Jefferson Peacock Found Dead in His Bed

Jefferson D. "Jeff" Peacock, son of Albert, was born 1 March 1860, possibly in Virginia. At age twenty-three, Jeff married Ella M. Ashburn at Dodge County, Georgia. Less than six years later, Ella's husband was dead. Burial was in a family lot at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Cochran, Bleckley County, Georgia. A few particulars from the front page of the 21 September 1889 Macon Telegraph (Georgia) follow:

FOUND DEAD IN HIS BED.

Mr. Peacock of Seville Dies Suddenly at Hawkinsville.
HAWKINSVILLE, Sept. 20. -- [Special.] -- Mr. Jeff Peacock of Seville was found dead in his room at the Joiner House here this morning. He complained before retiring of feeling cold and ordered a fire made in his room. This morning about 10 o'clock a gentleman called at the hotel to see him and the porter went to his room to wake him.

Getting no response to his summons an entrance was forced, when the unfortunate gentleman was found dead in his bed. Death undoubtedly resulted from heart disease, as he has had occasional symptoms of it for years.

Mr. Peacock was once a resident of Hawkinsville, but business interests claiming his attention elsewhere, he moved to Seville about a year ago.

"Give Him Eternal Rest,
O Lord, And Let
Perpetual Light Shine
Upon Him."

See the fern branches on the side of Jeff's tombstone pictured above? According to Douglas Keister, author of Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography, the fern represents "humility, frankness, and sincerity."

[Additional Note: Buried in the same lot with Jeff was his brother Manly W. Peacock (1877-1903).]

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