+Zuber Cemetery " History"

It's been awhile since I've written a post, mainly because I couldn't figure out what to write about. I've pretty much written about all the people I know anything about to tell some sort of a story.  Then I was chatting with my cousin last night and she suggested that I write about the Zuber family cemetery.  So I'm hoping that with the little research information that I found it might be interesting enough to publish.  

In 2012, we made a trip to Georgia for two reasons, one was for my husband's family reunion and the other was to do some family research on both my side and my husband's side of the family. After the family reunion, our main goal was to go first to Villa Rica, Georgia for my husband's family research, which turned out really well, then on to Rome, Floyd Co. Georgia to my Zuber family research.

When we arrived in Rome, Georgia, we went first to the library to seek help but we found no information at all on my gr grandfather, but while there we found out that there was a cemetery where some Zuber families were buried.  So we set off looking for this cemetery.  We had a map but apparently not a very good one because we went everywhere driving all over the place trying to find this cemetery.  We stopped at stores, schools, stopped people on the street and no one had heard of the cemetery at all.  After about an hour and a half of driving all over the place, we gave up the search.  
Once we arrived home from our trip, I started immediately researching this cemetery, I knew that it existed but just where was it and why didn't anyone know where it was or anything about it? While searching on Ancestry.com, I found a person that actually lives in Rome and he also had people in his family tree that had the Zuber surname, so I wrote him and asked him about his Zuber people.  We shared on Facebook and then started communicating, and he said he knew where the cemetery was located and that he had been there a few times.  So he offered to take photos of the Zuber people there.

Tamer Zuber 1846-1928, My 3rd great grandmother

I ended up with a lot of photos of the family buried there, even found my 3rd gr grandmother buried there.  I found out that the cemetery was totally a mess, it hadn't been taken care of in many years, and I could tell that from all the growth.  This friend that took the photos is somehow related to the Zuber people, but we haven't figured out how yet.

Somewhere around this same time I found a new cousin that is also a Zuber, she sent me photos and names of family members that I knew something about but only through my research on Ancestry.com. I had never heard about them through my own family members. So I knew for sure she was related and that these people were, in fact, my relatives that are buried in this cemetery.

Jefferson Davis Zuber, 1861-1929, My 2nd gr grand uncle

Meanwhile I kept trying to find some information about the cemetery, then finally I found an article in the Northwest Georgia News Home Paper where it told about these volunteers some of them relatives of the people buried in the cemetery and some that just wanted to come and clean up the mess.  The article said that the cemetery was a historic slave burial ground as early as 1847 and most of the graves from that time didn't have headstones. According to the Rome Historic Preservation Commission, only two graves have markers from that time.

The article also mentioned some of the surnames of people buried in the cemetery, Zuber, Dozier, Bell and Watters then later on Kennebrew, Phelps and Ware were added to the list of names.  Of all these names, I have in my family, Zuber, Bell, Kennebrew and Watters that I know of so far.
In 1903, the 3-acre cemetery was purchased by the Zuber, Dozier, Bell and Watters families to be used for a burial ground.

Nannie Jones-Zuber 1873-1941, wife of Jefferson D. Zuber

Also I found out that until recently the land was shut off to anyone, so whoever owned it wouldn't allow access to the road that lead to the cemetery so people would have to walk through  wooded areas to reach the cemetery.  Since that time which was probably around 2006 or 2007 the land is now open for people to use the road.   I have been trying to find a photo of the actual cemetery to have a frontal view, but so far I haven't found anything. 

Roosevelt Zuber, 1908-1979, My 1st Cousin 3x removed

Roosevelt Zuber

From 2002 until the present time people have been going to the cemetery and volunteering to clean up the area.  Some people from Atlanta and surrounding states come in their spare time.  

Frances C. Zuber 1895-1925, My 1st Cousin 3x removed

While doing my research I've found a Zuber Creek located in Floyd County Georgia, this will something else for me to look into and see who this Zuber person was that had this creek named after him. 
  http://us.geoview.info/zuber_creek,31324744w

Willie Mae Zuber, 1913-1968, My 1st Cousin 3x removed

These are links to the article about the cleaning up of Zuber Cemetery:  

http://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/volunteers-clean-zuber-cemeter-local-new/article_7b23324a-abf4-5492-a6de-a3ca28603b49.html

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=20020303&id=OCAuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4TsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2038,610421&hl=en

http://www.berry.edu/aroundberry/archive.aspx?id=17179869978

James F. Zuber, 1897-1945, My 1st Cousin 3x removed

  My plan is to return to Georgia for another research trip and photograph the cemetery and more headstones.  I know there are a lot more people I need to add to this post, but I don't have all the information.  There is probably a lot more history to this cemetery and surrounding area which I hope to discover.  
My next goal is:
1- To find more ancestors buried in this cemetery
2- Find out how I'm related to the guy who took the photos for me at the cemetery
3- Check out the Zuber Creek history.
4- Find the connection between the Pinson family and the Zuber family
5- Continue to research Joseph S Zuber which I'll post the headstone photo below, I know he's related     somehow but haven't figured exactly through what ancestor.

The search continues with more road trips and more online research.

Update links:

https://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/rome/news/local/plaque-to-mark-historic-black-cemetery/article_52d9b520-9844-11e8-8366-8face0a15851.html

https://peoplelegacy.com/cemetery/zuber_cemetery-1B0w01/

https://cal.berry.edu/event/zuber_cemetery_the_living_history_of_a_black_cemetery




Sources:

Northwest Georgia News Home Paper
FindAGrave.com
USGeoviewinfo
Bery.edu.com
Rome Historic Preservation Commission