Cemeteries Information System
The CIS provides access to life stories and locations maps, death circumstances, burial and grave information, photos, and documents associated with persons interred in the historic burial grounds).
Click to ACCESS life stories of our interred
The CIS also provides Foundation Researchers with tools to review and publish decedent biographical information, photos, and document images submitted by the public, descendants, educators, and other researchers.
Academics are using the thousands of records in the Cemetery Information System together with other information resources to obtain insights into how thousands of persons of different ethnicities and races coexisted in the integrated yet segregated historical Georgetown - creating neighborhoods, their social fabric, businesses, places of worship, and schools.
Click to access a "Cultural Anthropology Study Map" being developed by a student volunteer. This tool enables researchers to better understand the geographic footprint for the life of an individual, AND, using a Timeline Filter, to observe evolving patterns of places of birth, enslavement, residence, worship, and death in the growing Georgetown community.
Information Resources ('click' on entries to navigate to detailed information)
These resources provide historical information, photos, documents, media, and external references related to the history of the cemeteries, burial practices, studies of the burial grounds and artifacts, urban enslavement and emancipation.
If you have questions or feedback about these tools, or if you would like to help us maintain this resource, please contact us using this email.
Montgomery Street, Mount Zion, and Female Union Band Society Cemeteries History
Burial Record sources
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The Methodist Burying Ground, Burial Records and Map - 1975, Paul E. Sluby
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The Methodist Burying Ground, Burial Records - 1975 Paul E. Sluby with further research annotations
Cemetery Surveys
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2008 NPS GIS Overlay of 1975 Gravestones Location for Return Survey
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Trees and Foliage Survey Plat and Index
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2024 Topographical Survey of Mt Zion and Female Union Band Society Cemeteries
Historical Legal Documents & Docs
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December 21, 1875 Conveyance of land from Alfred and Hannah Pope for building Mount Zion Church
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Female Union Band Society Cemetery land purchase Record of Conveyance March 25, 1843
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1879 Dumbarton & Mount Zion Churches Burial Ground Lease Agreement
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Female Union Band v Unknown Heirs DDC 403 F Supp 540 decided 7-31-1975
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Female Union Band v Unknown Heirs DDC Order re Trustees 3-30-1976
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Female Union Band v Unknown Heirs DDC Order re Trust 12-19-1980
"I never would have guessed..."
Other Valuable Records and Information
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Index of 1862 DC Emancipation Compensation Petition Claim Numbers by Enslaver
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1862 DC Emancipation Compensation Petitions Enslaved Persons Details
Historical Articles referencing the Cemeteries
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"On Babies Graves" - 1890 newspaper article describing gravesites, markers, and momentos
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"Mount Zion Cemetery Burial Customs" - Savannah Morning News, August 9 1894
Place Holder - Resources To Be Developed
Contemporary Photographs and Videos
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Cemetery photos
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Monuments, headstones and artifacts photos
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Cemetery Events Photos and Videos
Cemetery Preservation
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Monuments, headstones, artifacts
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Grounds
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Invasive plant species
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Tree canopy
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Groundwater management