Edward Stevens
Dec. 24, 1888 – Oct. 22, 1902
Named and dated by the WPA transcription; his extant headstone was photographed in 2026.
View WPA source →The Lookout Mountain Cemetery at Clift Station
The people beneath the mountain.
A Black community buried its dead here, marked their graves, defended the ground in court, and cared for one another when no undertaker came. Their names—not merely the disputed land—are the heart of this history.
A surviving broken marker · documented on siteRosia Ella MooreDaughter of Isaac and Ella Moore
The human story
Who was Rosia Ella Moore?
Her broken stone may connect one surviving grave to the burial that forced four Black mountain residents into Hamilton County Chancery Court in 1915. The evidence is powerful—but one identity question remains open.
July 27–28, 1915
A father was told he could not bury his daughter.
Isaac Moore, Sr., Bill Pue, Scott Ebster, and W. A. Beck sought an injunction after Charles Barrows stopped the burial. The court allowed it to proceed. Moore testified that an officer told him to bury his daughter and report any interference.
The death certificate for Rosa Elly Moore records a twelve-year-old Black girl who died of peritonitis on July 27, 1915. Her father and informant was “Ike Moore.” She was buried on “Lookout Mt.” the next day, with “none—neighbors” entered for the undertaker.
The 1939 WPA transcription records a stone for Rosia Ella Moore, daughter of Isaac and Ella Moore. Its years are impossible as typed—December 1, 1892 to July 27, 1892—but the death day matches the 1915 certificate. A handwritten list also gives “Rosa Ella Moore,” age twelve, dying July 27, 1915.
Together these records strongly suggest one girl, not two: the child whose burial was blocked and the child named on the surviving Moore stone. The 1910 Isaac Moore household and a letter-for-letter reading of the marker are still needed before that conclusion can be stated as settled fact.
Documented1939 WPA transcriptionNames Rosia Ella Moore as the daughter of Isaac and Ella Moore; dates conflict internally.
Documented1915 death certificateRosa Elly Moore, age 12; father Ike Moore; died July 27; buried “Lookout Mt.” July 28.
Strong inferenceThe same childMatching father, death day, age, burial context, and a surviving broken Moore marker.
Identity safeguard: Rosia Ella Moore and Rosa Elly Moore remain separate entries in the research register until the census and original marker reading close the gap. The site tells the hypothesis clearly without presenting it as proof.
The named dead
Burials and burial leads.
The Drive register contains twenty-one named people connected to burial research. Only three are presently documented at Clift Station itself. Three more are documented as buried on Lookout Mountain but the source does not name the cemetery. The remainder are carefully labeled—not quietly promoted into burials.
3Documented at Clift Station Cemetery
3Probable on-mountain burials
1Ambiguous burial record
14Named leads or exclusions retained for research
Documented at Clift Station Cemetery
John Lockwood
c. 1870 – Mar. 21, 1899
His stone identifies him as a deacon of Lookout Mountain First Baptist Church, joining cemetery history to the Black congregation.
View WPA source →Rosia Ella Moore
Dates disputed
The WPA names her as the daughter of Isaac and Ella Moore. A broken Moore marker survives. The typed WPA years are impossible.
View marker photograph →Probable or ambiguous burials
Rosa Elly Moore
c. 1903 – July 27, 1915
Death certificate records burial on “Lookout Mt.” July 28. Probably Clift Station; the cemetery is not named.
View burial ledger →Maria Mostellar
Died Feb. 18, 1914
Death certificate says buried “Lookout Mt.” by “neighbors.” Surname spelling and exact cemetery remain unresolved.
View evidence packet →Willie Polite
Age 16 · Died Apr. 7, 1917
City death register says buried “Lookout Mtn., Tenn.” The exact cemetery is not stated.
View death register →Kissie E. Polite
1885 – May 30, 1914
Her altered burial line contains both “Pleasant Garden” and “Lookout Mt.” No cemetery assignment is made.
View burial ledger →Reported leads and contextual exclusions
Martha Jennings
Age 40 · Mar. 6, 1917
Appears on an unidentified handwritten cemetery list. A death certificate and burial line are still needed.
Mary Hodnut
Age 39 · July 18, 1913
Handwritten-list entry; surname may be Hodnut or Hudnut. Burial is not established.
Thelma Graves
Age 6 weeks · Oct. 15, 1913
Handwritten-list entry. Her certificate and parents have not yet been identified.
Georgia [Saunders?]
Age 35 · Date unresolved
A Lookout Mountain death-register lead. The surname and burial place remain unresolved.
Emanuel “Uncle Manuel” Dial
Reported died 1941
Community elder and father of Rev. E. H. Dial. Current files do not establish his burial place.
Rev. E. H. Dial
Reported died 1940
Minister and court witness. He testified that he had dug fifty or more graves. His burial is not established.
Gordon L. Dial Jr.
Age 12 · c. June 5, 1920
An obituary lead survives without its interment line. Full obituary and certificate are needed.
Paul Thomas
Reported died 1928
Court witness and First Baptist charter member. His own burial is unproved; he testified that his wife was buried here in 1900.
Allee Thomas
Active 1923
Named in church-anniversary research. Death year and burial place are unknown.
Martha Hudson
Active 1923
Named in church-anniversary research. Death year and burial place are unknown.
Anna Moore
Active 1923
Named in church-anniversary research. Her surname alone does not prove a relationship to Isaac Moore.
Rosa Moore
Active 1923
Named in church-anniversary research. She must not be merged with Rosa Elly or Rosia Ella without proof.
Frances Polite
c. 1912/13 – Apr. 19, 1959
A South Watauga Lane resident, but her certificate names Chattanooga National Cemetery. She is not a Clift Station burial.
Jane Chandler Rogers
Died 1855 or 1856 · Removed 1871
Reportedly buried temporarily on Lookout Mountain, then removed to Citizens Cemetery. Not a Clift Station interment.
Burials described in sworn testimony, but not yet named
The court record also documents people whose names have not yet been recovered: Rev. E. H. Dial’s child, buried about 1892–93; Paul Thomas’s wife, buried in 1900; Isaac Moore Sr.’s niece, buried in May 1914 and possibly Kissie Polite; three other people Moore remembered from 1911–1915; and several people recalled by Scott Ebster. Rev. Dial testified that he had personally dug fifty or more graves.
Chancery No. 15249
A cemetery defended in court.
In 1915, the community did not quietly accept the blocked burial. Four men asked the court to recognize their continuing right to bury their dead on the mountain.
The complainants
Isaac Moore, Sr.; Bill Pue; Scott Ebster; and W. A. Beck—all identified in the record as Black residents of Lookout Mountain.
The immediate victory
Judge W. B. Garvin granted an injunction. Isaac Moore buried his daughter after an officer told him to proceed and report interference.
The final loss
In 1916 the bill was dismissed because the court found the cemetery boundary too indefinite. The decree did not determine a cemetery parcel.
The unfinished question
The injunction bond contemplated removal if the bill failed. The surviving papers do not say whether Moore’s daughter was ever removed.
“It was all called the Cliff Station Cemetery and white and black were buried there, there was a wood road between them.”Rev. E. H. Dial, sworn testimony, 1916
How to read the record
Proof before conclusion.
“Clift” appears in the typed pleadings; Rev. Dial said “Cliff Station Cemetery” under oath. Both are historical spellings. This site uses Clift Station Cemetery as its principal title while preserving the record’s variations.
Documented
A primary source, WPA transcription, surviving marker, or direct interment record names the cemetery or grave.
Probable / inferred
A record names burial on Lookout Mountain but does not identify which cemetery, or multiple records strongly suggest an identity without closing every gap.
Reported / unresolved
A secondary source, handwritten list, obituary fragment, family lead, or court clue points toward a person who still needs verification.