Another Black cemetery erased?
Four homes may occupy part of what was the St. Joseph Aid Society site in East Tampa.
TAMPA — Jeraldine Williams might have the distinction of being linked to two erased Black cemeteries. While chronicling her family tree last year, Williams learned her great-great-grandmother was buried in Zion Cemetery, the segregation era burial ground discovered under a Tampa housing project, warehouses and tow lot. A Tampa Bay Times investigation identified Zion’s location, and archaeologists confirmed that bodies remain there.
“My great-grandfather, Eli McCall, was buried in another Tampa cemetery that no longer exists,” she emailed the Times in November. “It’s called St. Joseph Aid Society Cemetery,” according to his death certificate, which Williams located through genealogy websites. She asked the Times to help find it. It’s about 2.5 miles east of Zion, an extensive search of public records shows. The Times can’t say with total certainty that the cemetery is still there, but numerous clues indicate that it likely is in the 3400 block of Genesee Street in East Tampa, under four homes and the Greater Mount Carmel AME Church parking lot.
Timeline:
1868: The state of Florida declares it illegal to disturb a grave and construct over a cemetery.
1896: The St. Joseph Aid Society is founded in Jacksonville by Thomas H.B. Walker.
1901: Walker is pastor of Bowman AME Church and establishes a local chapter of the society.
1907: Walker establishes the St. Joseph Aid Society Cemetery in the Montana City Subdivision.
1919: Burials at the cemetery cease.
1928: Undertaker Edward Stone purchases the cemetery from Walker.
1929: Burials reconvene.
1937: The state legislature passes the Murphy Act, which allows them to become trustees of properties with delinquent taxes.
1940: The Stone funeral home buries the last of more than 400 at the cemetery.
1943: The cemetery, taken from the Stone family under the Murphy Act, is purchased in a county auction by Winter Haven’s J.F. Holly and broken into five lots for development.
Mid-1940s: At least three grave markers are still on the property.
1950s: Human remains are discovered as construction crews develop the neighborhood.
1970s: Human remains are discovered while a homeowner gardens.
2021: Jeraldine Williams asks the Tampa BayTimes to find the St. Joseph Aid Society Cemetery, where her great-grandfather is buried.
Reporter: By Paul Guzzo -- Times Staff Writer
Word Count: 2705
Publication: Tampa Bay Times
Section: A DESK