Southern Graves

I discovered something pretty interesting when doing a little digging about a tombstone I photographed. Take a look at this:


That photo was taken by me at Evergreen Cemetery in Ben Hill County, Georgia. It is located next to an identical looking marble stone with an inscription for Percy's wife Sula. Again, I took the photo.

So imagine my surprise when I cam across this at FindAGrave:


That is from a photo (used with permission) taken by FindAGrave contributor Barbara Kirkland at Franklin Cemetery in Douglas, Coffee County, Georgia. Do you see the dilemma? How can Percy N. Ashurst be buried in two different cemeteries? When I asked if I could use her photo, Mrs. Kirkland was just as perplexed as I. Especially since I very recently posted a memorial for Percy in Evergreen Cemetery.

Since I don't live close to Fitzgerald and Evergreen Cemetery, I replayed over and over in my mind the visit to Percy's gravesite (?) there. I cannot recall seeing anything that indicated tha…

Per her obituary Cindy was born in Rochester, Indiana to Wilford Harrison Tribby and Kathleen Livingston Tribby.

The marble gravestone for James Carlton Fussell, M.D. is located in Evergreen Cemetery at Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Georgia. He was only 54 years old when he died. While reading his death certificate to determine what the doctors said was the cause of death, this is what I saw:


Huh? That's what I thought. Using good ol' Google I was able to recreate enough of the letters correctly to come up with the proper term -- meningoencephalitis. Wikipedia describes it as a medical condition that simultaneously resembles both meningitis (inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord) and encephalitis (infection or inflammation of the brain).

Dr. James C. Fussell died at the Piedmont Sanitarium in Atlanta, Georgia after suffering from this disease for at least six months. He was born in Georgia, the son of T. O. Fussell and Sarah Fletcher.

Mortuary and Funeral Notices from the 18 August 1921 Atlanta Constitution:

MORTUARY
Dr. James Fussell
Dr. James F…

I have no idea why I snapped a photo of this nondescript granite lawn style marker for Mr. George Kratzer. I'm happy I did, though. It led me to a neat little article filled with a bit of information that made me instantly like George. He was a baker! (I'm a baker, too.)
Macon Telegraph (Georgia)
11 October 1914

GEORGE KRATZER, BAKER AND CONFECTIONER
This gentleman is one of the very worthy though modest citizens, and substantial business men of Fitzgerald. He sailed from Germany eleven years ago and was the only one of 1,600 passengers to come south. For four years he was connected with another bakery, but seven years ago embarked in business at his present stand on South Grant street.

Mr. Kratzer indulges justifiable pride in his skill in the culinary art, and conscientiously gives the public the benefit of same, with the result that he has acquired an enviable reputation for the excellence of his products, which embrace practically everything known to a high-class bakery. …

Located in Evergreen Cemetery at Fitzgerald, Georgia are two rounded raised top granite markers memorializing Adrian Hageman (1839-1914) and his wife Fannie Protsman Hageman (1849-1940). Here is what the Evergreen Cemetery Tour Map and Guide had to say about Adrian Hageman:

"Hageman Family
Cpl. Adrian Hageman, Company D, 93rd Indiana Infantry Volunteers, wounded in the knee at Vicksburg. Three of his brothers were Yanks and four were Rebs. Adrian and Fannie Protsman Hageman and their daughters Fannie and Adelia arrived December 9, 1895, by train from Missouri to Lulaville and then by hack to Mrs. Fox's hotel. Their four sons remained in the west. They had trouble getting their chickens to roost in the tall pines for they were accustomed to apple trees. Adrian invested in the pecan industry, founding the Riverview Land and Immigration Company. He died of a heart attack while visiting his sons in the west and despite his request to be buried with his troops, his widow Fa…

This is what the Evergreen Cemetery Tour Map and Guide from the Fitzgerald Convention and Visitors Bureau has to say about both Mr. Bowens:

"W. R. Bowen
Son of only Confederate veteran to serve on Colony Company Board, 2nd Lt. R. V. Bowen who fought with the 49th Regiment, Company E, Wilcox County, States Rights Guards. In the Battle of Cedar Mountain August 9, 1862 with 22 men under his command, only 9 came out unhurt. After the War, R. V. Bowen started a lumber and mercantile business at Bowen's Mill, with a trade radius of 50 miles in the scarcely populated area. R. V. was a state representative in 1898-99 and 1903-04. W. R. was involved in banking and real estate with his father, involving of the Lee-Grant Hotel and several downtown city blocks, including the Garbutt-Donovan Building and marble-fronted Exchange Bank, both of which are in active use today. W. R. Bowen founded the Colony Bank with Frank Bauder of Cleveland."

Etched in the granite plaque marker for Marion Van Gorder (1899-1957) is the image of a lyre. I briefly mentioned it once before on this Southern Graves blog, and I am doing so again because this is a much more clear image.

Wikipedia describes the lyre as "a stringed musical instrument well known for its use in classical antiquity and later." According to ancient Greek mythology, a lyre was associated with the virtues of moderation and equilibrium. The god Apollo is often depicted with a lyre. The term lyre is also used to refer to the work or skill of a poet.

Though considered a more playful instrument, the lyre is kin to the harp. In funerary art, the harp symbolizes divine music and heavenly aspirations.


[Other post where lyre is mentioned: Heaven Bore Away the Prize of John T. Whitehead.]

The Parrott family vault is located in Evergreen Cemetery at Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Georgia. There are four interments here. Starting top left and moving clockwise, we see inscriptions for Harold L. Parrott (1903-1971), Margaret W. Parrott (1904-1996), James A. Parrott (1869-1959), and Mabel May Parrott (1879-1968).

Harold L., born in Georgia, was the son of James A. and his first wife Addie A. Mozier. James and Addie were married in 1900 at Irwin County, Georgia. At the time, Fitzgerald was part of that county. James was a hardware salesman. By 1910, James was widowed and living with his two sons (Harold and Lauren) at 411 North Lee Street in Fitzgerald. Also listed in this household for the U.S. Federal census was Margaret, a housekeeper, and a boarder named Mabel Long. Mabel was 29 years old, divorced, and working as a law office stenographer. Both Margaret and Mabel had birthplaces of Canada. James was occupied as a retail hardware merchant.

In 1930, census record…

Today's epitaph was found on the ledger marker for Catherine Cobb Fohl (1868-1949) in Evergreen Cemetery at Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Georgia:

Warm Summer Sun, Shine Kindly Here;
Warm Southern Wind, Blow Softly Here;
Bright Stars Above, Shine Light, Shine Light;
Good Night, Dear Heart, Good Night, Good Night.

The verse above is an "adaptation of an adaptation." The most referenced work is that of Mark Twain. The verse was put as an epitaph on the tombstone of his daughter Olivia Clemens with a different third line. It read, "Green sod above, lie light, lie light."

Mark Twain's verse was adapted from the original poem of Robert Richardson entitled "Annette." The final verse:

"Warm summer sun, shine friendly here
Warm western wind, blow kindly here;
Green sod above, rest light, rest light,
Good-night, Annette!
Sweetheart, good-night!"

More information about the eulogy to Olivia Susan Clemens can be found here.

Beneath the inscription on Handy Warren's large tombstone in Evergreen Cemetery (Fitzgerald, GA) is a cross and sword in a crown. Most often I see the cross with crown, but rarely see the sword in there as well. The cross in crown first and foremost is a Christian symbol of the sovereignty of the Lord. The crown means victory, and the cross means Christianity.

This cross with crown symbol also often means the deceased was a member of the York Rite Masons. Adding the sword might denote more specifically the Knights Templar. There are usually two swords crossed behind a Maltese cross with the cross and crown in the center.

My hunch that Mr. Warren was a member of a Masonic fraternity was confirmed by his obituary:

Atlanta Constitution (Georgia)
Sunday, 5 April 1914

"MORTUARY

H. M. Warren, Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald, Ga, April 4 -- (Special) -- Handy Moore Warren died suddenly at 6 o'clock Thursday evening. He was taken ill on his farm a short distance from the city and wa…

BEULAH CHURCH, Aug. 9th, 1862.
Since our last conference, brother James Leggitt, a deacon, has died at his father's house in Macon county, Georgia, on the 15th day of July, in the 30th year of his age. He was tenderly nursed by his heart stricken father, mother and wife, during his last illness, who fondly hoped to restore him to health; but, alas! they were forced to close his eyes in death, surrounded as he was by father, mother, wife, brothers and sisters. But they are not without hope, for he frequently gave token of his acceptance with God. James was a good man, a dutiful son, a kind husband and a good master. He was a member of Rylander's Battalion, Georgia volunteers, and underwent all the hardships with his battalion, when he contracted the disease which terminated his life. He was one of our best members, and a deacon. He leaves an aged father and mother, a young wife, two brothers and five sisters, to mourn their loss, together with the church at Beulah, and a…

Richard Lee Barfield (1835-1912) and his wife Margaret (1844-1917) were laid to rest in Walnut Cemetery at Dooly County, GA beneath a large tree and capped family stone. The inscription on the family stone (typed on the photo) is the second verse of the hymn "Sleeping in Jesus."

On Richard's ledger marker are these words: "He Considered The Welfare Of Others Before His Own And Exacted More Of Himself Than Of Others." Margaret's reads that she was Faithful Through Life, and Victorious In Death.

Richard Lee Barfield, a veteran of the Civil War, was the son of Richard Barfield and Epsey Barnett. This family was prominent in Bibb County, GA. The Barfield family cemetery is located there and contains the remains of Richard Lee's parents and several siblings. I have never been to the Barfield Cemetery, but might just have to see if I can find it to "connect the stones."

Many tombstone symbolism references say a broken chain symbolizes a loss of a child or loved one. In the instance of Ms. Sumerford's stone, however, the chain does not appear broken to me. Her stone seems to represent a chain in Heaven, with a hand (finger) reaching down from above to bring another link home.

I was actually trying to find a quote of an epitaph containing the words "Heavenly chain" that I'm sure I've seen before (never did locate it) when I found the following interesting information. It's from a book entitled Our Little Ones in Heaven, Thoughts in Prose and Verse published 1858. While I have no idea if it remotely pertains to Ms. Sumerford, I thought it shed light on the symbol of the "Heavenly chain." Furthermore, I don't think it has to apply just to infants, but to any loved one who has gone before us.

LINKS IN THE HEAVENLY CHAIN

THERE is something pleasing in this fact, that every infant that you lose is a link that binds…

Charlie Z. Carrell
Born Oct 23, 1879
Died Oct 21, 1906

Life is a span -- a fleeting hour,
How soon the vapor flies.
Man is a tender transient flower,
That e'en in blooming dies.

At Walnut Cemetery in Unadilla, Dooly County, Georgia.

I found Charlie's epitaph in an 1843 publication entitled Universalist Hymn Book: Comprising a Sacred Variety of Sacred Effusions by George Rogers. It is "Suitable to the Livelier as well as Graver Purposes of Devotion." The particular lines are the first verse of hymn number 540, and is in the "Consoling in View of Death" section. Here is the rest of the hymn:

The once-loved form, now cold and dead,
Each mournful thought employs,
And nature weeps her comforts fled,
And withered all her joys.

Hope looks beyond the bounds of time,
When what we now deplore,
Shall rise in full immortal prime,
And bloom to fade no more.

Then cease, fond nature, dry thy tears;
Religion points on high;
There everlasting spring appears,
And joys that n…

Photos from Walnut Cemetery in Unadilla, Dooly County, Georgia are now online. Stop by the web album for a virtual visit. Surnames include Barfield, Carrell, Clewis, Crumpler, Goodwin, Harvard, Leggitt, Lockerman, Mims, Peacock, Peavey / Peavy, Smith, Sumerford, Watts, Wheeler, and Wootten.

Walnut Cemetery

Here are the most popular posts from the last 30 days.

- Southern Cross of Honor
    - A post from December 2008 still getting a lot of views. Thanks, readers!

- Snow Springs Cemetery Photos Now Online

- "My Favorite Season" for the Graveyard Rabbit Carnival

- Neil McCorvey, Gone Home (Today's Epitaph)

- A Rarity for Me -- a Flag Totally Unfurled in the Wind (Wordless Wednesday)

- "Little Mary Marsh" from the Rose Hill Cemetery Blog

- It's All About the Tree (Wordless Wednesday)
- Little Susie May's Dove and Anchor

- Happy Birthday, Mr. Sullivan (Saturday Soldier)

- In Hoc Signo Vinces: the Knights Templar


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