{"id":3354,"date":"2022-02-11T18:17:27","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T02:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/?p=3354"},"modified":"2022-02-12T20:02:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T04:02:18","slug":"local-family-works-to-reclaiming-lost-land-good-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/2022\/02\/11\/local-family-works-to-reclaiming-lost-land-good-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Family Works To Reclaiming Lost Land – Good Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
[Good Day Sacramento]<\/pre>\n
COLOMA (CBS13) \u2014 In an effort to restore a generational legacy, a local family is asking for restitution after discovering their ancestors once owned land that is now in possession of the state.<\/p>\n
Nestled on the American River is the tiny town of Coloma, known for its Gold Rush history, but there is a piece of the story one family says is missing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think about how land has been lost,\u201d Jonathan Burgess said. \u201cI think about how secrets have never been revealed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burgess has spent years researching the area, and he claims his great grandfather Rufus Burgess, buried in Pioneer Cemetery, owned 80 acres of land, including Emmanuel Church, which is still standing today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat our family knows is that this is a building that once we owned, and as far as I\u2019m concerned still own because we have the deed to it,\u201d Burgess said.<\/p>\n
The chained-up chapel was the first African American church in the region. It now sits in the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we can tell the truth about what happened, we can restore what once was,\u201d Burgess said.<\/p>\n
A deed from 1879 shows the land was bought by the Burgess family.<\/p>\n
California\u2019s Parks Department said records show the family owned the lot next to the church instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurther scholarly research is warranted to better understand the historical sequence of property ownership, the various religious congregations that held services and conducted events at the church, as well as how other town buildings were used for services in the early decades of Coloma\u2019s founding,\u201d said California State Parks Information Officer Adeline Yee.<\/p>\n
The state claims land once owned by the Burgess family was eventually sold to the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough historic research, State Parks has confirmed that portions of land within Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma were owned by the Burgess family,\u201d Yee explained. \u201cMuch of the land was purchased by the state of California through eminent domain and real estate transactions between the state of California and the Burgess family. As it relates to the Emmanuel Church, research conducted to date has not found documentation that the property where the Emmanuel Church resides was previously owned by the Burgess Family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family was here in 1849 and we have nothing to show for it today,\u201d Burgess said. \u201cExcept a fraudulent map on file that says we only owned eight acres.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kavon Ward is a co-founder of Where Is My Land, an organization that advocates on behalf of Black families to reclaim lost land.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is the time that people are realizing now more than ever that we will not go away, we will not shut up,\u201d Ward said. \u201cWe will not stop demanding reparations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, Ward successfully helped return ownership of Bruce\u2019s Beach in Los Angeles. Her efforts prompted a state law specific to the Bruce family, making it possible.<\/p>\n
Ward hopes she can do the same for the Burgess family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to see statewide policy that allows for all Black people who have had their land stolen or their restitution paid for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a family\u2019s missing legacy that Burgess hopes will soon be restored.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as much as it is about reclaiming, it\u2019s as much as telling a truthful history so that we as a nation can finally heal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Burgess says after three years of talks with the state\u2019s park department, no progress has been made. He\u2019s hoping the Governor\u2019s Office will investigate.<\/p>\n
Watch Video Report: https:\/\/gooddaysacramento.cbslocal.com\/2022\/02\/11\/family-lost-land-gold-rush-history\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Burgess has spent years researching the area, and he claims his great grandfather Rufus Burgess, buried in Pioneer Cemetery, owned 80 acres of land, including Emmanuel Church, which is still standing today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Burgess-church-coloma.webp",800,697,false],"thumbnail":["http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Burgess-church-coloma-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Burgess-church-coloma-600x523.webp",600,523,true],"medium_large":["http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Burgess-church-coloma-768x669.webp",640,558,true],"large":["http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Burgess-church-coloma.webp",640,558,false],"1536x1536":["http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Burgess-church-coloma.webp",800,697,false],"2048x2048":["http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Burgess-church-coloma.webp",800,697,false],"darknews-slider-full":["http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Burgess-church-coloma.webp",800,697,false],"darknews-featured":["http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Burgess-church-coloma.webp",800,697,false],"darknews-medium":["http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Burgess-church-coloma-720x530.webp",720,530,true],"darknews-medium-square":["http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Burgess-church-coloma-350x350.webp",350,350,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"News MoLo","author_link":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/author\/admin\/"},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3354"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3354"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3357,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3354\/revisions\/3357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newsmolo.com\/EDC\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}