This vignette is a part of Mirror Indy’s reporting on Greenlawn Cemetery. Read more here.

Augustus Turner — a contemporary of Cheney Lively and her husband, John G. Britton — lived in a log cabin at the corner of Georgia Street and what is now Capitol Avenue. It’s where he started what would become Bethel AME Church, the oldest African American congregation in Indianapolis.

Born in Kentucky to free parents, he arrived in Indianapolis in 1833. According to newspaper reports, he was a prominent community member, having been a founding member of the first African American Masonic lodge. He became well known across the state as a sort of “court barber,” according to his obituary in The Indianapolis News.

An obituary described Turner as a “sincere and a devout Christian, as well as a kind-hearted man.” He and his wife, Tryphena Grafford Turner, had 10 children, half of whom died in childhood, according to genealogical research..

Records indicate he, his wife and at least some of his children were buried in Greenlawn Cemetery. 

Duane Perry, a researcher with the Indiana African American Genealogy Group, has been researching Turner and other African Americans who were buried at Greenlawn and may still be buried there today.

“I had no love for history in school, but I love history now. That’s why I’m so emotionally involved in this,” Perry said. “There are so many Black people who live in Indianapolis that have no idea of the cemetery, have no idea of the Black people buried there.”

Reach Mirror Indy reporter Emily Hopkins at 317-790-5268 or emily.hopkins@mirrorindy.org. Follow them on most social media @indyemapolis.