Southern Graves

(AI Generated Image) On 1 April 1866 in Ladonia, Fannin County, Texas, 18-year-old Nannie Hawkins and 23-year-old Lafayette Abernathy welcomed baby Emma into the world. Nancy A. "Nannie" Hawkins was a daughter of Sarah and William A. Hawkins. Lafayette was one of at least eight children born to Emily and Alphonzo Abernathy (1809-1893). Emma Abernathy married Exile C. Eagleton (1863-1924), a native of Tennessee, on 1 January 1890 in Fannin County. He was a son of Mary Ethlinda "Ethie" Foute (1836-1917) and Rev. George Ewing Eagleton (1831-1899), both also from Tennessee. Emma and Exile had nine children over eighteen years: Nancy Ethie (1890-1973) Lafayette Ewing (1892-1918) Statire Jane (1893-1902) E. C. (1896-1974) Mary Ross (1897-1975) Marcus D. (1899-1966) Amelia Abernathy (1900-1979) Foute Wilson (1905-1984) Marvin Dunlap (1909-1969) City Hall, Ladonia, Tex. abt 1909. From DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University . The 1910 census notes Emma as the mother...

The following was published in the  Columbus Sunday Enquirer  (Georgia) on 11 July 1875, one day after the death of Gen. Henry Lewis Benning, namesake of Fort Benning ( now known as Fort Moore ). GENERAL HENRY L. BENNING. HE DIES AT 3 A.M. YESTERDAY -- JURIST, SOLDIER, GENTLEMAN -- BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE. After our paragraph of yesterday morning it was a matter of no surprise for our people to hear that Gen. Benning was dead. He breathed his last about three o'clock Saturday morning. The day before he had been on the streets, but he never rallied from the fai[n]ting fit in F. L. Brook's drug-store. He was not even conscious after 4 P.M. Friday. Drs. Colzey and Stanford were with him constantly. The cause seemed to be a sudden giving away of the entire system. Several days before he seemed to be improving rapidly. The General was a tall, powerful man, with white beard and hair, and a true Southerner, every inch of him. Old Billie, the colored man who was in headquarter mess...

And by different , I simply mean not of the Latin (Christian) Cross variety (pictured at right). Currently, there are 78 different emblems of belief available to be etched on a United States government-issued "headstone or marker." The only other graphics permitted in addition to the emblems of belief are "the Civil War Union Shield, the Civil War Confederate Southern Cross of Honor, and the Medal of Honor insignias." Examples of these are at the bottom of this post. According to the National Cemetery Administration - "An emblem of belief for inscription on a Government headstone or marker is an emblem or symbol that represents the sincerely held belief of the decedent that constituted a religion or the functional equivalent of religion and was believed and/or accepted as true by that individual during his or her life. The belief represented by an emblem need not be associated with or endorsed by a group or organization." Here are three examples of emblem...

All that remains of Thomas Green, Sr. (1775-1865) rests at Harmony Baptist Church Graveyard in Blue Ridge, Fannin County, Georgia. In the War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files database at Fold3 , I found an interesting account regarding the time of Mr. Green's birth.  The document included in Pvt. Green's file was a letter from a Justice of the Inferior Court of Fannin County, Georgia.  It was dated 24 December 1855, and reads, in part: [Thomas Green Senior] "who claims Bounty Land under the act of March 3rd, 1855, Number 79651, for his services in the War of 1812, and who being duly sworn according to law declares that he is the identical Thomas Green Senior, who claimed and received Eighty Acres Bounty land, under the act of September 28th, 1850, and that he now claims the additional number of Eighty Acres, under the act of March 3rd, 1855, and that deponent from the fact that he has no record of his age is unable to fix the definite period of h...

Tombstone Tuesday from Harmony Church Graveyard in Blue Ridge, Fannin County, Georgia: The Gold Star Mothers veterans service organization has been around since 1928.  Longer than I thought. In the name of accuracy, I do not know if Ida Mae Patton – the mother of PFC Lawrence E. Patton – was "officially" a member of this organization.

[Originally posted at the Rose Hill Cemetery blog .] Eugene C. Jeffers was born about 1833 in Virginia to John E. and Eliza W. Jeffers.  Within a few years of Eugene's birth, the family moved to Georgia.  In 1848, when Eugene was a young adult, his father died at the age of 49. Eugene Jeffers enlisted as a junior 2nd lieutenant in Company I of the 61st Georgia Infantry before October 1861.  He was promoted to 1st lieutenant 2 July 1863.  Muster rolls after that date and through April 1864 listed him as Present .  The 3 November 1864 roll, however, stated he was absent; " in hands of enemy ." Eugene was captured by the Union army as a Prisoner of War near Spottsylvania , Virginia in May of 1864.  He was received at Fort Delaware from Point Lookout, Maryland the next month.  By December of the same year, 1st Lieutenant Eugene Jeffers was listed on a roll of prisoners at Fort Pulaski off the coast of Georgia. That last card from Fold3 's Compiled Servic...

If anyone has anything to add about Uncle Dan, please comment.  I found myself wanting to know more and more the deeper I tried to delve… He was 5' 8" tall, had light skin, light hair, and blue eyes.  His name was Daniel G. Brogden. He was born 1841 in Gwinnett County, Georgia to Hope J. and Emily Brogdon.  One of at least 13 children born to the couple.  Based solely on census records , Daniel G. appears to have started life just like most who were born the son of a farmer – attending school when he could, and working the land as soon as he was able. When Daniel was 20 years old, he – along with his uncle Noah Richard and brother Shadrach G. – joined the Gwinnett Beauregards, Company A of the 42nd Georgia Infantry Regiment, C.S.A.  Less than two months in, toward the end of April 1862, Dan was at a hospital in Knoxville, TN.  Another short two months pass and Dan's uncle Noah was dead at Cumberland Gap. Daniel G. Brogdon was captured as a prison...

Noah Brogdon was born 22 June 1830.  A few months before his 22nd birthday, Noah married Harriet Strickland on 21 March 1852 in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Less than three weeks before his 1oth wedding anniversary, Noah Richard Brogdon enlisted in the Confederate States Army at Gwinnett County.  He was commissioned an officer and given the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in Company A, 42nd Georgia Infantry Regiment upon enlistment, 4 March 1862.  Three months and twenty-three days later, Noah was dead.  His Civil War Profile at Ancestry confirms he did not survive the war, and further states Noah was mustered out of service 25 June 1862 at Cumberland Gap, Tennessee.  A note on his FindAGrave memorial says he died of the mumps. Father ! let thy grace be given, That we may meet in heaven. Noah rests at Level Creek Cemetery in Suwanee, Gwinnett County, Georgia.  Harriet, who married a Mr. Pool after Noah's death, rests beside him. Harriet Pool Born July 10, 1831 Died...

Ezekiel Evans Parke Georgia Soldier Rev War Greensboro City Cemetery at Greene County, Georgia Ezekiel Evans Park, (1757-1826), a patriot of '76, lived on a plantation near Greensboro.  He was a graduate of William and Mary College and was a man of culture.  Mr. Park witnessed service in a number of engagements and was wounded at the battle of Guildford C. H., in North Carolina.  -- Lucian Lamar Knight, Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials, and Legends , 1913. North America Family Histories, 1500-2000 , citing Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the DAR, Vol 028 , says this: Ezekiel Evans Parke, (1757-1826), a graduate of William and Mary College, volunteered under Gen. Nathaniel Green in his campaign against Cornwallis, in North Carolina.  He was wounded at Guilford Court House.  He was born in Virginia; died in Greensboro, Ga.

I'm a military brat , and proud of it. The military brats subculture has emerged over the last 200 years.  The age of the phenomenon has meant military brats have also been described by a number of researchers as one of the America's oldest and yet least well-known and largely invisible subcultures.  They have also been described as a "modern nomadic subculture".  [ Wikipedia ] My two grandfathers, Asa Logue (left) and B. J. Lincecum, and my father.  Not pictured is my maternal grandmother.  She also served.  All saw war, though not all saw front-line combat. I never considered myself as part of a subculture , but I suppose it's true.  Being America's oldest subculture makes sense, as the United States Army turns 241 today.  Since America' birthday is considered to be 4 July 1776, the United States Army is actually a year older than the country. And though I did not plan to include this sentiment when I first decided to write this post, here it ...

Keeping with the Memorial Day theme for one more day, I would like to introduce you to Private First Class Ephram L. Dickey.  He too, rests at Chastain Memorial Cemetery in Blue Ridge, Fannin County, Georgia. Ephram L. Dickey Georgia PFC 21 Inf 24 Inf Div Korea July 7, 1931 – July 12, 1950 Ephram, born the summer of 1931 in Georgia, was a son of Minia C. (Leatherwood) and Paul J. Dickey.  Minia and Paul married about 1919, and Ephram was the last of five sons. By 1940 - you can search the 1940 US Census Free here - Paul J. Dickey was widowed, and his five sons and two daughters were without a mother.  Minia had died in the spring of 1937.  Cause of death was uremic poisoning due to childbirth. And this is where I find Ephram and I have something in common.  When I uncovered the Dickey family address, a breathe caught in my throat.  I live today on the same road Ephram, his father, and his siblings, were living in 1940.  What are the odds? Ephram ...

One of the veterans I paused by at Chastain Memorial Cemetery a couple of days ago was Michael Edwin Kirby .  Though I never quite know for sure why I stop at some graves and not others, I think in this instance it was the American Flag standing and lightly draping over his granite marker.  Then I noticed the inscription: My Beloved Son, Recruiting For The Lord Michael Edwin Kirby SFC US Army Dec 29, 1961 – May 24, 1991 I hated to see that Michael died at the age of just thirty years.  In an effort to find out why he died so young, I checked to see if he had a FindAGrave memorial.  He does.  And the first thing I read was Michael Edwin Kirby was a member of "Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier." Frankly, I was a bit blown away.  I've had the privilege, the honor, to visit the awe inspiring space that is Arlington Cemetery.  And I was blessed to witness the duty fulfilled by the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Plea...

Did you have a nice Memorial Day weekend? I hope so.  This was the first in ages that I wasn't at a "traditional" job.  So I was free and fortunate to be able to attend a local Memorial Day service.  I posted about it here . Earlier in May, Elizabeth Shown Mills shared a link on facebook about a lecture being given by University of Georgia History Professor Stephen Berry.  It was about coroners in the 19th century South.  From lecture summary:  "He discussed the role of a coroner as an agent of the state and talked about the records created from coroner inquests. He argued that coroners can shed light on the emerging patterns of death within a society…" It was a highly informative and very interesting lecture.  As of this writing, it is still available (free!) on C-Span.org . I was able to visit a couple of cemeteries this month.  One I wrote about for yesterday's post .  The other was "the older one" across the way.  I was looking for ...

I have a confession to make.  I like my cemeteries old .  Well, I probably should be more specific.  For blogging purposes , I prefer older cemeteries.  Or at least ones with old sections.  That works, too. Don't misunderstand me, please.  If I have an opportunity to stroll through a "new" cemetery, I'm going to take it.  And I'm just as likely to wander around, getting lost in the stories among the stones, no matter their age.  But when I'm traveling, or researching a place to study, it's usually the old I seek. After attending the Memorial Day service at Veterans Memorial Park in Fannin County, Georgia, I knew I would visit a cemetery.  I wanted to do my part in remembering those that sacrificed their lives for my freedom.  Our freedom. I had two choices, since there are two cemeteries –- an older one and a newer one -- within a stone's throw of the park.  I chose the new one.  Maybe it was because it's placement made it se...