Southern Graves

The remains of Frances Dennard rest at Evergreen Cemetery in Perry, Houston County, Georgia. F. S. A. Dennard Born July 31, 1815 Died July 6, 1886 Death comes not to those whose lives are such as hers, it is but an entrance into our Father's home. Obituary from Houston Home Journal (Perry, Georgia) 8 July 1886 – pg. 3 Death of Mrs. Dennard. Mrs. Mary F. Dennard, widow of the late Capt. Hugh L. Dennard, died last Tuesday evening at the residence of her son-in-law, Hon. D. M. Hughes in Twiggs county.  Mrs. Dennard left Perry about two months ago to visit her daughter in Twiggs, and was taken sick a few days after her arrival there.  The immediate cause of her death was typhoid dysentery.  The burial will take place this morning at Evergreen Cemetery at Perry.  Funeral exercises will be held at the Baptist church, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Mrs. Dennard was about 71 years old, and her life had been such as to win to her the love and esteem of all who knew her.  F...

My first visit (for the purpose of taking photographs and transcriptions of tombstones) to Evergreen Cemetery in Perry, Houston County, Georgia was approximately fifteen years ago.  I would say it's a typical southern cemetery with lots of defined family plots and trees full of moss. (Image from March 2008) Another characteristic of an "old" southern cemetery is a separation between white burials and African American burials.  At Evergreen, many African Americans are buried at the back of the cemetery.  I was standing in this "back" area beside the tombstone and grave of Mahala Dennard when approached by a woman.  She informed me Mahala was a slave (and later, presumably, a paid servant) of a local family.  Upon her death, one of the children Mahala helped to raise had this tombstone placed for her. To Mammy Mahala Dennard Died Sept. 1886, Aged 60 Years. Sheltered and safe from sorrow. Please remember, this was unsolicited information from an unknown (to me) i...