BERRY CEMETERY ASH GROVE
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Nelson Danforth  
​ca.
1852 - March 7, 1938

Nelson Danforth was born into enslavement in about 1851, near Strafford, Missouri. His parents had moved to Strafford from Tennessee with his mother’s owner, Erskine Danforth, in the 1830s. Nelson’s father was a half-white, half-Cherokee man named Donahue. He built a cabin and lived on the Danforth farm, but according to Nelson, did little work for Erskine Danforth. He mostly supported himself by hunting as well as making baskets, chairs, and other items.  Erskine Danforth allowed Nelson, his mother, and his siblings to live in Donahue’s cabin with him. In the early years of the Civil War, Erskine Danforth’s eldest son, Jim, relocated to Texas. Nelson went with him and they lived south of Dallas for the duration of the war. Franklin T. Frazier, another emigrant from Greene County, was living nearby. Frazier returned to Ash Grove in 1866 and Nelson, now free, went back with him. In 1870, Nelson was living near Ash Grove in the household of Ransom Perryman and working as a farmhand. On March 13, 1875, Nelson married Catherine Mason in Ash Grove. By 1880, he had established a business as a barber in town and lived with his wife Kate and infant son W.J. Danforth. Though Nelson stayed in Ash Grove at least until 1900, he may have later moved to Chanute, Kansas where a Nelson Danforth of the right age and birthplace was living in 1910 with his wife, Ida, and working as a janitor in a bank. Nelson had returned to Ash Grove by 1936, when he narrated part of his life story to the Springfield Leader and Press. Two years later, on March 7, 1938, Nelson died from a brain tumor, possibly caused by syphilis. His death certificate states that he was a widower and that his spouse’s name had been Celia Minort (Russell 2012). 

Grave Marker: Nelson Danforth's specific place of burial within the Berry Cemetery is unknown and there is no individual headstone for him. However, Nelson is memorialized by the inscription of his name (shown below) on the new monument, installed in 2017, for individuals interred in unmarked graves in the Berry Cemetery. 

Nelson Danforth Death Certificate
Picture
Berry Family, Ash Grove, MO; Ozarks Afro-American Heritage Museum; Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, College of Humanities and Public Affairs, Missouri State University
  • Home
  • Interred Individuals
    • Fannie (Herron) Allen
    • George Allen
    • James Allen
    • Birtie Berry
    • Caroline Berry
    • Della May Berry
    • Helen Drucella Berry
    • Charles Frank Berry
    • Hubert W. Berry
    • Infant (Kyle?) Berry
    • Kenneth Berry
    • Luther D. Berry
    • Mamie T. Berry
    • Millard W. Berry
    • Sarah E. Berry
    • William H. Berry
    • Maria Boone
    • A Boyd
    • Peter Boone
    • John Bray
    • Bobbie Darnell Carlock
    • Evaline Coleman
    • Nelson Danforth
    • Elizabeth Decks
    • Mollie Ellison
    • Sip Ellison
    • Sampson Farley
    • Mary Harrison
    • Lulie E. Harvey
    • Maude Lee Harvey
    • Rev. Harrison Harvey
    • Sarah A. Harvey
    • William E. Harvey
    • Maggie Hendricks
    • James Aaron Herron
    • Clara Herron
    • Della Lorine Herron
    • Louise Herron
    • Ross Herron
    • Susan V. Herron
    • Rachel A. Huddleston
    • Charity James
    • Martha Jane (Robinson) Jones
    • R. S. Jones
    • John Mason
    • Fanny Murray
    • Joseph Flem Murray
    • Alma L. Oliver
    • Jocy Bell Peryman
    • Cassie Reaves
    • Leo Reaves
    • Mary Reaves
    • William Harvey Reaves
    • Isaiah Rice
    • Enoch Simmons
    • Jasper Simmons
    • Ralph Simmons
    • Baby Walls
    • Bob Walls
    • Charles Walls
    • James Aaron Walls
    • Joe Walls
    • Press Walls
    • Levina "Vine" Walls
    • Grace White
    • Harrison Wilson
    • Effie (Reaves) Yokum
    • Frank Yokum
  • Monument For Unmarked Burials
  • Family Trees
  • Maps
  • History
  • Visit
  • Additional Information
  • Contact Us
  • Sources & Credits