Tombstone Tuesday - The Evans Family Plot

     This is the Evans family plot at the Rock Branch Baptist Church in Elbert County, Georgia. Buried in this plot are, from left to right, Harriett Partain Evans and William A Evans (3x Great Grandparents),  Leila Craft Evans Brown and John Evans (2x Great Grandparents),  Ethel Evans (daughter of Leila and John), Leila Evans (daughter of Harriett and William), Luther Evans (daughter of Leila and John). At the end of this row is another grave, one that may or may not belong in the Evans plot. I can't read the stone:

Here are the other stones in the plot:

 

Why You Read the Back of a Tombstone

     My Great-Great-Grandmother's sister is buried in Duluth City Cemetery (Gwinnett County, GA), just a few miles down the road. Her headstone is shown on FindAGrave.com, but since it was so close, I thought I'd check it out for myself. And when I did, I realized that not all of the information from the tombstone had been put online.

     You can see here, the stone of Mary J Smith Hollis Herrington and her husband, Newton Herrington.

     I snapped photos of other Herrington graves and thought, "let me check the back to make sure there's nothing there." Sure enough, there was something carved into the back of Newton Herrington's side of the stone:

 

   From what I can tell, it says:

S. L. E. No 34

L. O. O. F.

A. L. No. 14

I. O. O. F.

G. T. No. G

I. O. OF R. M.

     I'm not sure, I think they could have been a little more vague.... 

     With the help of 'Tombstone Symbols and Fraternal Abbreviations,' I've figured out that I. O. O. F. is Independent Order of Odd Fellows and I. O. OF R. M. is The Improved Order of Red Men. 

     I can't figure out the rest. I thought that AL might be American Legion, but that was founded after Newton died.  I figure the SLE might be Southern or Sons, but I'm not sure what else. Anyone have any guesses for the rest?

     Since this is a collateral line, I'm only curious. If this were my direct line however, I'd be very interested in researching any organization that this man belonged to. It would tell me a lot about his religious and political beliefs and point me in the direction of further genealogical sources.

     Here are some photos of the cemetery itself:

 

Tombstone Tuesday - Craft

     My Great-Great Grandparents, George and Effie (Powell) Craft are buried at the Cokesbury Methodist Church. It's located just inside Hart County, walking distance from the Elbert County line.

     A few other Craft family relatives a buried here as well, including George and Effie's infant grandson, Bennie England Craft Jr.  I walked the entire cemetery, however I could not find the boy's grave. I suspect that he might be buried in the lefthand side of his grandparent's plot. Bennie was a casualty of the 1928 flu epidemic that ravaged the country and sickened his entire immediate family.  

Tombstone Tuesday - Looking Into the Past

     I've wanted to try this technique for a while: photographing an old photo in its contemporary location. There's a group on Flickr devoted to this technique, called Looking Into the Past.

     Today I drove out to the Bethel Cemetery in Smyrna, Cobb, Georgia with copies of old photos and re-photographed them. I remember when we were first looking for the graves of my Great-Great Grandparents, Leverett & Louise Waters, that my grandmother said that they were buried "way out in the country." Well, Smyrna might have been "country" in the 1950s, but it's well developed today! Thanks to that, there's some interesting contrast in these photos.

     This first photo is just about perfect. It's of my Great-Grandmother, Ruby Waters Huyler, and her father, Leverett Waters. They are standing by the grave of Louise Waters, Leverett's wife.

      I couldn't seem to get this photo just right, though you still get the idea. This is in the same location, but from the other side. This is Leverett and Louise's grandaughter, and Ruby's niece, Sandra Waters.

Walking in Oakland Cemetery - Tombstone Tuesday

     On Sunday my sister and I went to Oakland Cemetery and took the guided walking tour. If you live in the Atlanta area and have never been to Oakland before, head over as soon as you can. They offer guided tours at a minimal cost that really covers a lot of Oakland's and Atlanta's history. Or, you can simply walk the cemetery on your own, discovering beautiful architecture and history.


     Here are some photos from my visit:

I love the jewish graves:

This building was destroyed by the 2008 tornado:

Tombstone Tuesday - Albea

     Rachel Johnson, wife of Thomas Albea, is buried in the Mount Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery in Harmony, Iredell, North Carolina. A helpful volunteer got this photo for me, via findagrave.com, but were apparently unable to find the grave of Thomas. Considering the condition of Rachel's stone, I'm not surprised.  Rachel and Thomas were the parents of Tilman Albea, my GGG-Grandfather, who lived in Lincoln County, Georgia.

Tombstone Tuesday - Evans

     Ethel Evans was the daughter of John and Leila Evans of Elbert County, Georgia. She was born on 6 Mar 1907 and died on 5 Dec 1911. She was buried in the Rock Branch Baptist Church Cemetery in Elbert County, Georgia, next to her parents.

Tombstone Tuesday

This gave does not belong to a member of my family (that I'm aware of) but was located in the Pine Grove United Methodist Church Cemetery that I visited in Lincoln County, GA on Friday. It's sad to see stones slipping away like this. Based on the stone and on cemetery transcriptions, this stone reads:

In Memory

of

Thomas Steven Fortson

Born August 19th 1851

Died May 1st 1886

Tombstone Tuesday - Craft

My Uncle Wayne's grave in the Shadowlawn Cemetery, Lawrenceville, GA. Being a Navy vet, Uncle Wayne is buried in the military section and is surrounded by other vets. I wasn't sure what an ETR2 rate signified, so I looked it up here. It looks like he was a electronics technician. 

Tombstone Tuesday - Antioch Cemetery

Just about every line of half-brother's family lived for generations in Fayette County, Alabama. Thanks to the Antioch Cemetery Association, my research is a bit more complete. This group has indexed and photographed the Antioch Cemetery in Belk, AL and uploaded the information to FindAGrave.com. Thanks to this group, I have tombstones for his direct paternal line back to Samuel Belk (1812-1877) and his wife, Elizabeth Plyer (1810-1891)

Tombstone Tuesday - Barfield

William Leander Barfield was my Great-Great Grandfather. He's one of my brick-wall ancestors. He was born in 1872, supposedly in Glascock County, Georgia. I married Frances Boatright in Emanuel County, Georgia in 1902.

William died in 1924 - a time at which death certificates were mandatory. I cannot find a death certificate for him in Georgia, though I have tried multiple indexes. He was a farmer with a large family, working on his "own account" on rented land in 1920. I find it hard to believe that he left the state - but who knows? I just know I'd really like to get a copy of his death certificate!

He's buried at Hawhammock Missionary Baptists Church near Swainsboro, Emanuel, Georgia.

Tombstone Tuesday - Sprouse

My Great-Great-Great Uncle, Tullie Frederick Sprouse was born on 16 Sep 1870 in South Carolina. He was the son of William Washington Sprouse and Nancy K. Armstrong and the brother of my Great-Great Grandmother, Nina Sprouse Albea.

Tullie died on 29 Oct 1944 in Greenwood County, South Carolina. He was buried on Halloween. Talk about setting a mood - a funeral on Halloween!

Tombstone Tuesday - Carson

James P. and Mary Beaty Carson are buried at Bethel Cemetery in Smyrna, Cobb, Georgia. Both James and Mary were born in Cobb County and were married on 7 August 1869 in that same location. Their children were Nancy, Wyatt, Fiddlin' John, James, Sally, Charlie, and Eddie. Sally Carson married my Great-Great-Great Uncle, James H. Smith. Their son, Fiddlin' John Carson, was a famous country musician.

I found these graves quite by accident. Bethel Cemetery is also the location of the graves of my Great-Great Grandparents, Louise and Leverett Waters and their son, Jack. When I arrived at the cemetery, I saw that it was somewhat small, and decided to do a photographic transcription of it. A year or so later, I realized the relationship to the Carson graves.

Tombstone Tuesday - Sprouse

I found these photos on a tree at ancestry.com, thanks to their new member connect feature.

William W. and Nancy (Armstrong) Sprouse are my Great-Great-Great Grandparents. They were born in South Carolina and raised their children Abbeville County. Late in life the crossed the nearby border into Georgia, and were buried in Goshen Baptist Church Cemetery in Lincolnton, GA.

Tombstone Tuesday - Craft

Martha Franklin Craft was born in Georgia in 1809 and died in 1880. She was the wife of Willis Craft. They lived together in Craftville, Elbert County, GA. I descend from their son, William A. Craft. Martha is buried at Rock Branch Baptist Church Cemetery in Elbert County, GA.

Tombstone Tuesday - Powell

Maria (or Mariah) Powell was born 5 Aug 1821, probably in South Carolina. She married farmer Wiley Powell of Elbert County, GA. Together they had at least 10 children, including my ancestor, John Franklin Powell. In 1864, Wiley died of disease while fighting in the Civil War. Mariah lived on and left behind documentation in pension applications. She died on 6 Feb 1912 in Elbert County at age 90. She is buried in Rock Branch Cemetery in Elbert County, next to a memorial marker of her husband.

Tombstone Tuesday - Witt

William D. Witt and Frances Iola (Quattlebaum) Witt are buried together at the Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery in Callison, Greenwood, SC.

William was the son of David Jefferson Witt and Alice Miller (who are buried just up the road at Bold Springs Baptist) and Iola was the daughter of Millege E. Quattlebaum and Mary Jane "Mamie" Dorn. Both native to neighboring Edgefield county, they were married around 1898 and lived most of their lives in Greenwood County.

Tombstone Tuesday - Funston

Joseph "Joe" Funston Jr. was my Great-Uncle and is buried in the Marietta National Cemetery in Marietta, Cobb, Georgia. He married my Great-Aunt Ollie Britt (1924-1966). Joe was born in Pennsylvania, but the couple traveled a lot, living in California for a time. Joe was in the army and served in World War II. He died on 3 Mar 1958 in Dodge County, GA

Tombstone Tuesday - Patrick Cleburne Confederate Memorial Cemetery

I've never been to this particular cemetery, but I read about it in a Clayton County tourism brochure. The Patrick Cleburne Confederate Memorial Cemetery is located at the intersection of Johnson and McDonough Streets in Jonesboro, Clayton County, GA. The neat thing about this cemetery: It's shaped like the Confederate Flag. It's a little hard to see, but take a look:

(cemetery image from google maps)

Tombstone Tuesday - Quattlebaum

Milledge Evander Quattlebaum and Mary Jane "Mamie" Dorn are buried in Bethel Methodist Church in Callison, Greenwood, SC. They were my 3x Great-Grandparents and lived their lives in Greenwood and Edgwood Counties, SC.

Milledge remarried around 1910 and is pictured below with his second wife, Martha "Mattie" Reagan.