A.M. Coley of the Vocation-Hadley area
In a parting glance at the Hollinger community it beckons the call to review the windswept tombstones of Enon's cemetery. Through blistering summers, wintery frostings of snow, hurricanes and a hundred or more spring time mornings, their gentle epithets ask the visitor to consider the life of the person buried here and to reflect upon their own mortality.
Perhaps never a more suitable summation of the area exists than that published in the Monroe Journal on May 25, 1916. "There is hardly a man who has moved into this section and buckled down to work that has not made good," goes the story.
The 1916 story reflects on an earlier time when settlers in the area of Butler Street, Hollinger, Vocation and Enon were hard to come by. "There was a time when a man could not swap 160 acres of the timber land around Roy (Frisco City) for a yoke of oxen. People didn't want the land at any price."
The article first notes the presence of the Coley family at Hadley (Vocation). "Mr. Martin Coley and his brothers have always been progressive farmers and good business men. Years ago they perhaps stood practically alone as large developers of the latent possibilities of these piney woods lands," states the article.
The story also notes J.W. Booker, living near Goodway at the time, as one of the early settlers of the area for farm and timber purposes.
Noah A. McNiel, known as "Old Noah," by the locals, was still doing business at the time of the article. The story noted him as a genial and hospitable man. McNiel also had an interest in education and did his best to keep a teacher at the tiny public school at Hollinger. Yet McNiel, whose own life seemed to ebbed and flowed with that of the Hollinger community, was in its twilight at the time of the 1916 story.
McNiel had worn many hats by 1916. He was appointed County Surveyor in 1900, had been elected county commissioner at one point, owned a store and a turpentine still; his brother, A.D. McNiel, also had sawmills in Hollinger and Steadham, which was located between Huxford and Little Rock, Alabama. The workers at the mill at Steadham had their consumer needs supplied by J.G. Hanberry's large storehouse.
In 1910, McNiel was nominated to run for the legislature. He was reputed to be "a good man, a progressive citizen and has had a varied business experience which qualifies him to legislate in the interest of all classes of our citizenship."
When Noah McNiel passed on Friday, June 24, 1921, the Monroe Journal noted his passing, "A well known citizen of South Monroe died at his home near Hadley after an illness of several months. Mr. McNiel served for four years as a member of the Commissioners' Court back in the 'nineties,' and was an active and faithful official. He is survived by his wife and several children." McNiel is buried at Enon.
When walking old cemeteries I often reflect on the Edgar Lee Masters collection of short, free verse poems that collectively recount the epitaphs of the residents of Spoon River as recounted in their local cemetery. The book, called Spoon River Anthology, is an autobiographical epitaph of dead citizens of the fictional town, delivered by the dead themselves. Some of theses recount their own personal histories and turning points, others make observations of life from the outside, some even complain about the treatment of their graves, yet when I read the book as a young man, it impressed upon me the consideration of the fact that very few people want their time here to be forgotten and that, in-between the dates on each tombstone, there's a story to tell.
Shadows and Dust Volume III: Legacies is available for purchase in the amount of $30.00+$5.00 shipping and handling to PO Box 579 Atmore, AL 36502 or visit Lulu Publishing.com; Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles.com OR at the Monroe County Heritage Museum in Monroeville, Alabama or by calling 251 294 0293.
