded by other landowners. 91 Scottsboro Scottsboro is located in south central Jackson County along U.S. 72, near the Tennessee River. It was established in the late 1840s by a man named Robert Scott of North Carolina. He settled outside the county seat, Bellefonte, and within a few years had established a grist mill, shingle factory, and a railroad station for the expanding Memphis & Charleston Railroad. The railroad brought business to what would become Scottsboro, which resulted in diminished dependence on the river causing Bellefonte to become a ghost town. In 1868, the county seat was moved to Scottsboro, which continued to grow in the late 19th century with commerce centered around sawmills and cotton gins followed by schools, hotels, an opera house, newspaper, stores, and offices. Scottboro's original depot still stands near the downtown square. The Memphis & Charleston Railroad runs through Scottsboro and was the only east-west line available to the Confederacy during the Civil War, making it a great asset for delivering supplies and men. Thus, the Union Army sought to safeguard the tracks and Scottsboro. Several small clashes occurred around Scottsboro including one that took place in January 1865 at the railroad depot itself. The Scottsboro Memphis and Charleston Railroad Depot was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. According to the nomination, the skirmish consisted of 29 soldiers of the 101st U.S. Colored Infantry (USCI) and 25 soldiers of the 110th USCI commanded by a white First Lieutenant named John Hull. The small group of men were charged with guarding the depot and the water supply when a Confederate (Below) 1936 USGS/TVA Topographic Map of Scottsboro, Scottsboro, Alabama Quadrangle (Above) Excerpt Enrollment Applicant for Tribal Membership of Several Members of the Smithers Family (National Archives and Records Administration, Applications for Enrollment of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914 via Ancestry.com) and 1974 as Clay Cemetery - named either after the surname or the nearby cove. The earliest grave is that of Allie Idela Shepard in 1912. The cemetery has about 137 graves and is still in use. It was added to the Alabama Historical Commission's Historic Cemetery Register in 2013. The cemetery has some of the many landowning farmers of color of the early 20th century. Most of them lived on the Madison side of Gurley and owned farms from at least 1920 to 1940. When recorded on the census, several of them were just one landowning farmer surrounded by a handful of other people of color who owned a farm in Gurley. Some of those buried here include: Dave Bostic (1873-1969), who owned a farm in Gurley, Madison County, from at least 1920 to 1940. As did Thomas F. Conyers (1888 - unknown) and his wife, Lela B. Conyers (1892-1952). The 1920 census ■ COMMUNITIES CEMETERIES CHURCHES ■ PLANTATIONS | SCHOOLS ■ OTHER - (4640)