Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research IDS1911 - Silver Green Cemetery

John Thomas Byrd was born on December 23, 1895, in Troy, Pike County, Alabama, to Tom and Victoria Byrd. He grew up in a farming family, surrounded by numerous siblings and half-siblings, many of whom worked as farm laborers in rural Alabama. John served his country during World War I as a Private in the U.S. Army with Company C of the 519th Engineers. He departed for service on July 15, 1918, likely sailing from Hoboken, New Jersey aboard the ship Northern Pacific. After returning from the war around 1919, he settled in South Florida, where he lived in Homestead and later in Miami at 3409 Thomas Avenue. He worked as a yardman in the years leading up to his death. Though records suggest he may have had a wife named Anna Byrd, this remains uncertain. John Thomas Byrd died on August 13, 1938, at the age of 42 in Miami, Florida. He was laid to rest at Princeton Colored Cemetery in South Dade, a resting place for many Black veterans and community members of the era.