Zion Cemetery

Zion Cemetery is a Tennessee historical marker in Shelby County.

Shelby Co, Memphis, north side of S. Pkwy. East, west of Willett

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Zion Cemetery, comprising 15 acres, was established in 1876 by the United Sons of Zion Association, a group of former slaves who responded to the need for a respectable burial site for African-Americans. It is the final resting place for many outstanding citizens, including Georgia Patton Washington (1864-1900), who was one of the first female African-American physicians, and Thomas F. Gassels (1850-1903), who was Assistant Attorney General of Shelby County and a member of the Tennessee General Assembly.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1835 · Chickasaw Cession, Mississippi (1835) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1848 · United States. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1855 · Arkansas (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1859 · Arkansas (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1862 · Johnson's Kentucky & Tennessee (1862) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

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