Cemetery Walk to feature African Americans of Early Grinnell

On Saturday, September 23, area residents can learn the stories of African Americans who lived in early Grinnell and are buried at Hazelwood Cemetery. Team Renfrow, a collaboration between the library and Grinnell College, will share results of their summer research at the Grinnell Historical Museum Cemetery Walk from 1-4pm.

Team Renfrow is made up of library staff member Monique Shore, Grinnell College Professor Tamara Beauboeuf, and students Hemlock Stanier, Libby Eggert, and Evie Caperton. During the summer of 2023 they worked to document the lives of African Americans who lived in the Grinnell area. One focus was on locating and mapping each person who was buried in Hazelwood Cemetery.  The Grinnell Historical Museum’s established cemetery walk series offers a great way to share this research with the community. Five stories will be narrated by the Team Renfrow members and a handout will be available with information about the other 28 African Americans with burial locations in Hazelwood.

The featured stories will be:

1. Edward Delaney (1786 – 1861) was the first permanent Black resident of Grinnell, arriving the year the town was founded (1854).  He came to town as a freed man. He lived his life here with the family who had once enslaved him and is buried in their family plot.
2. Mumford Holland (1811? – 1916) arrived in Grinnell around 1870. A former slave who had served in the Civil War, he became a well known figure around town. He was next door neighbors to George and Eliza Craig. Not having any children of his own, he left his house to one of the Craig children who cared for him in his final years.
3. Eliza Jane Gilbal Craig (1841 – 1924) was the daughter of Jane, an enslaved woman, and a French plantation owner. Before his death her father sent her and her siblings to a free state to be raised by Quakers. They eventually brought her to Springdale, Iowa, where she later met and married George Craig.
4. George Craig (1841 – 1924) escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad, traveling with John Brown in 1859 when they stopped in Grinnell and were hosted by town founder J. B. Grinnell.  His story will include information pulled from historic newspapers and why he his body is not buried in Hazelwood.
5. Eva Pearl Craig Renfrow (1875 – 1962) was a resident of Grinnell from the age of 12 through most of her life.  Her passion for learning and education inspired her six children.  They all graduated from college, including Edith Renfrow Smith who was the first Black woman to graduate from Grinnell College in 1937 and is the namesake of Renfrow Hall.

The narrated tour will take about an hour to complete and you can come anytime between 1pm and 4pm to experience the series of presentations. Museum volunteers will have a table set up where you can pick up materials that will guide you through the narrated and self-guided tours.  Parking at the cemetery is limited so Grinnell College is offering a shuttle for the event. Shuttle pickup and drop off will be on 8th Avenue in front of the Joe Rosenfield Center. A suggested donation of $5 per person will support the museum efforts to preserve and share local history.

This research has greatly expanded what will be in the local history records and all materials resulting from the Team Renfrow work will be archived at Drake Community. The library is also working towards sharing these stories on their local history website in the near future.