West Selma Graveyard Closed

From "Selma; Her Institutions, and Her Men" by John Hardy, pub. 1879:

On the first Monday in June 1855, an election was held at the store of Abner Jones for Mayor and Councilmen, under the direction of David A. Boyd, Thomas W. Street, John Mitchell, Wm. Shearer, and Jams D. Monk; at which John M. Strong was elected Mayor; Robert N. Philpot, Geo. F. Plant, W. T. Smith, M. C. Wiley, and Amos H. Lloyd, were elected Councilmen; James C. Monk, Clerk, Assessor and Tax Collector; Joseph R. Curtis, Marshal; and R. N. Philpot, Treasurer. R. N. Philpot George F. Plant, and Amos H. Lloyd, were appointed to assist the Tax Assessor in making an assessment of the real estate of the city. W. T. Smith and M. C. Wiley were appointed a committee to have the new grave yard laid off and fenced Twenty dollars were appropriated to by powder, &c., to discharge the cannon with on Wednesday morning, July 4th, 1855, and the Marshal instructed to have all the bells in the city rung. The Phenix Fire Company was paid seventeen dollars and thirty-eight cents. John Rierden done the work on the fence around the new grave yard for fifteen dollars and john W. Jones charged twenty dollars for making the double gate. W. T. Smith resigned his seat in the Council and W. Plattenburg was elected to fill the vacancy, who refused to serve, when Dr. I. Morgan was elected, who would serve.

On January 9th, 1856, an ordinance was adopted declaring the old or west Selma grave yard, a nuisance, and prohibiting any person form being buried therein after that date, upon penalty of fifty dollars. The bond of the Clerk and Tax Collector was made ten thousand dollars, and that of the Treasurer five thousand dollars.

At the election on the first Monday in June 1856, held at the old post office, under the management of Wm. S. Phillips, Wm. M. Fore, and James K. Monk, john M. Strong, was elected Mayor, George F. Plant, Wm. M. Ford, Wm. A. Dunklin, John Mitchell, and W. J. Lyles, elected Councilmen, and organized by electing James D. Monk, Clerk and Tax Collector; Joseph R. Curtis, Marshal; and Wm. M. Ford, Treasurer; John Mitchell, George F. Plant, and Wm. A. Dunklin, were appointed a committee to assess the value of the real estate of the city for this tax year. This committee assessed, in connection with the city Clark, A. Collenburger & Co., with selling sixty thousand dollars worth of goods during the year but Edward Ikelheimer, one of the firm, appeared before the council and prove that twenty five thousand eight hundred and seventy-five dollars was the actual amount of merchandise sold during that tax year. The fire engines were placed under the control of George F. Plant, who was to be paid for keeping them in good order and ready for use.

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