Tombstone Tuesday - Eula Gill Smith, Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman, MS

 Digital Photograph Collection (2009 - 2010)
Privately Held by J. Tracy

Grave Monument of Eula Gill Smith in Hillcrest Cemetery
Goodman (Holmes County) Mississippi
Wife of F. D. Smith
Born Oct 13, 1869
Died Apr 2, 1893

Tombstone Tuesday - Carrie Croft Nelson and William John Nelson

Digital Photograph Collection (2009-2010) - Privately Owned by J. Tracy


Carrie Croft Nelson and William John Nelson
Brother and Sister-In-Law of Carlotta Nelson Fairchild
Buried in Hillcrest Cemetery
Goodman (Holmes County) Mississippi

Tombstone Tuesday - Nelson Family Plot, Goodman, Mississippi

 Digital Photo Collection (2009), privately owned by J. Tracy
W. R. Nelson
Born June 24, 1823 in Frederikshavn, Denmark
Died April 5, 1901
Buried in Hillcrest Cemetery
Goodman, Mississippi

Digital Photo Collection (2009), privately owned by J. Tracy
Christiana Frederikkson Nelson
Born October 30, 1833
 Lovenholm Castle, Horsens, Denmark
Died January 25, 1917
Buried in Hillcrest Cemetery
Goodman, Mississippi

Digital Photo Collection (2009), privately owned by J. Tracy
Wallie Nelson
Son of W. J. and C.F. Nelson
Died Dec. 20, 1892
Buried in Hillcrest Cemetery
Goodman, Mississippi

Tombstone Tuesday - Florina Adela Nelson, Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman, MS

Digital Photo Collection 2008 - 2011 - Privately Owned by J. Tracy


Florina Adela Nelson
Born July 12, 1859
In Horsens, Denmark
Died February 27, 1942

Sister of Carlotta Nelson Andersen Fairchild
Buried in Hillcrest Cemetery
Goodman (Holmes County) Mississippi

Tombstone Tuesday - Carlotta Nelson Fairchild, Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman, MS

  Digital Photo Collection (2009 - 2010)
Privately Owned by J. Tracy

According to the U. S. Census of 1880, Carlotta J. Nelson was the 6 year old daughter of  W. R. Nelson, 57, and his 46 year old wife, C.F. Nelson. Carlotta and her 4 year old brother were the only members of their family who were born in Mississippi.  Both parents, two older sisters, and an older brother all had been born in Denmark.

Seneasha Cemetery, Attala County, Mississippi

Branch family members who lived and died in Attala County are buried in several cemeteries, including Good Hope Cemetery in Madison County and Hillcrest Cemetery in Goodman (Holmes County.) But Seneasha Cemetery in rural Attala County seems to have been the burial place for more Branch family members than any other cemetery in the three-county area that includes Attala, Holmes, and Madison Counties.



Entrance to Seneasha Cemetery
Attala County, Mississippi

(Photo by Natalie Maynor)

Recently, one of my blog readers who is also a distant cousin, began taking photos of grave stones in Seneasha Cemetery and uploading them onto the website known as Find-A-Grave.com. Please visit again soon to see some of these new photos and read stories about members of the Branch family.



Attala County, Mississippi
Seneasha United Methodist Church

(Photo by Natalie Maynor)

Wordless Wednesday - John H. Waugh

Monument of John H. Waugh, Hillcrest Cemetery
Born in Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland in 1829
Died in Goodman, Miss.
January 31, 1896



Source: Digital Photography Collection (2009) - Privately owned by Janice Tracy

Tombstone Tuesday - A Sunken Gravestone

Grave stone of Claude Mabry, son of T. G. and M. E. Mabry
Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman (Holmes County) Mississippi

Shrock Family Plot Marker - Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman, Mississippi

This large monument stands in the shadow of a century-old magnolia tree and marks the Shrock family plot in Hillcrest Cemetery. Although deceased members of this family are buried in other cemeteries in Attala and Madison Counties, this cemetery in Goodman in Holmes County appears to have been a more common burial place for family members who died during the 1900's.



During the next several days, I plan to write a series of posts on Mississippi Memories about this well-known Attala County family and its Madison and Holmes County connections. Be sure to check back here on Cemeteries of Dancing Rabbit Creek for photographs of grave stones of some of the Shrock family members.

Source: Digital Photo Collection (2009) - privately held by Janice Tracy

Tombstone Tuesday - Confederate Marker and Graves in Hillcrest Cemetery

Confederate Marker - Hillcrest Cemetery
Goodman (Holmes County) Mississippi

Source: Digital Photo Collection (2009) - Privately Held by Janice Tracy





Confederate Graves - Hillcrest Cemetery
Goodman (Holmes County) Mississippi

Source: Digital Photo Collection (2009) - Privately held by Janice Tracy

Wordless Wednesday - Grave Monument of Cora E. Weed Unger

Source: Digital Photo Collection - Janice Tracy

Maggie's Marker - Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman, Mississippi

This grave monument, located in Hillcrest Cemetery on the outskirts of the small Holmes County town of Goodman, Mississippi, stands tall beside the grave of Maggie Scarbrough. According to the engraving on her marker, Maggie was the wife of W. T. Scarbrough and died on December 15, 1898, at the age of 34 years, 8 months, and 1 day.

Although the grave monument itself is now over 100 years old, it is still in remarkably good condition. The broken pieces of a covered urn, however, can be seen near where it once stood at the base of Maggie's marker.

Wordless Wednesday - Hal M. Shrock's Grave Marker

This triple grave stone is located in Hillcrest ("Goodman") Cemetery, among other graves of deceased members of the Shrock family of Holmes and Attala Counties.

Source: Digital Photograph Collection (2009), privately held by Janice Tracy

Wordless Wednesday - Sarah Donald's Grave Marker

Sarah Donald, b. 1856 d. 1910

Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman, MS

Source: Digital Photography Collection (2009), privately held by Janice Tracy

Tombstone Tuesday - W. F. Michell's Woodmen of the World Grave Stone

The Woodmen of the World grave monument pictured here marks the grave of W. F. Mitchell in Hillcrest Cemetery (aka Goodman Cemetery) in the town of Goodman in Holmes County, Mississippi. According to the inscription on the marker, Mr. Mitchell was born on August 8, 1856 and died February 25, 1915.

Although there are numerous designs for Woodmen of the World monuments that exist in the cemeteries of Mississippi, this monument has two distinct differences from others that I have seen. First, the base is wider, a design that is more characteristic of an actual tree "trunk." The second difference is seen in the way the scroll that bears the Woodmen of the World emblem appears to hang from the bow of a ribbon that wraps around the top of the marker.

Source: Digital Photograph Collection (2009) - privately owned by Janice Tracy

Wordless Wednesday - Confederate Graves in Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman, MS

Photograph is part of Digital Photograph Collection (2009),
Privately held by Janice Tracy

Wordless Wednesday - Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman, MS

Identical Grave Stones of Sons of Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Nelson
Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman (Holmes Co.) MS

Source: Digital Photo Collection (2009), privately held by Janice Tracy

Hillcrest Cemetery - Lelia and Clark Branch, Grandparents

Founded in the 1800s, Goodman United Methodist Church, in Goodman, Mississippi, has seen its share of christenings, weddings, and funerals. Two of those funerals were for my grandparents, Clark Commander Branch and Lelia Porter Branch, his in January of 1979, and hers in January of 1992. For more about the lives of Clark and Lelia Branch, married on December 8, 1922, please read here. That post was the first in a series of subsequent posts about rural life in the Mississippi Delta before and after the Great Depression.



This double grave stone in Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman, Mississippi, marks the burial place of my paternal grandparents, Clark C. Branch and his wife, Lelia P. Branch. Clark was born on August 9, 1899, and died on January 20, 1979. Lelia was born on July 17, 1904, and she died twelve years later on January 25, 1992. Natives of nearby Attala County, Clark and Lelia are buried near many deceased members of both the Branch and the Porter family.

Source: Digital Photograph Collection (2009) privately held by Janice Tracy

Tombstone Tuesday - Grave Marker of Elmer Unger

Gravestone of Elmer E. Unger

b. Aug. 25, 1874

d. Nov. 24, 1902

Hillcrest Cemetery,

Goodman, Mississippi

(Holmes County)

Source: Digital Photograph Collection, privately held by Janice Tracy

Hillcrest Cemetery - Goodman, Mississippi

Hillcrest Cemetery in Goodman, Mississippi, located in Holmes County, holds the history of almost two generations of my father's family. Pictured here is the double grave marker of my paternal grandparents, Clark Commander Branch and Lelia Porter Branch, located in a newer section of Hillcrest Cemetery, in Goodman, Holmes County, Mississippi. As the inscriptions on the gravestone states, Clark Branch was born on August 9, 1899, and Lelia Porter Branch was born on July 17, 1904. This photograph was taken by my parents several months after my grandfather's burial and not very long after the gravestone was placed at the gravesite. As you can see, my grandmother's inscription shows only her date of birth, as she continued to live almost twelve years after her husband's death. She never remarried, and when she died on January 16, 1991, Lelia Porter Branch was buried next to her husband.

Hillcrest Cemetery is the burial place for many early residents of the area who lived in the Goodman area or "just over the Big Black River," in Attala County, where members of the Branch and Porter families had settled over 150 years ago. My grandmother's immediate family, except for one brother, are buried here in this cemetery. The graves of her parents, J. J. Porter and Margaret Susannah ("Maggy") Merriweather Porter, along with five of her brothers and sisters, Etta Porter Parker, Leonard Porter, James Porter, Newell Autry Porter, and Vertie Porter, are located nearby. Another brother, Clarence Porter, is buried in Jessamine Cemetery in Ridgeland, Mississippi, near where he had lived most of his adult life, and in the same cemetery in which my own parents have chosen to be buried.

Members of my grandfather's family interred in Hillcrest Cemetery include at least one of his four sisters, Stella Branch Young and her husband, Woodard Young, and their mother, Claudia Baldridge Branch. Edward Arthur Branch, Claudia's husband and father of her five children, died when my grandfather was 15 years old and is buried in Good Hope Cemetery near Camden, Mississippi, in Madison County. An account of Ed Branch's death, along with a photo of his Woodmen of the World gravestone, can be seen here.