MASONIC CEMETERY
a/k/a Colored [Black] Masonic Cemetery
Location: Colony Church Road, Farmington, Missouri

colored_masonic_view1.jpg (54889 bytes)

Note:  This listing is not complete.  There are many unmarked graves in this cemetery.  The listing below is composed mostly of just those stones and markers that we could find and photograph.  For additional burials in this cemetery, please see this article published by Dawn C. Stricklin, "Reconstructed   African-American Cemeteries: Colored Masonic Cemetery, Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.," Annals of Genealogical Research Vol. 6, No. 1 (2010).   This article lists accounts for many more possible burials for which there is no tombstone or marker, or just click  HERE to view article.  You will need PDF to view this file.
Alexander, Reba E. .
Amonette Family Stone Inscription:  Love Charles
Amonette, George H. Husband
Amonette, Rose Delores .
Anthony, Lucinda   View 2 d/o Talbert & Louisa Anthony
Baker, Audrey L. d/o Booker T. & Edna C. Baker
Baker, Booker T. Sr. h/o Edna C. Baker
Baker, Charles h/o Fannie D. Baker
Baker, Dayse F. (Miss Dayse)  View #2 .
Baker, Edna C.  w/o Booker T. Baker
Baker, Estacada G. d/o Chas & Fannie D. Baker
Baker, Fannie D. w/o Charles Baker
Baker, Leroy Military Stone - WW2
Baker, Ora Hunt    View #2 w/o Charles Baker
Body, Beulah Cayce .
Body, Emma w/o Pleas
Body, Pleas h/o Emma Body
Bridges, Larry J. .
Cayce, Charley    View #2    View #3 h/o Josephine Cayce
Cayce, Dora E.   View #2 .
Cayce, Dora Carson .
Cayce, Elijah     View #2  View #3 brother of  Panell Cayce
Cayce, Ethelean Daughter of Parnell Cayce
Cayce, Getter   View #2  View #3 Born Pincell Co., VA
Cayce, Marciss   View #2  View #3 Wife of Getter
Cayce, Nellie Mae  View #2  View #3 Wife of Parnell
Cayce, Parnell Son of Getter
Cayce, Parnella Mae d/o Parnell & Nellie
Cayce, R. Tillman .
Cayce, Tillman M.  View #2 Military Stone
Cole, Elizabeth .
Cole, Scott .
Douthit Family .
Douthit, Ancil Lenard Missouri PVT 9 Co 164 Depot Brigade WWI
Evans, James Pyrtle Shares stone with Melview
Evans, Melview Shares stone with James Pyrtle
Evens, Margret .
Harris, Theola  View #2 .
Hunt, Thomas M.   View #2 Missouri PVT 325 Labor BN OMC
Jones, Richard  View #2 .

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Kennedy, Alonzo C. h/o Myrtle G.
Kennedy, Myrtle G. w/o Alonzo C.
Kennedy, Maggie .
Kimbrough, Audelle Cayce d/o Charles & Annie (Swink) Cayce
Cozean Funeral Home Marker
Lee, Howard Cobb .
Lee, Rosie Elmora nee Bridges.
Mathews, Eritch .
Matthews, Alexander D. Missouri AN US Navy
Matthews, Francis Edward .
Matthews, Hattie A. .
Matthews, Marie Cozean Funeral Home Marker
Miller, Elizabeth w/o Rev. Albert
Miller, Joseph h/o Verneda
Miller, Rev. Albert h/o Elizabeth (nee Taylor)
Miller, Verneda w/o Joseph
Murphy, Aurther E. .
Nelson, S. R. .
Poston, Belle Stone Broken - Incription:  "Mother"
Note:  There may also be a Mary Poston who died in 1921 in St. Louis buried here without a stone.
Powers, Alice .
Powers, Hays .
Robinson Family .
     Robinson, Charles   View #2 .
     Cora .
     James (Sr.) .
     Jane .
     Jim Husb. of Susie Hunt
     Sank .
     Susie d/o Choutou & Sally (Alexander) Hunt
Robinson, Tot .
Simpson, Murphy .
Simms, Fannie .
Smith, Frances Lavada Cozean Funeral Home Marker
Sutherland, Charles. W.   View #2 .
Sutherland, J. Frank   View #2 .
Swink, Amos   View #2 .
Swink, Jennie  View #2 wife of Peter.
Swink, Peter   View #2 wife of Jennie (Robinson)
Taylor, Sallie w/o Sandy Taylor
Taylor, Sandy   View 2 h/o Sallie Taylor
Unknown 1 .
Unknown 2 .
Unknown 3 .
Unknown 4 .
Unknown 5 .
Unknown 6 .
Unknown 7 - Name Broken Off Born July 28, 1883; Died May 18, 1910
Unknown 8 .
Unknown 9 .
Unknown Stones .
Villars, Martha C.    View #2 .
Walker, Matilda   .
Wilkins Family .
Wilkins, Byrd J. h/o Mayme E.
Wilkins, Mayme E. w/o Byrd J.
Yeager, Kenneth Capt. 806 Pioneer Inf.
Yeager, William K.    View #2 Mahn Funeral Home Marker

 

reunion_2010.jpg (87488 bytes)
Cara Madison (left), Diane Blevins and Shaylea White (right) prepare food for this weekend’s
gathering of black families who grew up in Farmington, Missouri. As of Thursday, August 5, 2010,
120 people had contacted Blevins to say they would be at the reunion.

~~ Reunion to raise awareness, bring people together ~~

Paying tribute to black families in Farmington

By P.Barr, Daily Journal Staff Writer / Friday, August 6, 2010

Diane Blevins is expecting company this weekend – at last count at least 120 guests from all over the country – who will return to their childhood home  in a reunion of all members of black families who grew up in Farmington. 

On hand will be students of Miss Dayse Baker, a well-loved teacher in the Farmington school for black students before desegregation. The Kennedy and Matthews men who once played football for the high school plan to attend. Friends are invited as well. Elementary principal Opal Wright will be at the reunion, along with Blevin’s childhood doctor, Dr. Charles Chastain.

“I’ll head into the kitchen Thursday and won’t come out until the weekend is over,” Blevins said, half-jokingly. “I like home cooking.”

The reunion begins Friday when guests will head to Blevin’s house for a get together. On Saturday morning, they will all gather at the Negro Masonic Cemetery on Old Colony Church Road to pay tribute to their ancestors. Bill Matthews will talk about the cemetery, its history, and its future care.

The rest of the day is free for people to sight see, go to the water park, rest, or whatever,” Blevins said. “Saturday night, we will have a fish fry at my house.”

After the group goes to church in Festus Sunday morning, they will have lunch at the VFW on Karsch Boulevard in Farmington. That night, the reunion will end with another gathering at Blevin’s home.

During the weekend, the families will recognize Bill Matthews and Irene Henderson, the two people who have continued to live in Farmington the longest, Blevins said.

Matthews, who takes care of the 1-acre Negro Masonic Cemetery, said the event is part of an effort to raise awareness of black families in Farmington’s history. Matthews, Vonne Phillips and other members of the Farmington Cemetery Preservation Association are working on a project to identify graves in the cemetery and give them headstones. 

The cemetery dates from the 1800s, when blacks could not be buried in most white cemeteries. Among the people buried there are well-known residents such as Baker and members of the Cayce and Kennedy families.

 

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