Sunday, August 4, 2013

Sentimental Sunday: The Removal of Sarah Hodge

That old cemetery at Washington Park had to be dug up where old bones were sent into final resting places. Washington Park Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri was founded by businessman Andrew Henry Watson during a time when there was segregation.  It became one of the largest cemeteries in the area.  Many families have been buried here...however the airport of St. Louis wanted to develop and take over some of the area so these old bones had to be removed and re-interred.  It didn't matter that so many were buried there, it didn't matter about the history or the people.  We were not important.  Old burial places, especially those of African Americans are not respected.  Money is more important.

My Uncle Henry's parents were removed from their resting spot and placed in another area of Washington Park Cemetery.  To this day, I am unsure where in the park that Sarah Hodge, my Uncle's grandmother was buried.  Visiting St. Louis this past July and coming across Sarah's Certificate of Death made me think of her.  So I pray that she is resting peacefully and that one day I will have an opportunity to visit the park and find where she is laid to rest.  The old Cemetery is overtaken with plant life and has not been up-kept.  There are some efforts to care for Washington Park Cemetery, but so far it has been a losing battle.



Sarah Hodge  was born on November 23, 1882 in Tupelo, Mississippi and died in St. Louis, Missouri on July 11, 1954.  She was married to Sam Hodge.  Sarah's parents were Moses Simon and Martha Hunter.  Sarah and her husband lived at 2901 Washington Avenue for many years, and this was the place my uncle Henry Hodge was raised so many years ago.

12 comments:

  1. It is so sad when people value money over people. I am sorry that your ancestors and so many others were moved.

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  2. This is one of my relatives. My paternal Great-great grandmother was named Sarah Hodge and her daughter my great grand mother was Sarah Ellis Hodge. Sarah Ellis Hodge married my paternal great grandfather Hunter Clowers. After the 1900 census in MS.They seem to have disappeared.Since all of the family elders have died. I am in my early 60's and now a family elder. I have been stuck for the past 7 years trying to find out what happened to Sarah and Hunter.

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    1. Dear Anonymous, My Uncle Henry is still alive. I reside in his home. He is about 83 years old now.Please contact me at yporter@cox.net. Would like to connect if we are in fact related. Also please let me know your name.

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  3. Up until 1982 many black people still were buried in Washington Park Cemetery. My granfather is one of them. Dont know where. There is no record exactly where r headstone. If there was a headstone it does not exist. At the St Louis County Library HQ, there is a CD with a list of names of people that had been reentered in 1994 to other cemeteries all over the city and county areas of St Louis Mo. I was told the names they had records for were listed in the newspaper, so descendants could claim them, so they could have them removed to a cemetery of their choice r at least be informed where they were going to be reentered. Many family members had died r moved. The city and Lambert paid to remove--what they said were remains at their cost and provided headstones for each named person. One of them was my grgrandma Lucy Vance. I saw her name on this CD, no other family names. She has a headstone at Calvary Cemetery on Natural Bridge, Section 37, plot 7. The picture of the headstone they provided is on findagrave. I contributed the request for the photo. I also pd and added a birth and death b.1852-d.1948. There is a very large section for many of people who have been reentered from Washington Park Cemetery. But this is not the only cemetery in St Louis where people r recorded as being reentered. I personally think my grgranma's remains r actually there, but at least there is a headstone to visit. There is still a section where headstones for some graves and graves r not documented on the north side of I-70 near the airport. I paid to have birth and death dates added to my ggranma LUCY VANCE's headstone.

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    1. Thank you Kinikia for sharing. I hope that I can do some contribution to Washington Park Cemetery. I sure would like to know if my family has headstones.

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  4. You may want to check at the churches your ancestors attended. That is how I was able to get information in the Yazoo City, MS area. Don't forget the local funeral homes. If you are patient they are willing to help. They take a long time but the information is kept forever. I'm still tracing our Black and Native American ancestors in MS.

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    1. That is good to know. I do have other relatives from MS. will have to do that.

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  5. At our Genealogy Societiey meeting, one month we had a funeral director in our city of St Louis Mo speak. His funeral Home is named Eddie Randle and is located on Shreve and Natural Bridge. If u have any relatives that his company serviced between the 1920's to now, he has records. He can tell u where they r buried and any other info he may have. But that is not the case for other funeral homes in the city. Many have been bought out by white companies, but they keep the name of the black owners on it and black employees. U know why. Records r not saved. There is no law that says funeral homes must save them for any length of time. Not like the coroners office. Our funeral service obits that we have made, r the only records someone in the family r someone who collects them is our only records. In St Louis Mo, Mr Eddie Randle said, to his knowledge, he is the ONLY black owned and operated Black Funeral Home in the city. We asked him is this the rule for funeral homes in other states? He said, to his knowledge there is no law that says they have to keep mortician records. Now u ask where do the records go.......>>>>>>>

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    1. Thank you for your comments.This is good information too.

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  6. I too have family buried in Washington Park Cemetery.

    Here is a link to the Washington Park Cemetery
    North Reinterment Index. Hope this helps. http://www.stlouiscityrecorder.org/.../washi.../wpindex.html

    I was able to find a few family members on this list.

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    1. Thank you for posting the information. Also thank you for coming by and commenting.

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