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Showing posts from 2015

Buford Calhoun, from Mother's Arms (Wednesday's Child)

Buford P. Calhoun Born Mar 17, 1914 Died May 7, 1915 From mother's arms to the arms of Jesus. Pine Ridge Cemetery Pinehurst, Dooly County, Georgia

Martha Thombley in the Peaceful Grave's Embrace (Tombstone Tuesday)

Martha T. Thombley Born Feb 2, 1832 Died Nov 24, 1900 Dearest loved one we must lay thee, In the peaceful grave's embrace. But thy memory will be cherished, Till we see thy heavenly face. Pine Ridge Cemetery Pinehurst, Dooly County, Georgia

Lillis Roundtree Doles Assassinated! Lynching Ensued.

Once in a while I come across a tombstone that sends a little shiver down my spine. That ever happen to you? While visiting the Pine Ridge Cemetery in Pinehurst, Dooly County, Georgia (founded 1883), I came across a badly broken stone that seemed to tell of a dastardly deed done in 1885. Resulting in what was likely one of the earlier burials in the cemetery. The woman died young, married one year and dead the next, and the word assassinated was conveyed. (See what I mean? A little shiver, I tell ya.) The following photos are from 2011. I've included what I *think* was the tombstone inscription underneath the second image. Filling in the gaps with Lillis' FindAGrave memorial , this is what I got: [Something with "Memory"] [Li]llis C. Doles Da[ugh]ter of W m A. & M. [L.] Roundtree Wife of [J]essey Doles Was [B]orn April 21, 1868 Wa[s Ma]rried June 19, 1884 [Joine]d the Pr[imit]ive Baptist Church Aug [1,] 1884 And Was [Ass]assinated March

Mary Cone: Memories Chasen Grief (Today's Epitaph)

Mary and her husband Thomas F. Cone (1860-1935) are buried at Pine Ridge Cemetery in Pinehurst, Dooly County, Georgia. It's Mary's epitaph that caught my eye, as well as my heart. Mary E. Wife of T. F. Cone Mar 30, 1859 Dec 10, 1918 May God use the memory of her life to chasen our grief.

Cemetery AKAs

As in, also known as . Most seasoned researchers, cemetery or genealogy, know that cemeteries sometimes are known by more than one name. I want to post about one that is a bit confusing in the hope someone out there can enlighten me. This cemetery is in a field at the intersection of Bowen and Findlay roads in Vienna, Dooly County, Georgia. According to the cemetery information at FindAGrave , this is known as Porter Family Cemetery. The notes also say it was once family land. This makes good sense to me, since many burials are of the Porter surname. However, when poking around the lives of some of the residents of the cemetery, I found it to be called by another name. First, is George Seago. I found an entry for him in the book Confederate Soldiers of Dooly County, Georgia by M. Secrist (page 57, highlight mine). Seago, George W. -- Private in Company F, 57th Regiment Georgia Infantry, Crawford County, Georgia, "Bragg Rifles," May 1864. Surrendered at Gree

Lowell Oakes Knew His History

Especially his family history. I love, love, love to find stones like these. Lowell put seven generations of his paternal ancestry on the back of his granite tombstone. Even though a good genealogist would not take this information as the gospel, it is a great starting point. And I firmly believe it could provide a casual passerby with a spark of desire to find out more about their personal history. Gene Oakes was born in Montezuma, Georgia in 1948, the eldest son of Luther Avery Oakes, Jr.  He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam era, and spent the last 16 years of his life in Jacksonville, Florida.  His 2006 obituary states, "He will always be remembered as a man who dearly loved God, family, Jaguar football, history, lighthouses, genealogy, collecting hot sauces, traveling with family and sitting on his porch to watch the birds." Sounds like a cool dude. Son of Luther Avery Oakes, Jr.  Jan 15, 1916 - Jun 16, 2009 Luther Avery Oakes, Sr.  Sep 25, 1

Death of Joseph Lee Peavy (This Time It's Personal)

A personal genealogy query. I have been logging information found on the Peavy s buried at Pinehurst Cemetery in Dooly County, Georgia. One is Joseph Lee Peavy (1881-1932). He was a son of Jesse Calloway Peavy, and the husband of Mamie R. I think Joe spent all his life in Dooly County. He was a farmer, and had at least three children, two of which are buried in his plot: Vivian Peavy Foshee (1906-1975) and Charlie Calloway Peavy (1908-1954). I located Joseph's death certificate on FamilySearch.org, and was surprised to find his cause of death listed as fractured skull (accident) . A secondary cause was "encephalitis" -- inflammation of the brain. The document seems to suggest the accident happened in Vienna. This locale is in Dooly County, Georgia, but a bit north of Pinehurst (where Joe was ultimately laid to rest). "Georgia Deaths, 1928-1939," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-13527-45788-45?cc=138

M. E. Williams (Tombstone Tuesday)

M. E. Williams Aug 2, 1861 Dec 29, 1914 At Rest Pinehurst City Cemetery Dooly County, Georgia I always find the rough-hewn look visually appealing.

Life Divides, Death Joins Together

I, probably like most amateur historians, gravitate toward the "old" tombstones when traipsing through cemeteries. I paused at Lucius Van "Rip" Peavy's newer granite ledger marker, though, because I'm related to many (most?) Peavys of middle and south Georgia. So I must always document those! I was not only rewarded with some vital dates for cousin Rip Peavy, but also a quite interesting epitaph. Lucius Van "Rip" Peavy, Sr. Aug 29, 1905 Jan 1, 1994 No Longer Let Life Divide What Death Can Join Together We often see death as dividing the living from those that have passed on, but this line tells it a bit differently. Here, death is joining Lucius together with those that have gone before. The prophetic words are from a poem by Percy Shelley entitled Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats . They can be found in the 53rd of 55 stanzas: Why linger, why turn back, why shrink, my Heart? Thy hopes are gone before: from all things h

Druggist Oscar Horne Shoots Self to Death

Oscar C. Horne graduated from the Maryland College of Pharmacy in May of 1899. About nine years later, it seems he found life too hard to handle. Augusta Chronicle (Georgia) 7 January 1908, page 4 DRUGGIST OSCAR HORNE SHOOTS SELF TO DEATH Found Dying Behind Counter With Bullet Through Heart. Special to The Chronicle. Savannah, Ga., Jan. 6 -- Oscar C. Horne, a druggist, was found dead this morning behind his counter in his drug store at Bull and Thirty-ninth streets. A revolver lay on the floor beside him, with one chamber empty, the bullet from which had gone through his heart. Druggist John Schwaib made the discovery, having gone to the drug store on business. When no one responded to his rapping on the counter he investigated and found the body. Horne's negro porter came in within a few minutes and said he had left Mr. Horne a short time before to go out on an errand, and that the druggist had then appeared thoroughly rational and cheerful. A pencilled note lay

Marsh B. Wood (Tombstone Tuesday)

I like his name! Marsh was born 17 March 1883 to Henry D. and Martha L. Wood. When Marsh was 17 years old, the family was living in Dooly County, Georgia. About 1905 Marsh married Bessie, and by 1910 they were living in Montgomery, Alabama. Marsh was working as a street car conductor at the time. When Marsh registered for the draft in 1918, he and Bessie were in Lafayette County, Florida. A couple of years later (January 1920) would find Marsh and Bessie in Clinch County, Georgia, where Marsh was a sawyer in a shingle mill. Five months after that, Marsh was dead. God's hand touched him and he slept. (Pinehurst City Cemetery, Dooly County, Georgia) What the heck happened? Was there an accident at the mill? Did Marsh get sick? I sure would like to know. Anybody? BTW - Marsh was brother (and brother-in-law) to Henry A. and Laura Hendley Wood .

Henry and Laura Wood Were Faithful to Every Duty (Today's Epitaph)

Unless the phrase is simply "At Rest" , I don't often see two individuals buried side-by-side with the same epitaph. (Though I suppose it's probably not that uncommon.) I found this to be true, however, with Henry Arthur Wood and his wife Laura E. Hendley. They rest at Pinehurst City Cemetery in Dooly County, Georgia.  And both were "faithful to every duty." Henry Arthur Wood (1880-1935) and wife Laura E. Hendley Wood (1882-1970). Faithful to Every Duty. Photo © 2011-2015 S. Lincecum. An 1894 Sunday School Helper says, "Faithful to duty is one way of honoring him who gives you a duty to do." Henry and Laura honored God by doing the best they could with their lives. I'm sure the lives of the Wood family were turned upside down with the passing of Henry. Here's an excerpt from his obituary printed in the 30 March 1935 Macon Telegraph (Georgia), page 4: Mr. Wood succumbed to injuries suffered Sunday afternoon in an automobile a

Mary Wright's Untimely Urn

Beneath this stone reposes all that was mortal ~ of ~ MARY  H. Daughter of Mary & Dr. Wm Savage And wife of Col. A. R. Wright, Born Dec'r 28th, 1825 Married April 26th, 1843 Died June 23rd, 1854 A Christian Woman is the highest best gift of God to earth and here lies one of its highest exemplifications! Christianity was with her a sentiment deeply inwoven in all her thoughts, feelings and affections. Kind and benevolent, unexacting and charitable, brilliant but humble --- Vigorous in intellect, sweet and lovely in person, meek and gentle in disposition --- her life and character have left their impress indelibly fixed in the hearts of those whose wise counsellor and devoted partner she was throught all the vicissitudes of an eventful though brief career.  Though married when young, ardent and hopeful in the midday splendor of youthful hopes and aspirations. She entered upon her domestic duties an energy and devotion which could feel no decline:  and by the purity and vigor o

William Walker: Georgia Revolutionary Soldier

William Walker (son of Joel Walker, Rev. Sol. , and his wife Judith ---), b. Buckingham Co., Va., 1762; d. Jefferson Co., Ga., 1818. Private in Ga. Militia, under Major Gen. John Twiggs. Served as scout. Mar., Jefferson Co., Ga., Elizabeth Bostic (1770-1835) (dau. of Nathan Bostic (or Bostwick), b. Suffolk Co., Va., 1746; d. Jefferson Co., Ga., 1818; received bounty grant of land for service as private in Ga. Militia. Mar. Martha Gwinn, b. 1750). [Source: Ancestry.com. Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers in Georgia Vol. 1 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.] The dates don't quite jive, but there is a Nathan Bostwick resting "two graves over" from William Walker, Sr.

Children of Owen and Bdelia McDermott (Wednesday's Child x 13)

A single monument in the Revolutionary War Cemetery at Louisville, Jefferson County, Georgia stands for the memories of thirteen children born to Owen and Bdelia McDermott. Owen was born in County Sligo, Ireland 9 March 1806 and died 27 January 1877. Owen's wife Bdelia lived less than a decade more. Of those memorialized, and I probably have some of these dates wrong since they were difficult to read, it appears only a few made it to adulthood. Daniel Born Novr 1827 Died Augt 1829 Mary Ann Born May 1829 Died Sept 1832 Michael Born Novr 4th 1830 Died Sept 1834 Susan Born May 10th 1831 Died Sept 3rd 1839 William Born Augt 4th 1833 Died Sept 4th 1839 Joseph Born Augt 1835 Died Novr 1839 Eliza Born May 9th 1837 Died Novr 1844 George Born May 14th 1839 Died Novr 1855 Julia Born July 1841 Died Jany 1844 Andrew Born May 9th 1843 Died Mch 14th 1873 [1878?] James Born Augt 20th 1845 Died Augt 22nd 1863 [1862?] Louisa Martha Born Feby 22nd 1847 Died July 28th 1868 [1862?] C

Joseph Mayrank Jones (Tombstone Tuesday)

Sacred to the memory of JOSEPH  MAYRANK  JONES son of Joseph Jones of Liberty county, Georgia who died on the 5th January 1831 near Louisville on his way home from the Legislature in which body he represented his native county three years, aged 26 years & 8 months. This tribute to departed worth as dedicated by paternal affection to one who by his amiable deportment and many virtues justly merited the warm affection of his numerous relatives and friends. Farewell dear youth, a long & fond adieu A father's tears, thy early tomb bedew.

Brigadier General James Gunn and His Political Ruination

It came in the form of the Yazoo Land Act, but let's back up a bit. I snap digital images of gravestones all the time, often having no clue who I'm photographing. And this was easily the case when I visited the Revolutionary War Cemetery at Louisville, Jefferson County, Georgia (also known as Old Capitol Cemetery, or Old City Cemetery). It was not a planned visit, and I was looking for no one in particular. The simple ledger marker for James Gunn, however, piqued my interest. A Brigadier General?  Well this might be someone I can research. Here lies the Body of Brigadier General JAMES GUNN who died on the 30 of July 1801. Aged 48 years, 4 months and 17 days. A death notice in the Western Star (Stockbridge, Massachusetts) from 7 September 1801 told me Gen. James Gunn was formerly a Georgia Senator. The American (Baltimore, Maryland) went into slightly more detail [20 August 1801, page 2]. (Don't forget the letter s was often written as an f.) Died at Lo

Metta Cubbedge: and Rose Hill Has Another Fair Sleeper Awaiting the End of All Things

[Sometimes I publish a post at the Rose Hill Cemetery blog I think Southern Graves readers will enjoy. This is one of those.] Original photo by James Allen. Slightly enhanced image above by Stephanie Lincecum. Metta Cubbedge was born 26 April 1861 in Georgia to Richard W. and Anna M. Cubbedge. The beginning of 1877 saw Metta as a bright scholar of the junior class at Macon, Georgia's Wesleyan College. She was described, in reference to her role as a student, as "faithful to every duty, never by word or action, disobeying her preceptors." Metta also had an active extracurricular life. She was President of a secret literary society (it was only allowed to maintain a member number of 30) at Wesleyan known as the Philomathean * Society. She also seemed to enjoy singing. Newspaper articles included her name when describing performances by Macon's Baptist Church choir, as well as Wesleyan's Philomathean Society. Miss Metta Cubbedge was often singled out as a

Blodgett Cemetery Holds Four Craig Children (This Time It's Personal)

I've been going over my Grandfather's genealogy notes, including a detailed report dated January 1990. I wanted to make sure any information he had that I didn't was noted in my personal research files. As we all well know, revisiting a document will sometimes allow us to see it in a different light. At a different angle. To "see" things we didn't see before. Such is the case with my great grand aunt Bertha May (Lincecum) Craig. She is on the far right in the picture below.  I didn't realize, or maybe I forgot (to be honest), the amount of loss she suffered in life. Bertha was born 11 November 1899 to Francis Marion and Annie Victoria (Gibbs) Lincecum. Before she was twenty years old, in 1919, Bertha married Aaron Craig from Kentucky. About sixteen months after their marriage, Bertha gave birth to their first child. A daughter, Lucille, was born 21 October 1920. Bertha and Aaron would go on to produce seven more children, the last being a set

Grandpa and the National War Memorial of Newfoundland

2014 was a bit rough. I lost three grandparents and an uncle. It started in January with the death of my paternal grandmother Betty Sue Campbell Lincecum, and ended in November with the death of her husband (and my paternal grandfather) Billy Joe Lincecum. About March of this year, I was blessed to receive several photo albums, artifacts, and Lincecum genealogy research files. These treasures were most likely put together by Grandpa, and I appreciate my dad and his sister for trusting me with them. One of the first albums I began to digitize was labeled as " ? - 1954 " and has a Pepperrell A.F.B. cover: Along with many, many photos of my grandparents, their friends, and my father at just a couple months old, was this image: Knowing it was likely a memorial of some kind, I thought it would be perfect to write about in this space. A quick Google search revealed this as the National War Memorial of Newfoundland , a post World War I monument built before Newfoundla

Charles W. Washington: His Body Has Been Through A Lot (and a Bit of Serendipity!)

Charles W. Washington was born about 1802, possibly in Wilkes County, Georgia. I do not know the names of his parents, but I can tell you he had two brothers. Of the three, Charles was "the middle." Robert Beverly Washington was the elder brother, and James H. R. Washington the younger. Approximate location of Washington Academy land on today's map.  It possibly extended closer to the Ocmulgee River. Full map here . In a 1923 Macon Telegraph (Georgia) article, Charles's niece (Mrs. Ellen Washington Bellamy) offers this anecdote: ..."In 1824, one year after Macon came into being," she began after a few minutes, "Robert and Charles Washington came to Macon from Milledgeville. They were the grand-nephews of George [Washington, first president of the United States], and were the brothers of my father... "Charles Washington opened the first mercantile establishment in East Macon, where the remains of the mounds are. He lived at the foot of

George Phillip Lamb, Atomic Veteran

From Wikipedia : Atomic veterans are United States military veterans who were exposed to ionizing radiation while stationing in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the American occupation of Japan before 1946 (including certain veterans who were prisoners of war there) and thousands of servicemen who took part in atmospheric nuclear tests (1945-1962)... ...A formal investigation of the radiation exposure these veterans received, as well as radiation experiments conducted on humans, was initiated in 1994, by former President Bill Clinton, who apologized for their treatment in 1995. "In 1996, the U.S. Congress repealed the Nuclear Radiation Secrecy Agreement Act, which rescinded the Atomic Veteran “oath-of-secrecy,” thus allowing Atomic-Veterans the opportunity to recount stories of their participation in Nuclear weapon testing and post test event activities, without legal penalty. By this time,however, many thousands of Atomic Veterans, the majority of whom were

Final Scenes from St. Paul's Graveyard (Mostly Wordless Wednesday)

Here are some final scenes from my 2013 visit to St. Paul's Church and Graveyard in Augusta, Georgia. More Church Photos. To Commemorate the Great Congress of Five Indian Nations Held Here at Fort Augusta in 1763, when Seven Hundred Indians Came to Meet the Governors of Georgia, Virginia, North and South Carolina. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Erected by the Augusta Committee of the Georgia Society of the Colonial Dames of America. 1930 (Click to enlarge.) More information on Fort Augusta.





SouthernGraves.blogspot.com

The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

So I answered, "O Lord God, You know."

Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!' Thus says the Lord God to these bones: 'Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live...'" (Ezekiel 37:1-5, NKJV)