Southern Graves

While the sentiment intended could be quite benign, I couldn't help but feel sad when I read the tombstone placed for Mr. Joseph F. Gray at Taylors Chapel Cemetery: Joseph F. Gray Nov 23, 1870 June 15, 1942 A Man That Gave So Much And Received So Little Taylors Chapel Cemetery Black Rock Mountain Rabun County, Georgia Photo © 2012 S. Lincecum I found Mr. Gray's obituary, but was unable to glean anything specific to warrant the words on his stone. Augusta Chronicle (Georgia) 16 June 1942, Section A, Page 10 (Viewed online at GenealogyBank .) Joseph F. Gray Dies at Clayton Funeral services for Joseph F. Gray, brother of the late Thomas S. Gray of Augusta, will be conducted at his home in Clayton, Ga., today, and interment will follow in the Clayton cemetery. Mr. Gray died at 6:30 yesterday morning, following an extended illness. A native of Atlanta, he was reared in Augusta, where he found his first employment on the Augusta Chronicle, then under the...

May Inman Gray Wife of James Richard Gray March 6, 1862 - January 6, 1940 May Inman Gray rests beside her husband in a lot at Atlanta, Georgia's Oakland Cemetery containing a statue of the grieving Niobe of Greek Mythology. May's epitaph reads, in part: "My Task Accomplished And The Long Day Done". This phrase is from the final stanza of a poem by W. E. Henley, "A Late Lark Twitters From the Quiet Skies." So be my passing! My task accomplished and the long day done, My wages taken, and in my heart Some late lark singing, Let me be gathered to the quiet west, The sundown splendid and serene, Death.

James Richard Gray September 30, 1859 - June 25, 1917 JAMES RICHARD GRAY The name of James R. Gray will occupy a fairly permanent place in the history of the men who had quite a large hand in the upbuilding of the New South. The newspaper of which he was for quite a few years the active directing head has held a prominent place among the big and successful papers of the South. The [Atlanta] Journal has pretty largely reflected Mr. Gray's personality in its general bigness in a physical way and the calm and unruffled fashion in which it meets issues as they come up and goes on about its way day by day. A man of few words, he saw things in a large way and had the strength and ability to go on with his plans and his ambitions to see the most of them brought into full fruition or to where their success was assured. He held a good many men to him by ties of personal friendship who were not with him in his policies and his determinations, which is after all one of the best test...

Kick yer feet up, folks, this is a long one. Don't worry, it's fun and full of pictures.  You'll enjoy it! A scavenger hunt in a cemetery? You know I'm there! I excitedly played along for the next edition of the Graveyard Rabbit Carnival. I chose to try and find all the suggested items at one cemetery. That could have been a challenge in itself, but I put the odds in my favor by selecting Riverside Cemetery in Macon, Georgia as my hunting ground. This cemetery was established in 1887 and covers a beautiful 125 acres. It is a delightful mix of old and new tombstones. I especially love it because even the "new" sections have maintained an increasingly "old style" look. Upright markers are the norm, and plots can be decorated to the hilt. I know this makes upkeep more challenging, but I am grateful Riverside has chosen to continue with this layout. Fifteen items were on the list -- from crosses to flowers to stars to mausoleums -- and I found...