The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-07-18
RESTING PLACE OF
 PIONEERS IS OAK HILL CEMETERY IN
 BIRMINGHAM HILLS
Memorial Association Plans Improvements and Laying Foundation for a Per-
 petual Care Fund.
By CAROLYN B. ELLIOTT

In the heart of this busy city, where the whirl of life is continually hurry ing restlessly past, is memory spot where a peace that passeth under standing" broods over Gods Acre. and reminds the casual visitor that in Oak Hill Cemetery his feet are treading | holy ground
 T like that ancient Saxon phrase which
 calls
 The burial ground Gods Acre! It is
 just;
 It consecrates each grave within it's walls
 And breathes a pension OCT the sleep dust
 Within the confines of the walls of | Oak Hill Cemetery are the marble shafts and lowly mounds that mark the resting places of those whose faith and courage whose brawn and brain blazed the trails of greater Birming- ham. The work of their hands and hearts is established today in the tail buildings that rim the sky line, the open mines, the busy furnaces and factories, the churches and hospitals and schools some of which can be seen from the crest of the hill where the monuments of pioneers stand as senti-
  |Hreams. as they point heavenward to their Immortal aspirations. It is in reverent memory of the heri- tage they have left to Birmingham that one walks through Oak Hill Cemetery and reads the inscription of such names as James w. Sloss, John c. Morrow. John T. Terry. Paul H. Earle, James A. Going, John c. Henley. Joseph Mudd, G. W. Hewitt J. P. Nixon, George L.. Morris, D NJ. Fullenwider. Ben Worth ington, William A. Walker, Henry NJ. Caldwell Frank P. O'Brien. Joseph Me Lester, John T. Miller and others in gratitude to whom a volume might be filled.
 FIRST INTERVIEW The first nterment on July 4. 1872, was that of the late Jesse Thompson. Father of B. A. Thompson. a former mayor of Birmingham. Near at hand are the quiet resting places of Biz. minghams first coal operator, Henry T. DeI3ardeleben; of the first banker. Charles Linn: the first wholesale. mer- chant T. T.. Hudgins; the graves of Mai Thomas Peters, one of Jefferson county's original prospectors; and of Capt w. P. Barker, who laid cut the city of Birningham. High up on the crest of the hill are the graves of Dr, and Mrs. J. W. Sears: further down. the slope the monuments erected to thA Asmemorv of Dr. William Jordan, Df Elias Davis. pr. J. B. Luckie and Dr Taylor, while under the friendly shade of great oak tree is the gran ite mound that bears the name of pr. John c. Griggs.
 Other insfr'rtions there are, to mem- ory dear. of the fipst doctors. the first preachers, the first teachers, who came to prepare the way for the Birming ham of today Often appear the hon. ored name of a Confederate Veteran. of Mexican war veteran.
 One name of soldier of the Span ish-American. war. and the memorial of one aviator of the recent world war. Should the Birmingham boys who were left to sleep under the lilies of France ever be brought back home, some Of them. like Mortimer Jordan and Bryan Tomlinson, will doubtless rest in the burying ground of their fathers at Oak Hill Gem etery.
 X history of all that has been from pioneer days to the present can be read between the lines at this landmark of Birmingham, where quiet shade and generous grassy plot await the genera tions of the present and future, who will grow tired enough to sleep there when life is dora
 ASSOCIATION FORMED
 It was in grateful memory of the past anu III pTONiutHce TOT LHe aIuIuT1 that the Oak Hill Memorial Associa tipn was incorporated in May 1913r for the perpetual care of Oak Hill cem- etery- The purpose. as stated by the association, 'is to look after. improve, maintain and beautify this burial ground and perpetually care for lots owned or designated by mem bers for such care"
 The living. whose dead are buried there. have contemplated with anxiety the probable future of cemetery un- kept, uncared for and desecrated. As means to avert such a probable fu- ture. the association has been created as a perpetual guardian to protect this city of the dead.
 All money paid to the association for perpetual care constitutes trust fund to be held perpetually in trust and invested, and only the income thcrefrom can be used for the care of lots.
 Every person who owns or whose