Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery

From October, 1983 until January, 1984, a search was conducted to identify sources and collect information on the history of Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church and Cemetery. We employed various bibliographies and indices to government documents and manuscript collections, standard histories of Atlanta, historical maps, real estate plats and deeds, city directories, tax digests, and oral and telephone interviews. The single most valuable source- proved to be the minutes of the church itself. Research was conducted at the Dekalb County Historical Society, Dekalb Courthouse, Emory University's Woodruff Library, Atlanta Public Library, and the Georgia Department of Archives and History. Several field trips were taken to examine the cemetery and church property, to take photographs before and after the cemetery was cleared off, and to gather data on the population buried in the cemetery. The general purpose of our research was to develop a history of the cemetery as a distinct cultural entity, but within the context of the history of the church community. Our specific objectives were to establish: 1) the church origins and physical history of the cemetery (history of the church and milestones in the chronological history of the cemetery, marked by physical and other alterations); 2) burial practices and patterns, including the relationships between the cemetery population, church membership, and the local community; and 3) the historical socioeconomic characteristics of the cemetery population as determined from the church community, burials, and artifacts present above ground.