Nunn Cemetery: All but forgotten historic cemetery being reborn Mike Turner, a student at the Mingo Job Corps Center, removes chunks of a dead oak tree cut by JCC director Don Riggle during a cleanup project at Nunn Cemetery Tuesday. Two other JCC students, Jason Short and Jonathan Lipsey, dug holes and planted crepe myrtle trees. (DAR/David Silverberg) By DAVID SILVERBERG ~ Staff Writer The historic Nunn Cemetery is on a wooded hilltop near the beautiful Mark Twain National Forest north of Poplar Bluff. Residents of the Agee Community with much assistance from Mingo Job Corps Center supervisors and students are cleaning up the old graveyard. They have removed nine dead oak trees, planted 12 crepe myrtle trees and added dirt fill on sunken burial sites. "The Agee Community Club has been working on this project for the past two years," said Nellie Woods, a cemetery trustee and club member. She expressed her appreciation to the Job Corps for "graciously consenting to help us." Job Corps personnel have made two trips to the small, isolated cemetery to perform a variety of tasks. Eight students and two supervisors, director Don Riggle and vocational manager Buddy Clinton, have worked at the cemetery. "This is our Make A Difference Day project." said Riggle, who used a chain saw to cut up fallen oak trees. Some students helped him move the chunks of wood while others dug holes and planted crepe myrtle trees. "It's a good thing for our community that they are helping to restore our historic cemetery," said Woods, who was working at the cemetery with her husband, Richard, their son, Ron, and Richard's brother, Paul. A 1996 book, "Cemeteries of Northwestern Butler County," prepared by the Genealogical Society of Butler County, indicates the oldest death date on any tombstone in Nunn Cemetery is 1887. The cemetery had been canvassed in 1971. "I walked to it and recanvassed it on April 10, 1996. I found two new burials and a prior omission," wrote Helen Sparkman, who prepared the information on Nunn Cemetery. There are 36 marked graves and 25-30 unmarked ones or marked only with field stones. "No one seems to know why this burial site is known as the Nunn Cemetery. There are no readable markers bearing the name Nunn, but there could be in unmarked graves. Perhaps, the first burial was on Nunn land," Sparkman stated. Helen Birdsong, also a cemetery trustee, her husband, Fred, and their son, David, also were doing volunteer work at the cemetery. David Birdsong used his loader to move dirt. Fred's mother provided the inspiration for the cleanup project. Ruby Birdsong, who died Sept. 28, 2003, was a charter member and former president of the Agee Community Club that recently celebrated its 71st anniversary. "Due to the cemetery being inaccessible, she had not been able to visit her parents' graves for 45 years," Nellie said. Ruby Birdsong's parents are John and Caroline Lewis. She was born in 1878 and died in 1918. He was born in 1870 and died in 1932. They had nine children. Agee Community Club members made the cemetery a club project and contacted the Butler County Commission about making the one-lane, half-mile road to the cemetery accessible again. The hillside lane had washed out and had not been repaired. But the situation changed when the commission was contacted about three years ago. A culvert was installed and the road was repaired. "The commission and the county highway department do all we can to make old cemeteries accessible to the public," Eastern District Commissioner Robbie Myers said. "It is good to see the Agee Community Club has enhanced the cemetery since the road was repaired." The club has constructed a small pavilion near the cemetery entrance in memory of Ruby Birdsong. "We finished building it last month and plan to pour a concrete floor," Nellie said. Her great-grandfather, William Agee, and his sister, Phoeba Spencer, were among the first settlers in the Agee Community. The Agee and Spencer families received land grants and moved from Virginia to southern Missouri in 1857. Phoeba Agee Spencer is buried in Nunn Cemetery. She was born Aug. 5, 1834, and died July 20, 1907. Her husband, William Spencer, was taken out of the field by Union soldiers during the Civil War and was never seen again, according to the Spencer family story in the 1988 Butler County Family History Book. A Spencer daughter, Mary, married David Nunn on March 13, 1873. Orian and Iva Agee, who are the parents of Nellie Woods, also are buried in Nunn Cemetery. He died in 1969 and his wife died in 1973. Agee Community residents thanked the Job Corps workers, Wal-Mart for helping with the trees and Bruce McIver Trucking for donating the dirt. |