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Lee Leviticus Kirkland, an Alabama native, moved to Jacksonville Beach in the late 1930s, and was the unofficial caretaker of the cemetery that now bears his name. A former sharecropper who never worked for the city in any official capacity, Kirkland tended to the burial grounds for the segregated Black community in his spare time for more than 20 years, until his death in 1960 at the age of 79.

Lee Leviticus Kirkland, 1882 d. August 3, 1960

The land for the Lee Kirkland Cemetery for African-Americans was donated to the city in 1932. It was once known as the Jacksonville Beach Colored Cemetery or the Negro Cemetery.  There were separate cemeteries for African Americans and Caucasian Americans in Jacksonville Beach until the mid-1960s. Like the H. Warren Smith Memorial Cemetery across the street,  burials occurred in the location prior to its designation as a public cemetery. The first recorded burial was in 1926 when wagoneer and World War I veteran Jesse Butler was interred here.  Many graves were never marked or their markers have deteriorated into dust over time. The cemetery is named after its long-time caretaker, Lee Kirkland, a city employee in the 1940s and 1950s.

 

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Lillie A. Haywood (may also be spelled Heyward and Hayward) February 22, 1886— January 13, 1969 burial date Grave 145 There is a Lillie Hayward in the Jacksonville 1910 U.S. Census. She was 25 years old, married for six years to George Hayward and they had one daughter, Massie, age 3. Mrs. Hayward noted her occupation as working in a laundry. There is a Lillie Hayward in the 1956 City Directory, who lived at 118 South 6th in Jacksonville Beach.

Lillie A. Haywood (may also be spelled Heyward and Hayward)  February 22, 1886— January 13, 1969 burial date Grave 145  

On his 1917 draft registration card, Jessie Butler, then 25, listed his occupation as a teamster, a driver of a team of horses or mules, for the Buckman and Pritchard Mining Company in Mineral City or what is now Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Driving mule teams was a skill that was sought after by Army supply units during World War I.After Butler was inducted into World War I service in August 1918, he achieved the rank of wagoner and was assigned to the 807th Pioneer Infantry Regiment, a replacement unit formed late in the war to construct roads, bridges, and railroads, often behind enemy lines.The 807th was one of 14 African American units that served overseas and one of seven that saw combat, taking part in the infamous Meuse Argonne Offensive in October 1918, the last major battle before the armistice was signed on Nov. 11, 1918.After the armistice was signed, a number of Pioneer units, including Butler's, remained overseas building new roads and other infrastructure.Butler's unit stayed in France until June 1919, departing from the port city of Breast on the USS Orizaba, a Navy transport ship. The 807th was officially discharged from service in July 1919 at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. During World War I, more than 200,000 African Americans served with the American Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. Jessie Butler was one of them.

Jessie Butler June 8, 1892 – June 17, 1926 Grave 728 Jessie Butler was born in 1892 in Georgia to Lemmie Grant Butler and Joseph Butler. By 1910, Lemmie Butler was widowed and had moved with her three children to Jacksonville, where they lived in a boarding house. Mrs. Butler and her teenage daughter, Sallie, worked as laundresses. Brother Joe worked as a laborer and 17 year old Jessie listed his occupation as bartender. Butler served in World War I as part of the 807th Pioneer Regiment, an elite regiment of African-American enlisted men and Caucasian-American officers. The regiments were designed to free Caucasian-American troops for infantry service. They served in a technical capacity, building roads and bridges, in France near the front lines. His Veterans Administration record shows that Butler served as a wagoneer. Butler returned to Duval County after the war. The 1920 U.S. Census shows that he and his mother were living on South Eighth Street in what was then known as Pablo Beach, now known as Jacksonville Beach. He listed his occupation as laborer. His 1926 death record indicates that he died as a victim of homicide from a shotgun blast to his abdomen. In 1932, his brother, Joseph Butler, applied for a veteran’s headstone. [Information from U.S. Census and vital records. Note that his death certificate lists his father’s name as Jessie, but the U.S. Census in 1900 lists his name as Joseph.]

Lee Kirkland Cemetery

Lee Leviticus Kirkland, 1882 d. August 3, 1960

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