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Farming For A Better Future, page 354
A&M) until the 1940s. According to the NRHP nomination, the school's publication wrote about Mr. Crutcher's successful farm and Ms. Lucy had “set an example in gardening... [having] cabbages that will measure 16 inches across the head; also, beans, tomatoes, onions, okra, and many other vegetables.” The Kelly and Battle families also participated in the farm demonstration program at Alabama A&M. Participating in the Alabama A&M farm demonstration program was not an idle endeavor for the Crutcher family. David and Lucy Crutcher raised 11 children, had 27 grandchildren, 50 great-grandchildren, 67 great-great-grandchildren, and seven great-greatgreat-grandchildren as of 2000. In 1943, their granddaughter, Valine Crutcher Battle (born 1920) became the first member of the family to graduate college. Since then, the Crutcher family had seen 25 members become college graduates. The Crutchers made another contribution to the community in the form of the Union Hill Primitive Baptist Church, which David started and was the first pastor. The Crutchers' home served as the first meeting place in 1918. The following year, Crutcher deeded two acres of land near the old Jude Cemetery for a church building. The deed for the church stipulated that if for any reason there should not be a church on that land, then the two acres should revert back to the Crutcher family ownership. The Union Hill Primitive Baptist Church today has a large campus on the south side of Winchester Road across the street from its original location. The David and Lucy Crutcher House is significant according to the NRHP nomination because the farmstead is “an intact early 20th century African American farmstead, having been owned and continuously farmed by a successful African American family since 1910. It possibly is the oldest such farmstead in the county.” According to the census records, it was particularly rare for an African American family to own a farm in Alabama at this time. The 1910 Agricultural Census for Alabama records only 8.8% of African Americans owned farms. The majority, or 70.8%, were tenant farmers. Madison * Indicates a Historical, Non-Extant Resource County was even lower than the rest of Alabama, only 7.3% of African American farmers owned their farms. The Jude Plantation, also known as the David and Lucy Crutcher House, was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks & Heritage in 1999 and in the National Register for Historic Places in 2000. 38 ■ Lacy Plantation* and Lacey Cemetery The Lacey Cemetery is located on what used to be the Lacy Plantation, which is now on Redstone Arsenal. The Lacy family owned land in the area for much of the 19th century. Three brothers, Alexander, Thomas, and Theophilus, had plantations in the area. Theophilus owned land around the cemetery from at least 1804-1876. Alexander H. Lacy owned 41 slaves in 1840, while Theophilus owned 11 slaves that year. Additional Lacy family members owned plantations on the south side of the river in Morgan County, around the Lacey's Spring area. The cemetery was possibly used by the slaves of the Lacy Plantation and their descendants for about a century. The land was owned by members of the white community until the 1890s, when it was then owned by people of color. While there are few inscribed stones, there are at least 100 grave depressions present. The two inscribed headstones are Annie Hobbs (born Feb 4, 1883; died Feb 7, 1919) and Zuleika Vaughn (died Jan 8, 1924). 39 ■ Lanier Plantation* and Slave Cemetery The Lanier brothers, Isaac, Thomas, and William, were sons of Burwell Lanier. They settled in (Above) Portion of an 1875 Map of Madison County, Alabama by James H. Mayhew of Strobridge and Co. Showing Lacy Land (Right) Portion of an 1875 Map of Madison County, Alabama by James H. Mayhew of Strobridge and Co. Showing Lanier Land (Geological Survey of Alabama via University of Alabama - Historical Map Collection) Madison County between 1809 and 1920. The Laniers patented approximately 1,800 acres that would later be the Mullins Flat community. This slave cemetery is on Redstone Arsenal, southwest of Mullins Flat. This area was owned by the Lanier brothers, a pioneering family of Madison County. In 1860, the brothers owned 89 slaves. The cemetery has no records of who is buried there, and there are no stones with inscriptions. Moses Love, a farmer and person of color, purchased some of the “Old Lanier Place” in 1916. - (4882)