GRAY CEMETERY, Balch Road, MADISON COUNTY ALABAMA
aka Providence Church Cemetery. Cemetery is adjacent to the Betts (black) Cemetery (across the way to the south, no tombstones known to be there.)
Mapping the Location

Area views  of the cemetery 3429/3476/3477/3478

ANERTON, James, 1860 - Mar 25, 1898. (missing top- found by Dorothy Johnson 1970)
BACON, Pvt. Richard, Nov 20, 1760, Virginia - Dec 5, 1832, Madison County, Alabama. Private and Commissary, Virginia Continental Line, Revolutionary War. Pension  enrolled on December 31, 1832, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $73.33.--Revolutionary Pension Roll, in Vol. xiv, Sen. Doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st session, 1833-34. (unmarked grave, no grave found 2014;  Findagrave Memorial# 114602411.)
BARBEE, Annie May, May 26, 1904 - May 29, 1909, daughter of J.A. and E.M. Barbee.  In God we trust to meet again. 3496/3495/3497/3498
BARBEE, Johnnie L., Mar 6, 1898 - Oct 16, 1898, son of J.A. and E.M. Barbee. We will meet again. 3492/3494
BLACKBURN, John W., Apr 12, 1775 - Feb 14, 1854. 3442/3441/3439/3440
BURNS, A. L., ??? 19, 1908 - ??? 30, 1908.  (not found in 2014)
GRAY, James, 1788 - Apr 16, 1850. A mark of Respect by his wife Jane Gray. 3502/3501/3503/3504
GRAY, Jane, 1789 - May 9, 1858. 3499/3500
GRAY, Joseph, unknown birth date - Mar --, 1829.  (not found in 2014**)
GRAY, Eleanor Wardlow, 1757 - Dec 15, 1822**. 3465C/3466/3465/3467/3468
GRAY, William John, 1755 - Aug 14, 1834**. (Revolutionary War Soldier. unmarked grave) Obituary (partial)
HANSEN, D. R., unknown - 1933 (Fieldstone marked grave with name and date etched on the rock). 3430/3431/3432/3433/3434
LEONARD, Henry Dwight, (ca Aug 31, 1851) - Aug 15, 1853, aged 1 year, 11 months & 16 days. son of James L. R. & Sarah Leonard.  (stone not found).
MAXWELL, Margaret A., (ca Jun 20, 1829) - Sep 16, 1835, Aged 6 years, 2 months & 26 days. daughter of David & Margaret Maxwell. 3443/3444/3445
SANDERSON, R. R., Mar 14, 1846 - Nov 22, 1846, son of Jere & Sarah Sanderson. 3470/3469/3474
SISCO, -- --, May 17, 1898 - Sep 18, 1900. 3426/3427
SISCO, -- --, Nov 10, 1896 - Aug 8, 1903 (not found in 2014)
SMITH, Thomas, 1843 - May 15, 1903
STEWART, Eli T.N., Sep 10, 1902 - Jan 14, 1903. We will meet again. Son of T.J. & Birdie Stewart. 3435/3436/3437
TRIBBLE, Ann Echols, 1760 - 1842.
TRIBBLE, James, 1756 - 1840, (Revolutionary War Soldier. unmarked grave)
TRIBBLE, John Petty, Sr., 1812 - 1860. (not found in 2014)
TRIBBLE, Lavinia, 1792 - 1870. (not found in 2014)
TRIBBLE, Stephen, 1786 - 1850. (not found in 2014)
WHITWORTH, William Jefferson, 1900 - Aug 8, 1900.
WOOD, D. M., 1797 - Aug 14, 1835. 3450/3451/3452/3453

Base of a stone without the top present southern area of the cemetery. Could this be the James Anerton memorial?: 3485
Grave marked only with two bricks, one at the head, and one at the foot of the grave (north of the Sisco graves). 3428
Three graves covered with the piles of stones probably at one time these were stacked in orderly fashion. 3446/3447/3448/3449
Several Graves in the Gray family area with heaped up mounds of brick, around the Eleanor Gray tomb. These are very old. (Hard to see here because depth does not show up well in photos) 3454/3455/3456/3457/3458/3459/3460/3461/3462/3463/3464/3465/3466/3467/3468/This grave is further west than the others - out of the Gray family area:3475
There are about 25 to 50 grave sinks that are there because wooden caskets were utilized which decayed and as the wood disappeared the grave sunk in to fill the void. I did not try to photograph them because they do not show up on the photos.
fieldstones marking graves in the far southern area of the cemetery. Could this be the Betts (black) cemetery. 3476/3477/3478/3479/3480/3481/3482/3483/3484
/3486/3487/3488/3489/3490/3491

**Note: The graves of Eleanor, William and Joseph Gray were together and covered with brick. At the head of each of these brick covered graves is a sandstone marker. The inscriptions on Joseph's and William's headstones have all but eroded away, but Eleanor's is in better condition. When facing these headstones, Eleanor's is on the left, William's in the center and Joseph's on the right. It will be only a short time before all identification will have weathered off these stones and then it will be impossible to tell who is in which grave. [Dorothy Scott Johnson about 1970.] Who am I to question Dorothy. Anything can happen between 1970 and 2014. I could not confirm this with what I found. Eleanor Gray's marker may have been moved since 1970 explaining the difference. There seems to be 4 graves (piled up brick) lined up in a row north/south where Eleanor's tombstone was found and hers is now on the south end of that row of graves. What Dorothy says makes sense assuming Joseph was a child of Eleanor & William Gray though.

Photographed this cemetery from the north to the south. At this juncture with the fresh leaves fallen, I could not located any new stones except perhaps the marked fieldstone of D.R. Hansen not shown on findagrave.com This is an old church yard cemetery for the members and I am sure the Betts Cemetery was the starting burial ground for the black slaves which became freedmen after 1865, but likely they continued to use this cemetery for burial, especially since this area was predominantly black for many years after 1865, though that is changing, because of normal upward mobility, and commercial growth.

This cemetery is shown on TVA quadrangle and local county maps as the "Betts" Cemetery but that is incorrect. This cemetery covers several acres and marked and unmarked graves are spread all over the acreage. Dorothy Johnson says she dug several markers out of many years' accumulation of leaves and dirt and couldn't help but wonder how many more she couldn't locate. This cemetery is unique in Madison County because of its many brick covered graves. We/she counted 11 brick covered graves, several stone-covered graves and one very large brick wall enclosing several more graves which didn't have markers. The bricks were hand-made, probably by slave labor, and the top layer of brick on the wall had been glazed. It must have been a beautiful wall at one time. 

This was originally the graveyard of the Providence Church which was located on the hill above. The church building has been gone many years.

Above (east of) this cemetery are graves of the (black) Betts family but there are  no markers there to show the spot. Dorothy Scott Johnson about 1970.

Listings & Links developed by C. Wayne Austin 3 Dec 2014 using photos dated 2 Dec 2014 by the same. Added here with appropriate commentary & editing by Wayne Austin 12 Jan 2011. Also found on page 230-231 Madison County Cemeteries Vol I, by Dorothy "Dot" Scott Johnson.