Spring Hill Cemetery

Written by Debie Oeser Cox

Published on the Nashville History Blog

November 6, 2014

http://nashvillehistory.blogspot.com/

African American Burials

Spring Hill Cemetery, Madison, Davidson County, Tennessee.

At Spring Hill Cemetery, on Gallatin Pike in Madison, there is a large section, with only a few

markers, in the southwest corner of the cemetery that was reserved for the burial of persons of

African descent. On a plat of the cemetery, the section is marked, "H" single graves.

Section H

A large marker with the name Joe Browne, across the front, is the most prominent in this section.

Three footstones, identify the persons buried in the lot as; Joe Browne 1860-1917; Callie Browne

1858-1953; and Olive Lischey (sister of Joe Browne) 1864-1918.

It was the search for Joe Browne's grave that brought me to this area of Spring Hill Cemetery. I

first learned of Joseph Browne from Dr. Bill McKee of Cumberland University. Dr. McKee

asked for my help in a history of Northeast Nashville that he was putting together. The resulting

book, North Edgefield Remembered, tells the story of Joseph Browne and his wife Callie.

Browne, born into slavery in 1859, was reared in the home of Louis Lischy, a Nashville florist. It

was alleged in a divorce proceeding brought by Lischy's wife that Joe was the son of Louis

Lischy. The graves of the two men are separated in the cemetery by only a narrow lane. Joe

Browne worked for many years for Louis Lischy, at Lischy's greenhouse in Northeast Nashville.

At Lischy's death, Browne took over the florist business and was well known in Nashville.

Nashville Globe

For many years Joe, Callie and Daisy lived in a home on Lischey Avenue. Around the time that

Joe died Callie built a new home on Mile End Avenue, now Douglas Avenue. Both homes are

still standing.

Home of Joe and Callie Browne, 1311 Lischey Avenue

Home of Callie Browne, 501 Douglas Avenue

Callie's daughter and Joe's step-daughter, Daisy Turner Washington, was a great-grandmother of

Julian Bond, Senator from Georgia and a leader in the civil rights movement.

I wrote this biographical sketch for Joseph Browne to add to the Find-A-Grave website.

Born into slavery on the farm of Louis C. Lischy, near Nashville, in Davidson County,

Tennessee. His mother was named Octavia Lischy. She was also known as Toby. Octavia was a

slave of Louis Lischy, who was reputedly the father of Joseph. Joseph Lischy is found in the

household of Louis Lischy in 1870. By 1880 he had changed his name to Joseph Browne. Joe

was a florist in East Nashville. He married Callie Turner in 1895 and became a step-father to her

12 year old daughter Daisy Agnes Turner (Washington). Daisy's great-grandson is Julian Bond,

social activist and a leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. In 1953, after the death of

his wife Callie, Fisk University received a gift of $130,000 from Joe's estate. Dr. Johnson, then

President of Fisk, said this was the largest gift ever received by Fisk from a Negro and he

believed this to be the largest gift ever received by any educational institution by a Negro.

Joe and Callie are buried at the northwest corner of section H, designated as the old slave section

or the Negro lot on some interment records at Spring Hill.

Section H covers quite a large area, but contains only a few grave markers. Very few burials in

this section are recorded in the cemetery record books. A grave marker for Samuel Harvey

Vaughn 1854-1892 stands near a cemetery roadway. In 1870, Harvey Vaughn was living in the

house of Hiram Vaughn, working as a domestic servant. Markers for Emma Love 1863-1888 and

her sister Florence Love 1870-1894 are near the middle of this section. They were daughters of

Thaddeus Love 1812-1890, who was found in the 1880 census as a next door neighbor to Robert

E. Love. The family, likely lived on the Robert Love property and were former slaves of the

Love family. Thaddeus and his wife Sallie, and Jenny Love and Mahaly Love are buried at

Spring Hill, according to death records, but no grave marker has been found. A marker for

Martha Wade who died in 1931 is at the back of section H. Through a search of records

including death records for Davidson County and Nashville, documentation has been found of

more than 50 burials of African-Americans at Spring Hill Cemetery. The size of section H, and

the lack of mention of most of these burials in the interment records for Spring Hill Cemetery

leads to the belief that there may have been many more burials of persons of color at Spring Hill

Cemetery from it's beginning in 1785 until the early 1950's.

Emma Love

Florence Love

Martha Wade

Samuel Harvey Vaughn