Southern Graves

Walker Cemetery Bleckley (formerly Pulaski) County, Georgia Martha was a daughter of George Walker (1793-1865) and Martha Spann Childers (1801-1866). Her maternal grandparents were Richard Childers and Martha Spann. This youngest Martha was born on 4 November 1828 and died on 25 May 1849, less than six months before her 21st birthday. The family lived in Pulaski County, Georgia, and Walker Cemetery is on land that became part of Bleckley County (being carved from Pulaski) in 1912. Martha's memorial in Walker Cemetery is a pedestal monument, consisting of a substantial rectangular "die" (the main block carrying the inscription) on a tiered base, topped with a heavy capstone—a classic Victorian architectural feature. Offering protection and dignity for the deceased, the capstone's overhanging design gives a sense of permanence and prestige. Just below the capstone is a laurel wreath, symbolizing victory over death. A premium feature above the inscription is a high relie...

Born just months after the Civil War ended, Thomas B. Pace Jr. lived through Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the upheavals of early 20th-century America. His death in 1931 came at the dawn of the Great Depression, a time when the values inscribed on his gravestone—charity, compassion, faith—were desperately needed. Thomas, and two of his siblings highlighted here, were laid to rest in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Cochran, Bleckley County, Georgia. Thomas Pace Jr.'s Life of Civic Virtue Thomas B. Pace Jr. Son of Thomas B. Pace and Catherine, His Wife Born Sept 30, 1865 Died Sept 18, 1931 Here is to the remains of our brother, Thomas B. Pace, who at all times and places gave his strength to the weak; his substance to the poor, his sympathy to the suffering, and his heart to God. This epitaph, presumably composed by his surviving siblings, reflects a life dedicated to civic virtues, especially in the tumultuous era in which Thomas lived. An obituary ran in the Athens Banner-Herald ...

Emory was a son of Elijah F. and Mary Elizabeth Hasford. Burial in New Hope Cemetery at Dallas, Paulding County, Georgia.   Emory F. Son of E. F. & M. E. Hasford b. Apr 2, 1884 d. Mar 5, 1916 Ascend, My Son! Thy Father's Kingdom Share. The last portion of Emory's epitaph is from an elegy written by William Cowper about 1748 On the Death of the Bishop of Winchester . Excerpts: Silent I sat, dejected, and alone, Making in thought, the public woes my own, When, first, arose the image in my breast Of England's suffering by that scourge, the Pest! How Death, his funeral torch and scythe in hand, Entering the lordliest mansions of the land, Has laid the gem-illumined palace low, And levell'd tribes of nobles at a blow. ...I wish'd repose, and on my couch reclined, Took early rest, to night and sleep resign'd: When -- Oh for words to paint what I beheld! I seem'd to wander in a spacious field, Where all the champaign glow'd with purple light Like that of su...

The mortal remains of Dr. Sidney Smith repose in St. James Episcopal Cemetery at Marietta, Georgia. The inscription on one side of his gravestone ends with the following: Conscia Mens Recti Famae Mendacia Ridet Google translates this to "The conscious mind smiles [or laughs] at the rumored lies."   After digging a little more, I found an oft-quoted Latin proverb  -- "A mind conscious of innocence laughs at the lies of rumor." Between the Latin phrase on Dr. Smith's gravestone and the Latin proverb translated to English, there is a slight difference in words: recti  versus  innocentiae . This is right  versus innocence . So maybe the good doctor's Latin phrase translates to English this way: A mind conscious of right laughs at the lies of rumor. This monument has been erected to mark the spot where repose the mortal remains of DR. SIDNEY SMITH Who departed this life on the 16th April 1856 Aged 56 years A skillful physician, An enterprising and public-spirited...

John Clayton Walden was born 26 March 1846 in Georgia to John M. and Elizabeth Walden. On 8 May 1862, at just over 16 years of age, the younger John was mustered in as a private in Company E (captained by C. H. Richardson ) of the 57th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry. John's Civil War service record listed him as being 17 years old at the time. Bet he fudged a little bit. In his history of the 57th titled Hell's Broke Loose in Georgia  [affiliate link], Scott Walker wrote the following about the Battle of Champion Hill / Baker's Creek: As the men of the Fifty-seventh Georgia crossed Baker's Creek late on the night of May 16 [1863] and raced through the dark for the Big Black River [Mississippi], they were no longer strangers to such tragedy and horror. Their memories were scarred forever by the early days of the Vicksburg campaign. And this portion he wrote about the Siege of Vicksburg: As soon as [General] Grant resigned himself to a siege, he ordered his engineer...

I'm usually not a big fan of Old English lettering on gravestones, but in this instance, it seems quite apropos. Lucile Huey was born 26 October 1911 in Georgia to Lena Varn and L. M. Huey. She was a graduate of the Wesleyan (Macon, GA) and Cincinnati conservatories of music. Per a portion of her epitaph, it seems Lucile was a gifted classical music singer - Like a velvet note in a flood of tone, Her rich contralto voice Floated into the Choir Invisible. When Lucile was 22 years of age, she married Georgia Tech graduate William Edward Vinson (1908-1982). He was connected with the Ford Motor Company plant in Atlanta, and the young couple made that city their home. Lucile and William had been married about 13 months when she made a fatal decision to drink carbolic acid on a summer morning in July 1935. Lucile died that same evening at the Georgia Baptist Hospital . Her death certificate deemed the "injury" a suicide. Butler Herald  (Georgia) 11 July 1935 Poison Dose Proves ...

Sometimes, when I visit a gravesite, it's obvious a tombstone or grave marker was added years after a deceased individual's death. Maybe this was not an uncommon practice. Anna E. Hollinshead died 5 February 1913 and was laid to rest in Oaklawn Cemetery at Fort Valley, Houston (later Peach) County, Georgia. On 20 November 1911, she signed her last will and testament. In it, she instructed her executor to erect monuments over the graves of her two siblings and mother "should I not, during my lifetime." Should I not, during my lifetime, erect over the graves of W. E. Brown and his wife, Mrs. Emma Brown, a monument, then I hereby instruct my executor to have erected over their graves a suitable monument at a cost not to exceed One Hundred & Fifty Dollars, which sum I authorize him to employ for that purpose. Emma Hollinshead Brown died 12 October 1906, and Walter Edward Brown died 1 March 1899. This was, respectively, five and twelve years before the signed last will...

Susan M. Dawsey, Spinster , married Henry Love 11 November 1847 -- about five weeks before her eighteenth birthday -- in Chatham County, Georgia. Upon Susan's death in 1875, she was buried in Oaklawn Cemetery at Fort Valley, Houston (now Peach) County, GA. This final resting place may seem odd since the couple seemed to spend the majority of life together farther south. For the 1850 and 1860 censuses, Henry and Susan were counted in Effingham County, GA. In 1870, they were in Glynn County. The Fort Valley connection coincides with the American Civil War. In August 1863, Georgia Governor Joe Brown appointed Henry Love captain of the Fort Valley Cavalry. This unit was organized for local defense, and Henry's stint was scheduled to last six months. Houston County, GA is also where Mr. and Mrs. Love's daughter Laura (1851-1890) married Robert Braswell (1847-1920) in 1866. He was a son of Sarah Ann Mims and William Braswell. [Another child of Henry and Susan was Olin P. Love .] ...

James Abbington Everett and second wife Mary Beaufort Greene were, upon their deaths, buried in Oaklawn Cemetery at Fort Valley, Georgia. Though the county the cemetery is in is now called Peach, it was called Houston at the time of death for James (1848) and Mary (1852). According to a biographical sketch submitted by Eddie Clark in The Heritage of Houston County, GA: 1821-2001 , "No history of either Houston County or Peach County[,] Georgia could be complete without remembering James Abbington Everett...Historical accounts hold that [he] was both Houston County's first white settler and the Father of Fort Valley." The sketch continues as follows: Mr. Everett's earlier life was spent in the pursuit of worldly wealth. He was known as an intelligent person who could spot opportunities and capitalize on them. At an early age of just 22 years, James Everett left his NC home and ventured into the North Georgia wilderness as an Indian trader. ...In 1818, James becam...

Continuing on with a profile of members of the Stetson and Sanford families buried in Memory Hill Cemetery at Milledgeville, Georgia -- Daniel Benjamin Sanford gets a post all to himself. His life, and six years later his death, was discussed in two publications. First up is Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons Arranged in Cyclopedic Form edited by Allen D. Candler and Clement A. Evans (Atlanta, State Historical Association, 1906). Sanford, Daniel B. , may well be entitled the Nestor of the bar of Baldwin county, since he has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Milledgeville for two score of years, and for eighteen consecutive years he presided on the bench of the court of ordinary of the county. He was captain of a company in a Georgia regiment of the Confederate service in the Civil war, in which he made a gallant record, and has been a citizen of prominence and influence in his county, having marked professional prestige ...

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...

Edith Howard Owen was a daughter of John Grant and Carrie Boykin Owen, born 5 September 1898. Edith would live just eight years. Macon Telegraph (Georgia) Tuesday, 5 February 1907 - pg. 3 [via GenealogyBank ] Died. WAVERLY HALL, Ga., Feb. 4. -- Little Edith Owen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Owen, died this morning after a brief illness. She was an unusually bright and attractive child, beloved by all. Upon her death on 3 February 1907, Edith was laid to rest in Waverly Hall Cemetery at Harris County, Georgia. A portion of her epitaph reads as follows: Calm on the bosom of thy God, Fair little spirit, rest thee now! E’en while with us thy footstep trod, His seal was on thy brow. These lines are from a "death and burial" hymn written by Felicia Dorothea Browne Hemans about 1823. The second stanza: Dust, to its narrow house beneath! Soul, to its home on high! They that have seen thy look in death No more may fear to die. Years later, a third stanza was ad...

Departed this life, at the residence of her mother, near Waverly Hall, Harris county, Georgia, on the 16th inst., MISS GEORGIA WHITEHEAD. - 22 April 1880 Columbus Daily Enquirer-Sun (Georgia) The broken gravestone for Georgia is at the Waverly Hall Cemetery. She was born 14 August 1849 to J. Thomas and Catharine McGehee Whitehead. Her death on 16 April 1880 was noted in the Harris County Census Mortality Schedule for that year. "Disease or Cause of Death" was listed as Neuralgia of head . From WebMD : Occipital neuralgia is a condition in which the nerves that run from the top of the spinal cord up through the scalp, called the occipital nerves, are inflamed or injured. You might feel pain in the back of your head or the base of your skull...Occipital neuralgia can cause intense pain that feels like a sharp, jabbing, electric shock in the back of the head and neck. Symptoms include aching, burning, and throbbing pain that typically starts at the base of the head and goes...

Per her tombstone in Forsyth Cemetery at Monroe County, Georgia, Amanda was born 22 February 1825. She died at the age of 27 years, 3 months, and 3 days. A striking line inscribed on her stone is, " Life's no pleasure to me. " These same words are found in the Scottish ballad, "Young Aikin." O let him take frae me my head, Or hang me on a tree; For since I've lost my dear lady, Life's no pleasure to me. An obituary follows. It mainly speaks to Amanda's "Christian spirit." Macon Weekly Telegraph (Georgia) Tuesday, 22 June 1852 - pg. 3 [via GenealogyBank ] DIED, On the 25th May, aged about 27 years, Mrs. AMANDA M. BANKS, wife of Joseph R. Banks of Pike, and daughter of A. and N. Davis of Monroe county, Ga. Although she never made an open and public profession of an experimental faith in Christ, such was her Christian spirit, her godly conversation and upright walk, that no one could distinguish her from the most devoted member of t...

A tombstone in Fork Cemetery (Madison County, Georgia) stands to memorialize the lives of David Wynn (1838-1904) and wife Elizabeth (1827-1898). A portion of the epitaph on their shared marker -- inscribed below a pair of clasped hands (one male, one female; possibly symbolizing matrimony) -- is the first two verses of a hymn written by Thomas Hastings about 1834: "Jesus, While Our Hearts Are Bleeding." Jesus, while our hearts are bleeding, O'er the spoils that death has won, We would at this solemn meeting, Calmly say thy will be done. Tho' cast down we're not forsaken, Though afflicted, not alone. Thou didst give and thou hast taken, Blessed Lord thy will be done. The third verse: Though today we're filled with mourning, Mercy still is on the throne; With thy smiles and love returning, We can sing, "Thy will be done." As a side note, this hymn is also mentioned in The Sound of the Dove: Singing in Appalachian Primitive Baptist Churches...

Image taken April 2011 at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia. Joseph Paul Powell, III (1959-2010) Mr. Powell, son of Christine Harkness Powell, was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.  Two lines on his granite ledger marker are in Latin: Requiem Aeternam Dona Eis. Domine: Et Lux Perpetua Luceat Eis. This prayer for the dead translates to English as follows: Grant Them Eternal Rest, O Lord. And Let The Light Shine Upon Them.