Southern Graves

The World War I veteran was shot in his left side with a pistol. Thomas Glover "Tom" Padgett was born on 10 July 1888 in Twiggs County, Georgia, to William B. and Annie Davis Padgett. He was inducted into the United States Army at Jeffersonville, Georgia, on 26 June 1918. Tom served overseas from 24 August 1918 to 2 April 1919. It was noted on his World War I service card that Tom was "slightly" wounded about 1 November 1918, and was honorably discharged on demobilization, 24 April 1919. Years later, by 1935, Tom had a room in a boarding house on West Franklin Street in Gastonia, Gaston County, North Carolina. Gastonia was once one of the nation's largest textile-manufacturing hubs. Though no occupation was listed for Tom in the 1940 census, he was surrounded by neighbors working in cotton mills. In February 1943, Tom was shot and killed in his room at the boarding house. While his death certificate officially records the date as February 16th, contemporary news...

Born just months after the Civil War ended, Thomas B. Pace Jr. lived through Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the upheavals of early 20th-century America. His death in 1931 came at the dawn of the Great Depression, a time when the values inscribed on his gravestone—charity, compassion, faith—were desperately needed. Thomas, and two of his siblings highlighted here, were laid to rest in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Cochran, Bleckley County, Georgia. Thomas Pace Jr.'s Life of Civic Virtue Thomas B. Pace Jr. Son of Thomas B. Pace and Catherine, His Wife Born Sept 30, 1865 Died Sept 18, 1931 Here is to the remains of our brother, Thomas B. Pace, who at all times and places gave his strength to the weak; his substance to the poor, his sympathy to the suffering, and his heart to God. This epitaph, presumably composed by his surviving siblings, reflects a life dedicated to civic virtues, especially in the tumultuous era in which Thomas lived. An obituary ran in the Athens Banner-Herald ...

An urn-topped obelisk in Cedar Hill Cemetery at Cochran, Bleckley County, Georgia, serves as a single monument to Charles Mullis and his three wives -- each getting their own panel, collectively making up the four sides of the base. Charles Mullis was born on 7 November 1813 in North Carolina. By 1837, he was residing in Pulaski County, Georgia, where he married his first wife, Cynthia Miller (1820-1857), on 1 November.  Charles next married Julia P. about 1860. She was about 29 years his junior, being born in Georgia on 30 August 1842. Julia died on 14 October 1882, and Charles married for the final time the next year. He united with Sarah E., who was born on 3 February 1840. This time, the wife outlived the husband. Charles Mullis died on 9 September 1887 in Cochran, as was reported in the Macon Weekly Telegraph  (Georgia). Death of a Wealthy Citizen COCHRAN, September 10. -- Mr. Charles Mullis, of this place, aged 77, died yesterday afternoon of erysipelas and senile decay....

Homicide at Cochran, Georgia! William Thomas McVay was born on 24 August 1835. He married Martha Ella Linder in Laurens County, Georgia, on 4 November 1858. In 1862, W. T. enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private. He was promoted through the ranks, culminating in the position of 1st Lieutenant of Company F, 14th Georgia Infantry. During the decade of Reconstruction, William transitioned from a Confederate officer to a prominent merchant in the newly established community of Cochran, Georgia. Officially incorporated in 1869, the town was built around a stop on the Macon and Brunswick Railroad. Merchants like McVay were crucial to the town's early economy, linking local cotton and agricultural products to the wider regional markets. Being a successful merchant in a small, post-war Southern town (not to mention his veteran status) likely meant William was an individual of considerable influence and standing in the local community and surrounding counties. A snippet from an articl...

Behind the Greene County courthouse in Greensboro, Georgia, stands an old rock jail. It was built in 1807 and remained in use until about 1895. From the historical marker beside it: "Built of granite about two feet thick, it is two stories in height and has a trap door in the floor of the upper story where condemned prisoners were hanged. An iron bar supported the trap door. When the signal was given, the hangman pulled the lever that controlled the bar and the culprit was launched into eternity." I recently read a 2019 story by Tyler Wilkins in the Lake Oconee News  (Georgia) about the old gaol , and was surprised to learn only one documented execution took place there. Here's how the Atlanta Weekly Constitution  covered it on 4 November 1873: Quick PSA : Since most newspapers of the time were white-owned and reflected racist views, they were biased. So please question and treat with great caution the papers' descriptions of the alleged crimes, victims, and perp...

  Greensboro City Cemetery, Greene County, Georgia © 2013-2025 S. Lincecum Southern Christian Advocate  (Augusta, Georgia) Thursday, 28 July 1859 MRS. SARAH D. WILLIS was born in Petersburg, Va., and died in Greensboro, Ga., on 13th April, in her 64th year. She had been a member of the M. E. Church 38 years. Amid the vicissitudes of a long and chequered pilgrimage, she was "soothed and sustained by an unfaltering trust" in the Redeemer. Her piety was noiseless and unobtrusive. Conscious of many infirmities, she meekly and modestly glided down the hill of life, giving offence to none, loving God supremely. Her last days were distinguished by suffering and sorrow. Adieu, dear, dear mother! Thy soul, purified in the furnace of grief, chastened and sanctified by tribulation and grace, is at rest in heaven. Your children may be scattered -- wanderers on the earth -- their graves may be in distant lands, but the resurrection will reunite. O! when the glorious day shall dawn, may mo...

James Blake Nickelson was born 4 October 1808 in Georgia. On 5 March 1833 in Richmond County, James married Anna Maria Willey. For the November 1850 Greene County, Georgia Federal census, James was occupied as a merchant, and he and Anna had five children: Ann, Julia, Margaret, H. Clay, and James. Greensboro City Cemetery, Greene County, Georgia Image © 2013-2025 S. Lincecum Upon the death of James Blake Nickelson, two obituaries were published in the 31 March 1852 Augusta Chronicle  (Georgia): OBITUARY. Died at Greensboro on the morning of the 22d inst., JAMES B. NICKELSON, Esq., aged about 44 years, after a protracted illness of several weeks. A man of the highest integrity and worth, constant and faithful in the discharge of every duty, a citizen without reproach, a brother kind and affectionate, a husband without fault, and a father whose energies were devoted to the interests and happiness of his children; the community of which he was a member will long feel his loss, and rem...

Samuel Davis Born April 16, 1787 Died Sept 7, 1875 For more than thirty years he was a member of the Baptist Church, and died trusting in Jesus for eternal life. For him death had no terrors but was a welcome messenger of deliverance. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace." Greensboro City Cemetery Greene County, Georgia Greensboro Herald  (Georgia) 16 September 1875 Obituary. Samuel Davis was born in Halifax Co., N.C., in April, 1787. Sometime in the year 1807 he left his father's home, and, unattended, came across the mountains into Georgia, making his way on foot to Greene Co., thus early displaying that energy and resolution which characterized his whole life. He settled in Greensboro' in the year 1835, and by his sterling integrity and unswerving honesty he secured and retained to the day of his death, the respect and confidence of the entire community. In 1845 he united with the Baptist Church, and for thirty years was a ...

She was just four months shy of her eighteenth birthday. In continuing to research the names and dates on the gravestones of those buried in Maddux Cemetery at Tennessee's Harrison Bay State Park, I'm saddened by the number of lives cut short by Tuberculosis. "White plague," it was sometimes called, because its victims were garishly pale. I found it repeated on too many death certificates. I learned that in Tennessee, TB was the number one cause of death in 1923. The governor signed legislation in 1941 to create the first State Tuberculosis Hospital. By 1943, TB had only dropped to the number three cause of death in the state. A state-run tuberculosis hospital opened in Chattanooga, less than 20 miles south of Harrison Bay State Park, in 1951. And it wasn't until the early 1970s that state officials began to contemplate closing those hospitals. So I shouldn't be so surprised to find several cases in a cemetery of around 300 burials. I'm afraid I'll fin...

Standing on the hallowed ground, merely a visitor scanning the stones, I rarely know what befell the remains buried below. Until I do the research. And even though I've researched many lives, I'm always startled when I learn someone met a violent end. Today, that someone is G. Matthew Bulloch. Atlanta Constitution  (Georgia) Saturday, 27 June 1908 - Page 9 CORDELE MAN WAS STABBED Prominent Business Man Stabbed to Death in Thomas County. Cordele, Ga., June 26 -- (Special.) -- G. M. Bulloch, one of Cordele's most prominent business men, was stabbed to death this morning about 9 o'clock at Ochlochnee, Thomas county, by Jim Thompson. From the best information obtainable, the two men had a few words concerning a land trade between Bulloch's father and Thompson's brother, whereupon it is said Thompson stabbed Bulloch in the heart, killing him instantly. Thompson has been placed in jail at Thomasville. A party of Bulloch's friends left at once for the scene of th...

In 1940 and 1945, respectively. John Wesley McDaniel was born 16 July 1887 in Harrison, James (now Hamilton) County, Tennessee. He was one of ten children belonging to Sarah E. Capps (1864-1922) and George Oliver McDaniel (1862-1941). Two of his siblings were Jennie Green and Ott McDaniel . John married Addie Ollie Lowe (1887-1982), daughter of James S. Lowe, about 1910. This couple had at least two children: James Elder McDaniel and Mary Edith McDaniel. Twelve days before his 53rd birthday, John died. The cause of death was deemed to be Pulmonary Tuberculosis. John's death certificate doesn't explicitly state how long he suffered with the disease, but his attending physician cared for him for less than a week. Mary Edith McDaniel was born 20 September 1917 in Hamilton County, Tennessee. She, too, succumbed to Pulmonary Tuberculosis on 3 October 1945. Edith had just turned 28 less than two weeks prior. It appears her attending physician was the same as her father's, and Dr...

Jemima J. "Jennie" McDaniel Ensley Green was born 7 April 1885 in Tennessee to George Oliver (1862-1941) and Sarah E. Capps (1864-1922) McDaniel. Jennie married Rev. Messer Ensley (1852-1933) about 1914. He was more than thirty years her senior. Some time after the death of Messer, Jennie married a Mr. Green. Her death certificate, however, noted she was again a widow. Brother Ott McDaniel was the informant. Jennie's death was a result of injuries sustained when she was hit by a car in early November 1936. She suffered a broken leg and a crushed skull. (Death certificate via Ancestry .) Chattanooga Times  (Tennessee) Monday, 9 November 1936 - pg. 7 Georgia Woman Killed. Special to The Chattanooga Times. DALTON, Ga., Nov. 8. -- Mrs Jennie Green, 51, who was injured when struck by an automobile Friday on the Dixie highway near Westville, died yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock in Hamilton Memorial hospital here. Mrs. Green is survived by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. G. O. M...

 More on the latter later. General Otis "Ott" McDaniel Maddux Cemetery Harrison, Hamilton County, Tennessee © 2025 S. Lincecum The blue-eyed and brown-haired Ott McDaniel was born 10 October 1899 in Harrison, James County, Tennessee. He was one of at least ten children born to Sarah E. Capps (d. 1922) and George Oliver McDaniel (1862-1941). On 24 May 1918, just south of the state line in Walker County, Georgia, Ott married Margie E. Lively (1901-1981). She was a daughter of Sarah Elizabeth Dill and Lewis Lively. For work, Ott was often occupied as a farmer and/or truck driver. For play, he was heavily involved with America's favorite pastime. Ott was often noted in the local newspaper as managing at least a few amateur baseball teams in the Chattanooga area. (Death certificate via Ancestry .) General Otis "Ott" McDaniel was just 49 years of age when he died on 9 December 1948. The place of death was the Campbell Clinic in Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee....

And that's all I know about him. As claimed in the previous post , Thomas Herald was the father of Sam Herald, who was the husband of Rachel Etta Talley Herald (d. 1913). Both Thomas and Etta rest in Maddux Cemetery in Harrison, Hamilton County, Tennessee. To be fully transparent, I will tell you all the evidence I currently have for Thomas being the father of Sam (and father-in-law of Etta) is circumstantial. It's not a theory I'm super queasy about, though, so I'll go with it unless proven otherwise. As communicated in the image of Thomas's headstone, he served in Company C of the 5th Tennessee Mounted Infantry. (Better image by Cynthia Henry here .) The recessed shield and American flag decoration could lead one to believe he served with the Union Army during the Civil War. It's also helpful to know that Tennessee, especially its eastern part, had a large population of Southern Unionists . That belief is proven to be so with Thomas's Civil War service rec...