Southern Graves

In Memory Of James T. Watson Son of Benjamin F. & Mary A. E. Watson Was Born April 13th, 1866 Died April 6th, 1880 Age 13 Years 11 Mos And 23 Days Thou art dead but not forgotten. Mt. Olive Cemetery Dooly County, Georgia Photo © 2011-16 S. Lincecum for Southern Graves

Sometimes I look back at the photos I've taken at cemeteries, and think, "Wow.  I am so-o far behind in posting." And it gets even sillier when a photo involves a relative or ancestor.  For example, I photographed the gravestone for G. M. Dallas Peavy almost five years ago…  Just got around to getting the image and information in my family tree program a couple of days ago.  *Insert sigh here. George M. Dallas Peavy was a distant cousin of mine.  The initial M might stand for Madison, and I've personally seen the surname spelled as both Peavy and Peavey .  He was a son of Green B. and Martha (Vinson) Peavy/ey.  This branch of the family generally hung around Dooly County, Georgia.  Dallas, his wife Amanda, and two of their sons were laid to rest at Mt. Olive Cemetery in the Pinehurst area of Dooly county. Dallas was married to Louisa Amanda King 16 November 1865 by a minister of the gospel in Dooly County. Research suggests Dallas and Amanda ha...

This is a symbol I don't think has been profiled here before.  I came across it just yesterday when visiting Harmony Baptist Church Cemetery in Blue Ridge, Fannin County, Georgia. Elizebeth Puckett Born July 10, 1884 Died June 26, 1952 Grandma We Love You Always This symbol is recognized as an emblem of belief available for placement on U.S. government headstones and markers. According to Wikipedia , "The Native American Church (NAC)…is a Native American religion characterized by mixed traditional as well as Protestant beliefs and by sacramental use of entheogen peyote.  The religion originated in…Oklahoma in the late nineteenth century after peyote was introduced to the southern Great Plains from Mexico.  Today it is the most widespread indigenous religion among Native Americans in the United States, Canada, and Mexico…" Furthermore, "[a]n entheogen is a chemical substance used in religious context that often induces psychological or physiological c...

Myrtle's daughter-in-law & grandson. Tenant farming is an agricultural system in which farmers rent land from owners for a share of the crops (crop rent) or cash payment (cash rent).  This essentially replaced the slave system dominant in the South prior to the Civil War.  According to the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, Arkansas, "Terms of contracts [for tenant farmers] varied, dependent on whether the laborer owned any equipment or purchased his own seed and supplies. Crop rent contracts generally required that one-fourth to one-third of the crop be paid to the landlord. Sharecroppers, at the lowest rung of tenant farming, lacked equipment and capital, which had to be provided by landlords. Thus, they received a smaller percentage of crops, typically 50%." Tenant farming, especially for sharecroppers, was a hard way to make a living.  Constant, back breaking work was required to just get by.  Then the stock market crashed in 1929, and crop pric...