The ground they kept: Milton Valley Cemetery
In 1909 the Clarke Courier credited forty-one Black men and women with forming the Milton Valley Cemetery Company in 1879 and buying three acres for a burial ground. A 1910 advertisement signed for the company, and a 1926 Cemetery Board notice printed under its heading, show lots offered, a monument raised and a yearly dollar asked of every lot holder, while a committee raised money for a walk in the cemetery. Funeral notices show the dead brought home from Cairo and Detroit, and by the 1930s the cemetery had its own Memorial Day exercises.
What the evidence says The 1909 Courier's account of forty-one founders in 1879, the company's 1910 advertisement and the 1926 board notice, read on the page images, show a Black-run cemetery company with stockholders, a monument and a yearly $1.00 charge on lot holders. Courier notices from 1897 to 1945 record burials there, including people brought home from Illinois and Detroit.
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