By Stephanie Hunter
Staff Writer
Web-posted June 21, 1996 at 4 p.m.

I t holds both slave and free, the rich and the poor, the famous and forgotten, all with one common background.

They were black.

From T.W. Josey, the popular community activist and physician, to R.A. Dent, Augusta's first black state legislator, many history makers were laid to rest in the first ``Colored Cemetery.''

``There is a lot of history out here in Cedar Grove,'' said cemetery superintendent Willie J.d Washington. ``The people who more than likely started something for blacks in Augusta are buried right here.''

The wild weeds are frequently trimmed away from the expensive monuments, making it easiernrtw to browse through the rich history.

But history about Augusta's black ancestors in Cedar Grove was not always so accessible.

Augusta allotted 40 acres of land from Watkins Street to East Boundary for a formal black cemetery in 1820 as a place where masters laid their slaves to rest in wooden boxes. Others were simply wrapped in cloth and unceremoniously placed in unmarked, s hallow graves.

``They built a road to separate Cedar Grove from the adjacent Magnolia Cemetery where whites were buried,'' said James Carter III, an Augusta historian.

Past the small fence and the small, brick office, graves appeared along East Boundary in the 1820s, eventually filling about 40 percent of the cemetery, forming what is known as the ``Old Section.''

``There are plenty of slaves out here, probably hundreds buried on top of each other because none of the slaves' graves were marked by owners,'' Mr. Washington said.

Cemetery workers point out that some people are able to find graves of their family members from the 1800s. But, depending on cemetery records, others might not be as lucky.

``Unless family members already know where their ancestor's graves are then we can't help them find those who were buried before 1932,'' said Mr. Washington, who has been working at Cedar Grove for 31 years.

The reason, said Jerry Murphy, the official record keeper for Augusta's cemeteries, was that masters only reported the number of slaves who died each month.

In fact, the records of hundreds of black Augustans buried in the cemetery were lost, damaged by early Augusta's frequent floods or hindered by poor documentation.

``For a long time, the only thing we knew was the number of blacks who died, but we didn't know who they were or where they were buried - only that they are somewhere in Cedar Grove,'' he said.

The log, started in July 1843 for all city burials, lists with detail the names, addresses and ages of whites who died.es But only numbers line the book's margins on black deaths for the same month.

Pulling out a large, water-stained logbook, Mr. Murphy points to the earliest records of blacks buried at the cemetery.

For example, the book shows for that July ``Six Blacks Died, Two Of Whom Were Children.''

Eventually, record keepers did afford dead blacks the same written information - such as ages, and cause of death.

By 1863, inscribed in the log was a ``colored page'' that gave all information granted to whites - adding the slave's master or documenting their freedom.

All African Americans who died after July 1865 were freed by the federal government. But still no specific grave sites were located until 1932.

``There are a lot of people out here that we don't know who they are or where they are,'' Mr. Washington said. ``Although there is a lot of history out here for youngsters to learn about their ancestors who suffered the most, it will never be found.''< p> Despite Cedar Grove's poor records, the grave of slave Bob Dearing stands out.

The medium-size gray tombstone remains under the ``perpetual care'' of cemetery workers. Mr. Dearing, who died March 16, 1863, at 48, was owned by the Georgia Railroad and Bank.

``I don't know what it is about this man, but employees donated money around the 1920s to put the stone on his grave and keep it up,'' said Mr. Washington, pointing out the description of Mr. Dearing being an honest and faithful man loved by blacks and whites.

``It's unfortunate that youngsters, family members and others will never know about the many others out here,'' Mr. Washington said.

The last plot at Cedar Grove was sold in 1965. A few shallow ditches are kept available in the back of the cemetery near Laney-Walker Boulevard for the burial of paupers.