Citation | Print View | Report Problem
Search Finding Aid
A Guide to the Pleasant Shade Cemetery (Hampton, Va.) records, compiled 2012-2018 Pleasant Shade Cemetery (Hampton, Va.) records, compiled 2012-2018 54206

A Guide to the Pleasant Shade Cemetery (Hampton, Va.) records, compiled 2012-2018

A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 54206


[logo]

Library of Virginia

The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000
USA
Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives)
URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/

© 2024 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.

Processed by: Trenton Hizer

Repository
The Library of Virginia
Accession Number
54206
Title
Pleasant Shade Cemetery (Hampton, Va.) records, compiled 2012-2018
Extent
1.4 cubic feet (4 boxes)
Creator
John Mitchell, Mary Kayaselcuk, and Selma Stewart
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Pleasant Shade Cemetery (Hampton, Va.) records, comp. 2012-2018. Accession 54206. Cemetery records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Artistine Mears-Lang, Hampton, Virginia, and Mary Kayaselcuk and Selma Stewart, Newport News, Virginia.

Historical Information

Pleasant Shade Cemetery, comprising over 20 acres, is the oldest and largest public African American cemetery located on the lower Virginia Peninsula. It is a combination of three earlier burial grounds, Mount Zion (1888), Pleasant Shade (1908) and Holly Grove (1918), and contains an estimated 15,000 burials, of which only a portion have been identified. After its owners abandoned the cemetery, Darnell Lang (1954-2024) and Artistine Mears-Lang founded the East End Neighborhood Association to organize volunteer efforts to save and maintain the cemetery. The cemetery has been divided into 14 sections to make identification of burial sites easier. The cemetery is the resting place for many prominent African American leaders of Hampton and Newport News, Virginia, including James A. Fields (1844-1903), member of the Virginia House of Delegates; attorney and social justice pioneer Joseph Thomas Newsome (1869-1942); evangelist Lightfoot Soloman Michaux (1885-1968); and Jessie Menfield Rattley (1929-2001), the first woman and African American to serve on the Newport News City Council and as mayor of Newport News.

Scope and Content

Cemetery records for Pleasant Shade Cemetery, the oldest African American public cemetery on the Virginia Peninsula. Information compiled 2012-2018 by John Mitchell, Mary Kayaselcuk, and Selma Stewart. Provides name and burial information for identified burials in the 14 sections of the cemetery listed by section and by alphabetical order. Includes information on veterans, notable persons, and persons born in the 1800s.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged

Series I: Sections Series II: Veterans Series III: 1800s Series IV: Notables Series V: Marker surveys Series VI: Alphabetical Series VII: Search Series VIII: General and miscellaneous

Contents List

Sections .
Boxes 1-2
Extent: 2 boxes.
  • Box 1 Folder 1
    Section 1-Galilee--Maps, photographs
  • Box 1 Folder 2
    Section 1--Galilee--Burial by row and plot
  • Box 1 Folder 3
    Section 1-Galilee--Early births, 1800s, veterans
  • Box 1 Folder 4
    Section 2-Shiloh
  • Box 1 Folder 5
    Section 3-Ephesus--Map, veterans, burials-verify, 1800s, early briths, notables, blank pages
  • Box 1 Folder 6
    Section 3-Ephesus--Burial by row and plot
  • Box 1 Folder 7
    Section 4-Philippi--Veterans, 1800s, clergy, notables
  • Box 1 Folder 8
    Section 4-Philippi--Burial by row and plot
  • Box 1 Folder 9
    Section 5-Antioch
  • Box 1 Folder 10
    Section 6-Beulah
  • Box 1 Folder 11
    Section 7-Mt. Carmel
  • Box 1 Folder 12
    Section 8-Corinth
  • Box 1 Folder 13
    Section 9-Jericho--Maps, photographs, old sheets, statistics, correspondence, copies, blanks, additions
  • Box 1 Folder 14
    Section 9-Jericho--Burial by row and plot, revisions and additions
  • Box 1 Folder 15
    Section 9-Jericho--Early births, blank sheets, additions, maps
  • Box 1 Folder 16
    Section 10-Cyprus
  • Box 2 Folder 1
    Section 11-Canaan
  • Box 2 Folder 2
    Section 12-Gilead
  • Box 2 Folder 3
    Section 13-Gethsemane--Maps, markers, burial by row and plot (rows 1-10)
  • Box 2 Folder 4
    Section 13-Gethsemane--Burial by row and plot (rows 11-20)
  • Box 2 Folder 5
    Section 13-Gethsemane--Burial by row and plot (rows 21-28)
  • Box 2 Folder 6
    Section 13-Gethsemane--Veterans, early births, miscellaneous, maps, early births, 1800s, masons, notables, row 17 (draft)
  • Box 2 Folder 7
    Section 14-Samaria
Back to Top
Veterans .
Box 2
Extent: 1 box.
  • Box 2 Folder 8
    Veterans
Back to Top
1800s .
Box 2
Extent: 1 box.
  • Box 2 Folder 9
    1800s--Section 1-Galilee
  • Box 2 Folder 10
    1800s--Section 2-Shiloh
  • Box 2 Folder 11
    1800s--Section 12-Gilead
  • Box 2 Folder 12
    1800s--Section 13-Gethsemane
  • Box 2 Folder 13
    1800s--Early birth sheets-blank and Galilee, 1800 sheets-blank
  • Box 2 Folder 14
    1800s--Earliest births
Back to Top
Notables .
Box 3
Extent: 1 box.
  • Box 3 Folder 1
    Notables--Maps, statistics, and burials
Back to Top
Marker surveys .
Box 3
Extent: 1 box.
  • Box 3 Folder 2
    Section 1-Galilee--Rows 1-3
  • Box 3 Folder 3
    Section 1-Galilee--Rows 4-6
  • Box 3 Folder 4
    Section 1-Galilee--Rows 7-9
  • Box 3 Folder 5
    Section 1-Galilee--Rows 10-12
  • Box 3 Folder 6
    Section 1-Galilee--Rows 13-16
  • Box 3 Folder 7
    Section 1-Galilee--Rows 17-19
  • Box 3 Folder 8
    Section 1-Galilee--Burial information form/request
  • Box 3 Folder 9
    Section 1-Galilee--Revisits, maps, photographs
  • Box 3 Folder 10
    Section 1-Galilee--General papers
  • Box 3 Folder 11
    Section 2-Shiloh--Notes, rows 1-4
  • Box 3 Folder 12
    Section 2-Shiloh--Rows 5-7
  • Box 3 Folder 13
    Section 2-Shiloh--Rows 8-11
  • Box 3 Folder 14
    Section 2-Shiloh--Rows 12-16
  • Box 3 Folder 15
    Section 2-Shiloh--Rows 17-19
  • Box 3 Folder 16
    Section 2-Shiloh--Rows 20-22, extra entries, notes
Back to Top
Alphabetical .
Boxes 3-4
Extent: 2 boxes.
  • Box 3 Folder 17
    Photographs, article, map, statistics
  • Box 3 Folder 18
    A
  • Box 3 Folder 19
    B
  • Box 3 Folder 20
    C
  • Box 4 Folder 1
    D
  • Box 4 Folder 2
    E
  • Box 4 Folder 3
    F
  • Box 4 Folder 4
    G
  • Box 4 Folder 5
    Miscellaneous papers from notebook A-G
  • Box 4 Folder 6
    Maps from notebook A-G
  • Box 4 Folder 7
    H
  • Box 4 Folder 8
    I
  • Box 4 Folder 9
    J
  • Box 4 Folder 10
    K
  • Box 4 Folder 11
    L
  • Box 4 Folder 12
    M
  • Box 4 Folder 13
    N
  • Box 4 Folder 14
    O
  • Box 4 Folder 15
    Photographs, maps, papers from notebook P-Z
  • Box 4 Folder 16
    P
  • Box 4 Folder 17
    Q
  • Box 4 Folder 18
    R
  • Box 4 Folder 19
    S
  • Box 4 Folder 20
    T
  • Box 4 Folder 21
    U
  • Box 4 Folder 22
    V
  • Box 4 Folder 23
    W
  • Box 4 Folder 24
    X
  • Box 4 Folder 25
    Y
  • Box 4 Folder 26
    Z
Back to Top
Search .
Box 4
Extent: 1 box.
  • Box 4 Folder 27
    Maps, search sheets, notecards, miscellaneous
  • Box 4 Folder 28
    Book of statistics
  • Box 4 Folder 29
    Search requests
Back to Top
General and miscellaneous .
Box 4
Extent: 1 box.
  • Box 4 Folder 30
    Alphabetical listing of burials (draft)
  • Box 4 Folder 31
    Research on burials, statistics
  • Box 4 Folder 32
    Newport News death register--African American burials
  • Box 4 Folder 33
    Photographs on CDs
  • Folder 1
    Aerial photograph
Back to Top