Southern Graves

A small family plot in Alta Vista Cemetery at Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia holds the remains of a mother and son. Mary Francis Crawford Puckett (1828-1912) and son Lester Durant Puckett (1855-1908) hailed from South Carolina, but found their way to Gainesville about the 1870s. I suspect this was after the death of husband and father Puckett. A set of books tops the Puckett family stone, which sits between smaller headstones for mother and son. A closed book often represents a completed life. This set of books, however, could be a nod to Lester's career path: he taught school and studied law. Obituaries for Mary and Lester follow. Gainesville News (Georgia) 24 July 1912 - pg. 1 [via Georgia Historic Newspapers ] Mrs. Puckett Dead. After an illness of more than a year, Mrs. Mary Francis Puckett died at her home at Sycamore street and Brenau avenue at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. She was eighty-three years of age and had been confined to her bed for a year or more on account of a...

This is a symbol I don't think has been profiled here before.  I came across it just yesterday when visiting Harmony Baptist Church Cemetery in Blue Ridge, Fannin County, Georgia. Elizebeth Puckett Born July 10, 1884 Died June 26, 1952 Grandma We Love You Always This symbol is recognized as an emblem of belief available for placement on U.S. government headstones and markers. According to Wikipedia , "The Native American Church (NAC)…is a Native American religion characterized by mixed traditional as well as Protestant beliefs and by sacramental use of entheogen peyote.  The religion originated in…Oklahoma in the late nineteenth century after peyote was introduced to the southern Great Plains from Mexico.  Today it is the most widespread indigenous religion among Native Americans in the United States, Canada, and Mexico…" Furthermore, "[a]n entheogen is a chemical substance used in religious context that often induces psychological or physiological c...