Southern Graves

Lollie, Mary, and Olin Love are buried in Oaklawn Cemetery at Fort Valley, Peach County, Georgia. Olin was a son of Dr. Henry Troup Love (1825-1897), who also rests in Oaklawn. Savannah Morning News  (Georgia) Friday, 26 July 1901 - pg. 9 LITTLE LOLLIE LOVE DEAD. Will Be Laid to Rest To-Day at Fort Valley Beside Her Father. Mrs. O. P. Love had the misfortune to lose her youngest daughter, Lollie, shortly after midnight yesterday morning. The little one was just 22 months old and had suffered greatly for several weeks with typho-malaria. She was a bright and promising child and had already won many friends. Mrs. Love left last night for Fort Valley with the body, where it will be laid to rest to-day beside that of the husband and father, Olin P. Love, whose death just six weeks ago is still remembered. Mrs. Love and her family have the sympathy of many friends in their affliction. Savannah Morning News  (Georgia) Friday, 7 June 1901 FORMER SAVANNAHIAN DEAD. Mr. Olin P. Love Die...

If it was, I haven't recovered the final verdict. Which makes me wonder, did someone get away with murder? Bradford Houser, born 31 May 1893, was a son of Emmett Houser (1868-1932) and Mary Mathews (1869-1929). For the 1910 US Federal census, the family was in Fort Valley, Houston County, Georgia. [Note: Fort Valley became part of Peach County when the latter was formed in 1924.] Following is a series of news articles I did find regarding the killing of Bradford Houser in the fall of 1914. Augusta Chronicle  (Georgia) Saturday, 7 November 1914 - pg. 1 Emmet Houser's Son Found Murdered, Fort Valley Macon, Ga., Nov. 6. -- Bradford Houser, 23 years old, son of Emmett Houser, well-known newspaper man and manager for Hon. Thomas M. Felder in the last senatorial campaign, was found murdered at Fort Valley late tonight. Young Houser had been attending a carnival that was in progress at Fort Valley, thirty miles from here. He was not missed by the merry-makers, however, and it was mere...

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...

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...

Born in 1836. Baptized in 1846. Married first in 1855. Birthed a daughter in 1858. Widowed in 1863. Married another in 1867. Buried daughter and father in 1873. Died in 1892. Sarah Margaret Baskin was one of at least seven daughters born to Robert Wellborn Baskin (1803-1873) and Temperance Mariah Hargrove (d. 1847). Not mentioned in Sarah's obituary (transcribed below) was she was first married to Lieut. William H. Holmes. He died of pneumonia at Richmond, Virginia while soldiering during the Civil War. Houston Home Journal (Perry, Georgia) 4 February 1892 - pg. 3 [via Georgia Historic Newspapers ] DEATH OF MRS. S. M. CLARK. Again Perry suffers from an additional burden of sorrow. Last Friday night Mrs. Sarah Margaret Clark, wife of Mr. J. W. Clark, died in Perry at the residence of Mr. T. M. Killen, where she and her husband were boarding. For many years Mrs. Clark had been in feeble health, and about six years ago she approached very near unto death, and it was ...

Daniel Stetson Sanford was a son of Daniel Benjamin Sanford and Elizabeth C. "Lizzie" Stetson. His lengthy obituary also necessitates a separate post. Daniel died 6 October 1924 at Wesley Memorial Hospital (name changed to Emory University Hospital mid-1930s) in DeKalb County, Georgia. Cause of death was Myocardial insufficiency; Edema of lungs. Daniel's widow was Annie L. Robinson Sanford (1872-1954). Both were buried in the family lot at Memory Hill Cemetery in Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia. Obituary from 8 October 1924 Union Recorder (Milledgeville, Georgia) - JUDGE SANFORD DIED IN ATLANTA One of Milledgeville's Best Known Citizens Buried Tuesday Afternoon. Large Crowd Pays Last Sad Tribute of Respect. A gloom was thrown over the city early Monday morning, October 6th, by the announcement that Judge D. S. Sanford, had died at the Wesley Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where he had gone about two weeks ago for treatment. Judge Sanford had been in f...

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 ...

On the image below, I have labeled gravestones for eleven members of the Stetson and Sanford families. This family plot (no. 22) is located in section D of the east side of Memory Hill Cemetery in Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia. The elder parents of the group are Daniel B. and Edith Dean Stetson. According to his gravestone, Daniel "departed this life Feb 24th, 1865; aged 54 years, 10 mo's & 6 days." And per his death notice, Daniel was "an old and highly esteemed merchant and also a leading and influential member of the Baptist church." Edith was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on 29 February 1811; and died in Milledgeville on 30 October 1883. A portion of her epitaph reads, "After bearing patiently her full share of the burdens of life & doing her duty faithfully with a christian spirit, God called her home to rest." An obituary from the 6 November 1883 Union and Recorder (Milledgeville, GA): DIED. -- Mrs. Edith Stetson, widow of...

Today's obituary comes with a bit of a tip. Don't think your search will surely be fruitless if you scour newspapers for an obituary well after a death date. I always, always look for at least a full month after the death date, and here's an example of an obituary published almost five months after the fact. Her name was Vertitia Massey, and she was laid to rest in Memory Hill Cemetery at Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia. Union Recorder (Milledgeville, Georgia) 8 August 1899 - pg. 7 [via Georgia Historic Newspapers ] OBITUARY. MASSEY. -- Mrs. W. A. Massey, nee Miss Vertitia F. Harrell, was born August 8, 1856, in Milledgeville, Ga., joined the Methodist Church 1874, under the ministry of Rev. A. J. Jarrell; married W. A. Massey Nov. 24, 1880, and died triumphantly March 23, 1899. In many respects sister Massey was a remarkable woman. For twenty-five years she was not only a member of the church, but an earnest, active, wise, Christian worker, in the vineyard of...

On the day Col. John M. Brown died -- 26 July 1864 -- the following was published in Milledgeville, Georgia's Confederate Union : WOUNDED. Lieut. Col. John M. Brown of the State Troops, was wounded in the battle of Peachtree Creek whilst leading his regiment. He is brother to the Governor and is now at the Executive Mansion, and not expected to live. It's likely that several days passed before people farther from Milledgeville learned of the death of this brother of the Georgia governor. Daily Constitutionalist (Augusta, Georgia) Sunday, 7 August 1864 - pg. 1 [via GenealogyBank ] DEATH OF LT. COL. BROWN. -- In the battle near Atlanta on 22d ult., Lieut. Col. John M. Brown was severely wounded, and was brought to the Executive Mansion in this city, where he died on Monday. This is the second brother which the Governor of Georgia has lost in the present war. We learn that Col. Brown was about twenty-five years of age, and was a gallant officer. He had been wounded at Re...

Samuel Walker was born in Putnam County, Georgia on 4 September 1835. Nine days after his 61st birthday, Samuel had a "stroke of apoplexy," and doctors labeled him "critically ill." Two days later, Samuel was dead. He died in Milledgeville, GA on 15 September 1896 and was buried in Memory Hill Cemetery. Another gravestone in the same lot stands as a reminder to what I am sure was a particularly bad year for Samuel. The year was 1873 and in the span of one week, Samuel lost a son, a wife, and a niece to sickness. The tragedy was noted in local newspapers. Macon Weekly Telegraph (Georgia) Tuesday, 11 February 1873 - pg. 4 [via GenealogyBank ] Note: this paper cited Milledgeville's Federal Union . DISTRESSING FATALITY. -- We mentioned in our last issue that Joel Walker, son of Samuel Walker, died on Monday night of last week, of meningetis [sic] contracted at Mercer College. On Wednesday, Alice Dillard, a niece of Mrs. Walker, a lovely girl of about twelv...

Capt. Edwards was laid to rest in Memory Hill Cemetery at Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia. His wife, at least two children, and at least one brother are in the same lot ( East Side, Section E, Lot 12 ). Macon Telegraph (Georgia) Thursday, 22 November 1906 - pg. 6 [via GenealogyBank ] Death of Capt. John M. Edwards. ATLANTA, Ga., Nov. 21. -- Capt. John M. Edwards, of Milledgeville, one of the best known men in that section of the State died in a private sanitarium in Atlanta yesterday. He came to Atlanta four years ago to undergo an operation. He was a veteran of the war and served throughout the conflict gallantly in the Confederate army and won distinction, fighting through the siege of Vicksburg. He was especially prominent in Baldwin County politics and for years served in the county as treasurer. Captain Edwards was also prominent in secret order circles and was a member of the Masons, Knights Templar and Mystic Shrine. Capt. Edwards was 67 years of age, and is s...

Annie was born 9 September 1861 in Georgia to William R. and Harriett Ennis. She married William R. Tyler in Baldwin County, GA on 1 June 1881. Six years later, Annie became ill and died, just a few weeks before her twenty-sixth birthday. Burial was in Milledgeville's Memory Hill Cemetery. The local newspaper chronicled Annie's demise - Union Recorder (Milledgeville, GA) 16 August 1887 - pg. 7 [via Georgia Historic Newspapers ] CITY AND COUNTY. Personal Mention ...Mrs. Annie Tyler, daughter of Mr. Wm. R. Ennis, and wife of Capt. W. R. Tyler of the western part of this county, was very sick for some days during the past week and on Saturday last was reported to be extremely ill. Capt. Tyler who is mail agent on the Macon & Brunswick Railroad has been sent for to come home immediately... I hope he was able to make it in time. Annie died the next day. Union Recorder (Milledgeville, GA) 23 August 1887 - pg. 7 [via Georgia Historic Newspapers ] Death of Mrs. Anni...

Our old citizens are passing away! So said the death notice for John Callaway printed in the Milledgeville, Georgia Union & Recorder . He was born 4 December 1791 and died 5 June 1873 in Milledgeville. Upon death, John was buried in the city's Memory Hill Cemetery. On 25 October 1818 in Baldwin County, GA, John married Margaret "Peggy" Turner. This couple had at least eleven children. Eight of them rest in Memory Hill, and tombstones for six(*) of them are in the image below. - Augustus W. "Gus" Callaway* (3 March 1820 ~ 9 August 1866) - Lucinda A. Callaway Trice* (5 October 1821 ~ 15 March 1889) - John F. "Frank" Callaway - Joshua M. Jasper Callaway - Leonidas Newton Callaway* (19 February 1828 ~ 20 July 1898) - Sarah Elizabeth Callaway Brake (1831 ~ 1907) - Nancy C. Callaway (29 January 1832 ~ 3 February 1901) - Martha M. Callaway Smith* - E. William Callaway* (29 June 1834 ~ 30 November 1873) - Mary Emeline Callaway King Green - ...