ACKERMAN —A man’s search for his grandfather’s grave has led to two families working together to clean up two black cemeteries in the Chester community, one dating back 100 years.
Laymond Robinson of Webster County said that he and Mattie McDaniels had been before the Choctaw County board to see what it could do to help them with two cemeteries in the Chester community. One cemetery is located behind Chester Baptist Church, and the other, Robinson said, is behind the Burdines.
Robinson said a church called Mount Pisgah and the cemetery were near the church at one point. He said in his search to find his grandfather’s grave, he learned he might have been buried in the old Mount Pisgah cemetery.
“There are no records of who was buried, but I have a strong lead,” said Robinson, adding that he found the cemetery and that it had been abandoned.
“I began asking around, and I was told there was a cemetery behind Chester Baptist, and he could have been buried there,” he said.
He said that’s how he and McDaniels became involved. He said McDaniels knew her grandparents might have been buried there, and she knew of the cemetery.
Robinson told Choctaw County supervisors when they came before the board previously, they learned it wasn’t much the board could do, but the board offered to lend a hand to help the family clean the cemeteries.
“We came to make good on that promissory note,” Robinson said. He said they are looking at a cleanup date of the first and third Saturdays in February.
Robinson said they’re hoping enough people come out and help them clean the cemeteries so they can do it all on the same day.
He said that the one located behind the Burdines just needs minor maintenance.
“It needs rakes, a trailer to haul the leaves, or any other tools you think are needed,” he said.
But Robinson said it would take some work for the cemetery behind Chester Baptist Church.
“It’s going to be labor intensive,” he said. “There are small trees out there that are three times the size of my thumb,” Robinson said there are also thick bushes of thorns and thistles and moss.
“If you have a small chipper, that will help,” he said. “If you have any small saws,” Robinson said he purchased a small blade for his weed trimmer that could also cut down things.
“If you’re going out there with just machetes, it’s going to whup you,” he said. Robinson said a veteran is buried in the cemetery behind Chester Baptist. He said he went out on Veterans Day to place a flag, and the veteran was in a tomb. But you can’t see the tomb because moss has overtaken it. The veteran served in World War I and died in 1922.
“I was trying to put a flag down, and I kept hitting something, and it was a tomb,” he said.
Robinson said the family plans to send letters to the area churches seeking help.
“It’s a black cemetery, so we want there to be black workers,” Robinson said.
He also said that once the cemetery is cleaned, the goal is to maintain it.
“We don’t ever want it to get in that condition again,” he said.
He said the driving force behind the cleanup is that he’s invested and thinks that just neglecting the cemeteries is disrespectful to those buried there.
“Who knows, we clean it up, and we find a tombstone lying down,” he said. “In the old Mount Pisgah cemetery, we know there are six or seven graves, but there could be many more somewhere that are not marked. So we want to clean them up and preserve them.”
Robinson said if there’s anyone who knows about the cemeteries and has any information, he would love to reach out to them. “It would be helpful,” he said.
He also said if anyone is willing to participate in the cleanup, please do.
Choctaw County Supervisor Greg Fondren suggested they meet at Chester Baptist on Feb. 4, the first Saturday in February.
“Who knows, we might get it all done in one day,” Supervisor Chris McIntire said.
