Southern Graves

Edward W. Abernathy was born on 15 May 1887 in Appleton, Missouri, a village located along the south bank of Apple Creek, the boundary line between Cape Girardeau and Perry counties. Appleton Bridge, originally built in 1879, connects the two counties. We know E.W.'s birthplace thanks to his World War I draft registration. Edward's parents, Henderson William Abernathy and Rachel M. Hemrich, were residing in Apple Creek Township, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri seven years before his birth. A June 1900 U.S. Federal census record places the teenaged Edward in Salem Township, Perry County, Missouri. On 26 January 1909 in Perry County, Edward Abernathy married Mary L. Cox in Perry County. Mary was one of more than ten children born to Elizabeth Cotner and Rev. William Marion Cox. The younger couple would go on to have at least eight children of their own. Although we can be certain that the Abernathy family experienced times of joy and sorrow in every decade, the 1930s proved to be...

  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...

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...

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...

Henderson Walker "Henry" English, born 13 May 1860, was a son of Irvin and Joanna Howell English. Henry was married first to Eva Brantley in 1889, and this union produced three sons: Havis, Fenton, and Ray/Roy. About six years later, on 25 September 1895 in Houston County, Georgia, Henry married Lula Watson. She was born 26 April 1873, a daughter of Richmond H. and Fannie C. White Watson. Henry and Lula had three children: Fannie, Maud, and Irving Brown. Their son, who was orphaned about age five, was the only child from that union to survive to adulthood. Henry died 16 December 1903, and Lula died 25 January 1907. Both were buried in Magnolia Park Cemetery at Warner Robins, Houston County, Georgia. At the time of their deaths, however, the burial sites were in Watson Cemetery at Wellston, GA. (Wellston became Warner Robins in 1942, and Watson Cemetery became Magnolia Park in 1949.) Houston Home Journal (Perry, Georgia) 24 December 1903 - pg. 6 [via Georgia Historic New...

John S. Thomas died 9 January 1881 and was buried at Memory Hill Cemetery in Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia. A death notice was published in the Augusta Chronicle , citing the Milledgeville Recorder , just a few days after his demise: Death of Judge J. S. Thomas. Judge John S. Thomas died at his residence, at Midway, Sunday night. He has for years been confined to his house. He was the oldest living male resident of the county at the time of his death. In his early life he was associated with many prominent positions under the State government. We are informed that Judge Thomas was born in May, 1779, and was nearly 102 years of age. He was, in his active life, a prominent citizen and a good one. Doubtless a more extended notice will be given of so remarkable a man. That last line proved prescient. A "more extended" obituary was published in the Milledgeville Union & Recorder on 18 January 1881. John Sherrod Thomas. Col. J. S. Thomas was born in 1779, on Rock...

Maggie May Hiles and husband William Addison Knowles rest in Myrtle Hill Cemetery at Rome, Floyd County, Georgia. An obituary for May follows. Walker County Messenger (LaFayette, Georgia) 20 May 1897 - pg. 1 [via Georgia Historic Newspapers ] Love Could Not Save. Rome, Ga., May 16. -- Mrs. W. A. Knowles, wife of the proprietor of the Rome Tribune, died of consumption, about 7:30 o'clock this morning. She was born in Summerville, Ga., Jan. 30, 1871. She is the second daughter of Capt. Thompson Hiles, a large wholsale [sic] dry goods merchant of Rome, and one of North Georgia's most prominent citizens. Mrs. Knowles graduated from Wesleyan and Shorter colleges, and was married Feb. 5, 1890. She leaves three children. The funeral will occur tomorrow (Monday) afternoon from the First Methodist church at 4 o'clock. She was a devoted wife, a loving mother a model Christian woman. The people of Rome deeply sympathize with Mr. Knowles. William A. Knowles was born at Macon, G...

Seventeen years ago (holy cow!) I transcribed, chiefly by hand, inscriptions on all the tombstones found at Centerville Cemetery in Houston County, Georgia. This information was then uploaded to my website, where it has sat for all these years. In cleaning up my little corner of the 'net, I've decided to take down that particular page. The burials can be found in the FindAGrave database, so that information is still readily available at this time. I'm creating a post in this space to share some history and highlights from the cemetery, essentially retaining some of the personal work of my choosing... (About 2002 or Prior) Where Centerville Cemetery Fit within the Town Centerville Cemetery is located across from the First Baptist Church on Church Street. According to Georgia Place-Names by Kenneth Krakow , "Mitchell F. Ethridge settled here and opened a store about 1885. The name derived from the fact that it was located halfway between Macon and Perry, as ...

Allen Cochran, Jr. was born 29th June 1832 and died 21st October 1859. Per the 1860 Monroe County, Georgia, U.S. Federal census mortality schedule, Mr. Cochran's death was due to consumption. This malady was also known as Tuberculosis. The death of Allen Cochran, Jr. was front-page news: Weekly Georgia Telegraph (Macon, GA) 1 November 1859 - pg. 1 [via Georgia Historic Newspapers ] Death of Allen Cochran. Again it becomes our melancholy task to record the death of one of our most esteemed and valuable citizens -- one whose social qualities endeared him to all who enjoyed his acquaintance. Kind, affable and generous, were the loading [sic] qualities of his disposition, and as a friend, his heart was always full of warm and sincere affection. As he trod the difficult and devious paths of life, it was his good fortune to keep his robes unsoiled by the vile corruption which polutes [sic] those ways. The history of the life of a deceased friend may convey a useful lesson to the ...

Homemade headstones often elicit a bittersweet emotion from me.  But if stones could exude love, these two would surely be examples of just that. Mrs. Eliza Jane Ray was a daughter, born 1865, of G. W. and Winnie (Davis) Wright.  She was also the wife of Robert "Bob" J. Ray.  Jane died in March of 1931 after battling tuberculosis of the lungs for fifteen years.  The name listed as undertaker on her death certificate was George Ray, who possibly was a son. According to census records , James Robert Ray was a son of Bob and Jane.  His death, which came just 4 days before Christmas in 1932, was due to pneumonia. Both Jane and her son James died in Fannin County, Georgia.  They were laid to rest in the graveyard of Harmony Baptist Church at Blue Ridge, where more than 80 years later, we can still see the homemade headstones lovingly placed for each of them.

John W. Brogdon and his wife Corrie rest in Level Creek Cemetery at Suwanee, Gwinnett County, Georgia.  Though it appears Corrie O. Brogdon led a full life, at least in number of years – 93, it was not so for John.  He died at the young age of 49. According to his death certificate, J. W. Brogdon died in the late afternoon of Friday, 13 September 1929 at the Georgia State Sanitarium at Milledgeville, Baldwin County.  Cause of death was pulmonary tuberculosis. But the vital death record viewable at FamilySearch is full of DK s.  DK generally stands for Don't Know .  The "informant" for this certificate appears to be Records G. S. S.   One would think those records would include a fuller name, birthdate, and contact information for the nearest relative (at least), but I suppose not in this instance. The tombstone provided us with a first name for each of Mr. and Mrs. Brogdon, as well as a burial location.  Let's look to the 1900 Gwinnett County, Georgia...

Aquilla, son of John A. Bruce, was born 22 May 1877 in Gwinnett County, Georgia.  Seven months after his 20th birthday, and the day after Christmas 1897, Aquilla married Dora Mann .  I believe her to be a daughter of Sallie and Ivan Mann. Dora and Aquilla had their first child, a daughter named Fannie, in 1899.  Aquilla supported his family by farming. Unfortunately, Dora passed away November 1909 at age 32.  She was laid to rest at Trinity Church Cemetery in Gwinnett County. Aquilla married Eunice Hester Davis about 1913.  She is listed as his nearest relative on his World War I draft registration card dated September 1918.  Two months later, Hester died before reaching age 34.  In 1920, the widowed Aquilla was residing in Duluth with eight of his children. A. Q. Bruce died at a young age, just as did his wives.  He was not quite 45 when he succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis, exacerbated by influenza, February 1922 in Buford, Gwinnett C...

George Steptoe Washington, nephew to President George Washington, died January 1809 at Augusta, Georgia. He was laid to rest in St. Paul's church Cemetery. 28 January 1809 Savannah Republican (Georgia) - pg. 3 AUGUSTA, January 19. Died, suddenly on Tuesday night last, in this place, GEORGE STEPTOE WASHINGTON, esq. of Virginia, nephew of the late President Washington, aged 37 years. This worthy man came to this place about ten days since for the benefit of his health, and from the day of his arrival, had apparently been gaining strength so fast, that flattering hopes were entertained of his complete recovery from a tedious indisposition. On Tuesday night he went to bed in high spirits, and as he supposed much better than he had before been, but a little before twelve o'clock, he was attacked with a fit of coughing in which he ruptured a blood vessel; his friends were immediately called to his assistance, but their efforts and applications were ineffectual, and in about ...

Even after researching my family history for many, many years, I'm still saddened when I find out a relative, no matter the distance, died young. In this instance, the young age is 49. Ada Rhodes was born about September 1875 in Washington County, Georgia to T. P. and Fanny (Martin) Rhodes. Death came 23 May 1925 in Wheeler County, Georgia. The cause of death was simply indicated on her death certificate as T. B. Ada suffered with the disease of tuberculosis for at least five years. From Georgia's Virtual Vault ( Permanent link ) Upon her death, Ada was buried in Erick Cemetery. Her husband, Lucien E. Avant, joined her some 32 years later. FindAGrave Memorial #67116817 Photo by Craig & Tonya Banks