Friendship added to state historic cemetery register

WINSTON COUNTY - A local cemetery is now one of just two in Winston County officially considered historic by the State of Alabama.
Friendship Church Cemetery, located on County Road 23 near Rabbittown, was added to the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register on July 3.  Friendship joins Nelson-Hill-Shipman Cemetery near Lakeshore as the only cemeteries within Winston County currently on the state historic cemetery registry.
According to the Alabama Historical Commission, which oversees the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register, listing in the registry is an honorary designation.  The status has to be applied for, which is where Zena Godsey Tucker, of Huntsville, came in.  Tucker grew up in the area, going to Friendship Primitive Baptist Church in front of the cemetery and, along with several dedicated family members, has been trying to keep the no-longer active church and cemetery in good condition.  It is not an easy task.
“We’ve noticed the cemetery and church building deteriorating. Monuments and gravestones are getting difficult to read and (individual) grave sites are difficult to discern from the others,”  Tucker said.
According to Find a Grave,, there are at least 75 persons buried at Friendship Church Cemetery.  The person with the oldest known birthdate buried there is Lucinda Frost Godsey, who was born in 1829 and died in 1924.    The oldest marked burial, according to Find a Grave, is for Mary Frost Godsey, who was born in 1843 and died in 1885.  Lucinda and Mary were sisters, according to Tucker, marrying two Godsey brothers, W.R. and Robert Esa Godsey.
Tucker’s connection with the cemetery goes back four generations.  Her father, Ted A. Godsey, is buried at Friendship, along with her paternal grandparents, Richard Sherman and Ada Louise Taylor Godsey; great-grandparents, Richard Mchershel and Louiza Cagle Godsey and great-great-grandparents.  With the cemetery meaning so much to Tucker and her family, they wanted to do something to help get it recognized.
“We realized the task should be taken on by more people who have a connection to the site.  What better way to build connection than to illustrate what a great heritage we have in the brave and interesting stories of the people buried at Friendship,”  Tucker said.
Tucker began the process of filling out the application for the cemetery to be added to the historic registry early this year, learning a lot about Friendship and who is buried within it during the process.
“The Godsey family started chatting about the genealogy of our ancestors buried there. We realized there were three Civil War soldiers– two Union soldiers and one Confederate - interred at the cemetery.  This was surprising, since I grew up going to Friendship as a child and never realized this!”  Tucker said.
Robert Esa Godsey (1840-1911) served in Company D of the 1st Alabama Cavalry for the Union. John James Godsey (1845-1913) served in Company A of the 1st Alabama Cavalry for the Union.  Jesse Burton Burns (1843-1926) served in Company C of  the 19th Alabama Infantry in the Confederacy.
Tucker and her family were also able to delve into Friendship Church’s history as a pivotal location for Sacred Harp (fasola) singing for part of their information for the historic cemetery register application.  For over a century, Friendship Church hosted dozens of Sacred Harp singings, beginning as early as 1918.
“We discovered that at least two interred at the site attended Sacred Harp singing schools taught by the famous Denson brothers,”  Tucker said, referring to Seaborn and Thomas Denson, who settled in the Helicon area and are known as the patriarchs of North Alabama Sacred Harp music.
The registry application was challenging, Tucker said, with the process of filling it out taking six months.
“The most difficult thing was finding anything historically significant in the records.  My best online resource was using newspapers.com,”  Tucker said.
Tucker was surprised at the lack of records available online.
“ A surprise to me was the lack of records about the county’s anti-succession activists.  It was only by expanding my search to newspapers in Tennessee that I found the record of the Union mass meeting held in Winston County in 1865,”  Tucker said.
After submitting the application in early June, Tucker received an email in July saying it had been accepted, thrilling her and her family.  There are many people she would like to thank for their assistance.
“First and foremost, many thanks to Mr. B.W. Hulsey and Mrs. Bonnie Baldwin, who maintained Friendship Church and Cemetery these last years since the congregation dissolved.  Many thanks also to my brothers, Paul and David Godsey, my cousin, Candy Dodson, and our newly formed committee for the preservation of the church and cemetery for their help with research and photos,”  Tucker said.
While Friendship Cemetery is now on the historic cemetery register, funds will still have to be raised for a plaque to display at the cemetery because AHC does not pay for plaques.  
“We intend to raise the funds for a plaque ourselves,”  Tucker said.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help raise money for the plaque.  Persons with loved ones buried at Friendship Cemetery and all other interested persons can donate at www.gofundme.com/f/preserve-friendship-church-cemetery.
To learn more about the work done to get Friendship Cemetery recognized and the continuing work to preserve its history, visit the Facebook page Friend of Friendship Church - Haleyville.
Tucker hopes more cemeteries within Winston County will be added to the registry.
“I believe there must be many other historical cemeteries in Winston County.  It is a worthy effort to identify these cemeteries,”  Tucker said.
Tucker also offered a bit of advice to anyone who wants to get a cemetery deemed historic.
“Read the AHC instructions a few times, then start digging into the history with the help of famly and friends who share your passion,”  Tucker said.
To learn more about the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register, visit the Alabama Historical Commission’s website at ahc/alabama.gov/cemeteryprogram.