The Accidental Revelations of Sanborn Maps

[riverside_mail]

Stephen's theory that the debris he found was material from burial vaults got me thinking: what were the burial practices from that time period? Here's what I found on Wikipedia under burial vault (I know it's Wikipedia, but the following was sourced from books. I've included the source material).

Although quite commonly used in many industrialized countries, the burial vault is very much a funerary item used almost exclusively in the 20th century. In the United States, the burial vault was largely unknown until the 1880s when the L.G. Haase Manufacturing Co., which owned a cemetery in Illinois, conceived the burial vault as a means of adding a product line to their funerary sales.
Mariaca-Sullivan, Katherine (2011). When a Loved One Dies. Amherst, N.H.: Kaleidoscope Books. ISBN 9780983232414

As late as 1915, only 5 to 10 percent of funerals in the United States used a burial vault or liner.
Mitford, Jessica (1998). The American Way of Death Revisited. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0679450378.

So, as to Stephen's theory, is it possible he saw remains of grave liners? Yes, it's possible, but highly improbable according to the above statements.

[thelakelander]

The debris I was referring to were the things in the images below that have been described as something relating back to a 19th century cemetery, burial ground, grave, etc.





http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-mar-lost-church-lost-battlefield-lost-cemetery-lost-war/page/1#.VEJsWPnF8Yk

This exact site (the little parcel of land north of Monroe between Myrtle and Hanover) was a junkyard and illegal dumping site for decades. Before that it was a saw mill/wood products manufacturing site. The little field south of it had a warehouse on it and was used for years as another junkyard.  It was also a part of that wood products manufacturing site.  The land on the edges consisted of several shotgun houses, a gas station, and a host of other commercial uses.  I'm just saying the rocks in those images are more likely something left over from previous use of the site in the 20th/21st century and not the 19th century. If a visual assumption is being made, partially based off a 19th century map that highlights burial grounds across the street, all I'm saying is more in depth analysis is needed for factual confirmation. 

It was mentioned a few posts ago that the City's historical preservation office had reopened their files on this site, due to Metro Jacksonville's 2010 article.  It's been four years, so it will be interesting to see what their assessment ended up being. I'll check with them next week, since I need to get some info on another MJ story in the works.

[thelakelander]

I'll check with the preservation office on Monday. After this discovery four years ago, they should have a lot of credible historical info that we can post online.

[riverside_mail]

riverside mail, after a moment of thought-----after addressing your misunderstanding of the taxonomy of bed v. vault, I realized on reflection that your point (which has no bearing on this conversation) is also factually wrong.

Vaults were very much in use, especially here in the south, along the swampy coastal lands near rivers. In fact, in New Orleans, the practice is almost exclusive in the 1800s and 1900s.

Consider the wikipedia listing for St. Louis Cemetery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Louis_Cemetery

Again, it has no bearing on the discovery of a grave bed in Jacksonville. (identical techniques of whose building can easily be observed in the  succeeding Old City Cemetery), but just factually I think you should disabuse yourself of the notion.

The St. Louis cemetery is famous for it's above ground vaults, not the vaults to which I was refering. The burial vaults I refered to are the underground structures, usually made of concrete in modern times, in to which the casket is deposited and sealed. Is this not to what you were refering when you used the term "grave liner" or "grave bed"? It was my assumption that we were discussing the same thing using different terms. If I am wrong in my assumption, I apologize forthwith and am eager to know exactly what you mean by grave bed or grave liner.

[spuwho]

When he said grave liner, I was thinking of that small layer of concrete they sometimes pour into gravesites, especially ones in swampy areas. It helps keep the casket in place but also keeps out tree roots and water table shift which can make the casket get pushed back up.

I didnt see it used often the north but at a few cemetaries.

[thelakelander]

Some houses that were on this site when I first moved to town a decade ago.

[spuwho]

It was either post here, or go back to the original cemetery discussion from 2010.

I spent 2.5 hours at the Jacksonville Historical Society today going through old city records to see if I could get a more solid line on the mysterious Baptist Cemetery at and around Myrtle and Monroe.



First off let me say that there is a lot of work ahead of me on this. Just the city records alone will take me several man hours to sort through. Now that we have that out of the way, here is what I located today.

1877 Map of Jacksonville.



As you can see Adams is shown as a plank road leading out to a dog leg north to Black Creek Road. I could not tell if the circle at Myrtle Creek is a cemetery or a pond. There was special notation that was illegible and there was no map references, so this was bit of a wash.

One thing I liked about this map was the neighborhood identities. "Honeymoon"  "Campbell Hill" were all there.

So after looking at maps, I decided to dig into the property plats.  Seeing that I should start early and move forward, I looked for the earliest plat map I could find.  I pulled up what was essentially plat map #1 from 1836-1851. The range is because it was originally platted by the Territorial Surveyor and then updated by the US Surveyor General in Tallahassee and then signed off by the US Bureau of Lands. That signoff happened in 1907.



Sorry for the fuzziness. The new archivist at JHS says there is one other copy of this plat survey and it is in Tallahassee. Fortunately, someone at COJ encased these documents in plastic in the 1960's it appears. The plastic is getting a bit rotted, but the documents are safe.

The following below is the 1840 plat map of Duval County with downtown looking west. I could not find a good location to keep the light shining off the plastic. Next time I will find a better location to picture these. I was trying to be a good citizen being my first time there and not dragging these all over the place.

No church, no cemetery in the expected location at this time.  Downtown Jacksonville is pretty much owned by the Hogan Family. Hogan's Creek, McCoy's Creek are all quite visible.



Ock would be happy to know that all of the pre-Civil War railroads were clearly marked by the surveyor.

While I was in the book, I tried to find any references to Fort Caroline, Vale Laudennaire, etc. just to see if there were any nuggets.



I see Calypso Island here and the owner of the surrounding land, but nothing that would show any signs of historical value.  I did see a lot of property owned by pre-territorial Spanish families. Especially around Queens Harbor, Near the Beaches and some other locations.

The rest of the plat books I could find were all post 1936. 

So now I am off to the record of deeds. There are over 700 Record of Deeds books and each one weighs 15 pounds. There is no index, so I am working backwards and I only get as far as 1928 before my time is up.

So on my next visit, I will be hitting those record of deeds and see if I can retrace the path of the "Old Brick Church" and that mysterious cemetery.