Southern Graves

Rev. S. E. Axson, his wife Janie, and his children Ellen and Stockton, all rest at Myrtle Hill Cemetery in Rome, Floyd County, Georgia. Daughter Ellen was a wife of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. She held the title of First Lady for seventeen months before her untimely death in 1914. Excerpts from a newspaper article covering her funeral are here . An obituary for the good reverend follows: Savannah Morning News (Georgia) Sunday, 1 June 1884 - pg. 9 [via GenealogyBank] Death of Samuel Edward Axson. The funeral of Rev. Samuel Edward Axson, son of Rev. Dr. I. S. K. Axson, the venerable pastor of the Independent Presbyterian Church, of this city, took place at Rome on Friday. He was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Rome from 1866 till last fall, when he resigned his charge and came to Savannah to visit his father. While here his mind became affected, and the efforts of skilled physicians failed to reach his case. His sad death is a heavy affliction upon his family. During the ...

A ll Rome was there to meet her.  With the earliest glimmer of dawn the little city of the hills began to stir – but softly, like the tread of gentle snowflakes.  Long before the sun was up, every road was thronged with travelers from the neighboring farms and hamlets, while every train brought its burden of souls from the remoter towns and cities.  It was a day to be remembered by the youngest child when an aged man or woman, a day whose significance made it a rare forget-me-not in the year's calendar of events.  But, instead of the emblems of rejoicing, the symbols of grief were displayed on every hand…No sound of hammer or anvil smote the air.  Shops were closed…It was Mrs. Wilson's home-coming; and this vast assemblage of friends was here to welcome in silence a returning daughter of Georgia, one whose name was upon a nation's lips:  the beloved First Lady of the Land. [Georgia historian, Lucian Lamar Knight, 1914] Mrs. Wilson was coming home – and she...