June Hanna Papers

Collection

Identifier: MC 41

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists mainly of surveys of cemeteries in the Columbus-Phenix City area. The two major surveys are for Linwood Cemetery and Pine Grove Cemetery. Ms. Hanna personally surveyed many of these cemeteries, sometimes with the aid of the husband, Lewis. In some surveys, she was assisted by other individuals, including Mattie Belle Smith and T. J. Peddy. Some of the cemetery research in the collection was gleaned from Mormon (LDS) records. Most of the cemetery surveys are typed on standard letter size paper. Some of the larger surveys are indexed. Part of the Linwood Survey is on note cards. NOTE: Ms. Hanna abandoned this system while in the BR's.

In addition to cemetery records, the collection also contains Bible Records, genealogical research, and a few family recipes. Some of the Bible records contain information on slave births. Much of the material in this collection is also on file at the Bradley Public Library. Ms. Hanna had some of the surveys and research published in Tap Roots, the Journal of the East Alabama Genealogical Society.

Dates

Creation: 1961-1989
Other: Date Materials were donated

Biographical / Historical

June Mizpah Lanier was born in Temple, Texas on June 11, 1916. She married Lewis C. Hanna, and in July of 1961 they moved to Columbus, Georgia.

Once in Columbus, Mrs. Hanna became interested in genealogy, and began tracing her father's family, the Laniers, who had lived on a large farm just west of Lafayette, Alabama. In conjunction with this research, she started visiting valley area cemeteries in an attempt to find the resting places of her ancestors. Her interest in cemetery research grew, and she eventually began to help others locate the burial places of their ancestors as well. Locally, she became the authority on cemeteries.

According to her husband, Mrs. Hanna was very precise and systematic in her cemetery surveys. When writing down tombstone inscriptions, she would always start at the back left corner of the cemetery and work her way across to the right. When she had finished one row, she would move forward to the next, and begin with the first grave on the left.

When the East Alabama Genealogical Society (Opelika, Alabama) was founded, Ms. Hanna joined and became very active in promoting cemetery research through this organization. Much of her work was published in this group's journal, Tap Roots. She also joined the Muscogee Genealogical Society, and served as chair of its cemetery committee until her death.

Ms. Hanna's main project was the transcribing of the Linwood Cemetery Card File, a project that took over a year to complete. Her routine was to spend Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at the Riverdale Cemetery Office, hand copying the Linwood records. Then, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, she would type up what she had copied. The end copy filled six boxes of typing paper.

June Hanna died in Columbus on March 5, 1989.