Skip to main content

"What are you doing, Mr. Fish?" (A Tombstone Tuesday Ghost Story)

By
"Nothing at all," he would reply.

Wm. Fish Family Vault prior to
2008 restoration.1
What makes this simple Q & A a little odd though, is Mr. Fish is dead, and the conversation is taking place on both sides of the walls of his burial vault. The (ghost) story goes, after his wife and child died of typhus and were entombed in the crypt, Mr. Fish went inside with his rocking chair and bricked himself in. Legend has it that children would knock on the door, and the short and sweet conversation would commence.

Unfortunately (or 'fortunately,' depending on one's perspective), there is no truth to this story. The biggest reason being Mr. William Fish died two years before his youngest son, and a dozen or so years before his wife:
Southern Recorder (Milledgeville, GA)
10 January 1843
DIED.
Departed this life at his residence in Washington county, on Sunday evening the 1st inst., Mr. WILLIAM FISH, in the 43d year of his age. Mr. Fish was a highly worthy and enterprizing citizen, an affectionate husband, a kind father, and a sincere and devoted friend. In this truly melancholly dispensation, his afflicted family, as well as the community at large, have indeed experienced a severe loss.2

Federal Union (Milledgeville, GA)
30 December 1845
Obituary.
DIED -- At Midway, on Friday evening, the 21st November, after a short illness, HORACE VIRGIL, youngest son of Mrs. Sarah Fish, aged about 5 years.3

Federal Union (Milledgeville, GA)
16 September 1856
DIED,
At Gordon Springs on the 6th inst., Mrs. Sarah Fish, relict of the late Wm. Fish, in the fifty-second year of her age.4
The Wm. Fish Family Vault is located in Memory Hill Cemetery at Milledgeville, Baldwin County, GA. The Friends of Baldwin County Cemeteries restored it in 2008. A blurb from the 5 November 2008 Union-Recorder (Milledgeville, GA): "...The Fish Family was recently re-interred after vault restoration by the Friends of Baldwin County Cemeteries. William Fish died Jan. 1, 1843, in his 43rd year, and Sarah Harvard Fish died Sept. 6, 1856, in her 52nd year. Four other family members were also re-interred."5

I've been to Memory Hill a few times, and absolutely love the cemetery. Last year was the first time I specifically visited the Fish Family Vault. For whatever it's worth, I had an uneasy feeling while at the vault, took one photo, and moved on.

© 2011 S. Lincecum



Footnotes:
1. Image likely taken by Hugh T. Harrington for Friends of Baldwin County Cemeteries, Inc.
2. "Died," Southern Recorder (Milledgeville, Georgia), 10 January 1843, pg. 3, col. 6; digital image, Digital Library of Georgia (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/ : accessed 21 February 2012), Milledgeville Historic Newspapers Archive.
3. "Obituary," Federal Union (Milledgeville, Georgia), 30 December 1845, pg. 3, col. 4; digital image, Digital Library of Georgia (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/ : accessed 21 February 2012), Milledgeville Historic Newspapers Archive.
4. "Died," Federal Union (Milledgeville, Georgia), 16 September 1856, pg. 3; digital image, Digital Library of Georgia (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/ : accessed 21 February 2012), Milledgeville Historic Newspapers Archive.
5. The Union-Recorder, 5 November 2008, Web edition (http://unionrecorder.com/obituaries/x-155358331/William-Fish : accessed 21 February 2012).

Labels:

Comments

Marian said…
Fun story and fun the way you busted it and proved the truth. Loved it!
February 21, 2012 at 7:28 PM
Taphophile said…
Great story! It's good to see vaults in old cemeteries being restored.
February 22, 2012 at 8:29 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rocks, Rocks, and More Rocks

By
Why do people put rocks on grave stones? Some time ago, I learned that the rocks signified a visitor. That is true enough, but I decided to learn a little more about the custom and share my findings with you. Putting rocks on tombstones is most often described as a Jewish custom. There are many "Ask a Rabbi" columns out there, but I did not find one that knew for sure where the custom originated. They all agreed, however, that a rock symbolized a visitor and when put on a tombstone said, "I remember you." I also read that some people pick up a rock wherever they are when they think of a person that has passed. Then, the next time they visit the grave, they place the rock to say, "I wish you were here." Rabbi Shraga Simmons offers a deeper meaning: "We are taught that it is an act of ultimate kindness and respect to bury someone and place a marker at the site. After a person is buried, of course, we can no longer participate in burying them. H...
13 comments
Read more

Southern Cross of Honor

By
I'm late to this discussion, but it's one I'd like to join. :-) Terry Thornton at The Graveyard Rabbit of the Hill Country started with Grave Marker Symbols: The Southern Cross of Honor and UCV (link no longer available). Judith Shubert at The Graveyard Rabbit of the Covered Bridges continued with Hood County Texas: C.S.A. Veterans & Southern Cross of Honor Symbol . [UPDATE, 1 June 2009: Judith has moved this post to the blog, Cemeteries with Texas Ties . The link has been corrected to reflect this move. You may also link to her article via her nice comment on this post.] Wikipedia states: The Southern Cross of Honor was a military decoration meant to honor the officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates for their valor in the armed forces of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. It was formally approved by the Congress of the Confederate States on October 13, 1862, and was originally intended to be on par with the Union Arm...
25 comments
Read more

Thursday Link Love: EyeWitness To History

By
Yesterday, a link was added to the Genealogy Research Resources Group at Diigo. The link was to the website titled EyeWitness to History.com: History through the eyes of those who lived it . It's a great site, and I encourage all to visit it. Here are several items I found while snooping around. - Inside a Nazi Death Camp, 1944 : "Hitler established the first concentration camp soon after he came to power in 1933. The system grew to include about 100 camps divided into two types: concentration camps for slave labor in nearby factories and death camps for the systematic extermination of "undesirables" including Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally retarded and others." - Crash of the Hindenburg, 1937 : "Radio reporter Herbert Morrison, sent to cover the airship's arrival, watched in horror. His eye witness description of the disaster was the first coast-to-coast radio broadcast and has become a classic piece of audio history." [You ca...
1 comment
Read more