On March 7, I was again in Vicksburg and had a chance to go to Beulah Cemetery, the burial place of Claude Newman and so many others. I had been emailing a woman who is helping to oversee the cemetery. Her own grandparents are buried there, but she does not know where their graves are located. I had also called various funeral homes to see if I could locate the one given in Claude’s obituary: “People’s Undertaking Company of Jackson.” I finally contacted that particular funeral home, but they said that funeral homes do not keep records of burial locations. I also attempted to find out if there were others who were volunteering to locate graves and do cleanup, but didn’t make much headway.
I stopped by Walmart and bought a “grabber” and some trash bags to do some cleanup while I was visiting. The cemetery had remarkably little trash to gather, perhaps because the entrance is cordoned off to vehicles. In fact, I had to put a note on my windshield saying I was a volunteer doing cleanup, as there were “no parking” signs in the only area open for parking. It seems the dead at Beulah don’t get many visitors.
I came to the conclusion that Claude is most likely buried in an out of the way place that is not marked. If so many people who were not executed criminals don’t have headstones or markers, it’s difficult to believe that Claude would be an exception. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.
