Southern Graves

Green Whiddon Duggan was born August 1862 at Washington County, Georgia to John Corlie Duggan and Francis E. Gheesling. Green married Ella L. Dunham at Washington County on 20 November 1892, but I haven't found any children attributed to them. Green was usually occupied as a farmer. In the early months of 1921, he contracted Typhoid Fever and was dead before Spring. Macon Telegraph (Georgia) Friday, 18 March 1921 - pg. 11 [via GenealogyBank ] DEATHS AND FUNERALS GREENE W. DUGGAN Greene  W. Duggan  of Washington county died at his home near Warthen, Ga., after a brief illness of typhoid fever. He was 58 years of age. Besides his wife, he is survived by one brother, J. C. Duggan of Warthen, and three sisters, Mrs. J. E. Fulghum of Macon, Mrs. E. J. Forrester, and Miss Alice Duggan of Sparta. Mr. Duggan was one of Washington county's most prominent citizens. The funeral will take place Friday morning from the Baptist church at Warthen, of which he was a deacon. He Trusted In C...

I still sometimes get surprised by what trying to tell tales of tombstones can uncover. Yesterday, I was interested in John Redfiern (or Redfearn, and later Redfern) of Washington County, Georgia mainly for the way he pronounced and spelled his surname. Then I discovered – thanks to Joy Smith and her public family tree – this nugget from Washington County, Georgia Tombstone Inscriptions (pub. 1967) compiled by Elizabeth Pritchard Newsom. It was under the heading of "A Strange Headmarker." The second was a strange but enduring object used as a headstone to mark a grave. It was a glazed piece of turned clay pottery shaped like a bell jar, about sixteen to eighteen inches tall and nine to ten inches in diameter at the base. Near the base the sides flared into a slight lip or flange, and this, covered with earth, gave it great stability. The domed top offered the greatest possible resistance to breakage from falling trees and limbs which damage many slabs and monuments. The bot...

I did a bit of a double-take while photographing a few tombstones at the Bethlehem Baptist Church graveyard in Warthen, Washington County, Georgia. I've only seen the "usual" spelling of REDFERN. Was this a mistake? John Redfiern was born 17 August 1827, likely in North Carolina, to Branson and Emeline "Milly" Redfearn . John married Mary P. Baker before 1860, and the couple had at least three children: Minerva (b. abt Sept 1859) John Robert (b. abt 1861-1862) Martha "Mattie" (b. abt 1862-1868) I found John and family in census records for 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1910. In three of the four takings, the surname was spelled Redfear/n . This might be a testament to how the family pronounced their name. 1910 was the only instance of the four where the spelling was Redfern . John died after the taking of the 1910 census, in the month of September. His tombstone noted him to be "A good citizen, patriotic soldier and consistent friend." (John serve...