This pair of crossed feathers was carved to decorate the tombstone placed for Jesse Calaway Wootten in Newnan, Georgia's Oak Hill Cemetery. Unless in the form of wings, feathers are not something I often see. Douglas Keister writes in Stories in Stone : Because of their lightness and their association with wings, feathers can be a symbol of the ascent to the heavens. A feather can also represent the authority to administer justice because, even though the feather is very light, it is enough to tip the scales. Ok. But that just didn't seem to fit in this case. So I kept digging to find out more about Jesse Calaway Wootten. Jesse was born 6 October 1836, possibly in Wilkes County, Georgia. He was married and occupied as a lawyer by 1860, residing with wife Frances "Fannie" J. (Dent) in Carrollton. Pvt. Wootten enlisted in Company A of the 12th Battalion, Georgia Light Artillery in May of 1862 at Newnan. In mid-January of the very next year, he was...
Telling the Tales of Tombstones