Wordless Wednesday

Photo by Natalie Maynor

Arthur S. Ragland
Son of Elizabeth Smith Ragland and John W. Ragland
Brother of Winiford Ragland Branch
b. July 22, 1811
d. Feb. 25, 1847
Buried in Palestine Cemetery
Raymond, Mississippi

Tombstone Tuesday - Dr. J. H. Binford, Ebenezer Baptist Church Cemetery, Ebenezer, MS

Dr. J. H. Binford

b. April 9, 1838

d. Nov. 16, 1889

Buried Ebenezer Baptist Church Cemetery

Ebenezer (Holmes Count) MS

Commemorative Plaque Laid in Memory of Dr. William Lovett Balfour and His Wife, Elizabeth Gartley Balfour, Mound Bluff Cemetery, Madison County, MS

Photo by Bill Hays

Mound Bluff Cemetery
Near Flora (Madison County) Mississippi

Photo by Bill Hays

Flat Plaque Grave Marker
Dr. William Lovett Balfour and His Wife, Elizabeth Gartley Balfour
Mound Bluff Cemetery
Madison County, Mississippi

Follow posts on Mississippi Memories to read more about the Balfour, Davis, and Gartley Families.

Tombstone Tuesday - Barwick Family Gravestones

Recently, one of my readers, Aubrey Wren, wrote to tell me about an abandoned cemetery on Cauthen Road about five miles off Highway 43 in Madison County.  Wren is unsure if the Madison County Board of Supervisors know about the cemetery, but he has been voluntarily maintaining the area around the old grave stones there.  The cemetery is small, measuring about 40 by 60 feet, and is located about 200 yards off the county road on old church property.  According to Wren, a trench about 12 to 18 inches deep surrounds the area and may indicate the previous existence of a fence that once surrounded the graves. Wren was kind enough to send photos of the gravestones to me for posting here today. According to his transcriptions of inscriptions on the gravestones, at least four members of the Barwick family are buried in this old cemetery. Watch for information about the Barwick family planned for future posts on Mississippi Memories.

Photo by Aubrey Wren

Mary Barwick

Born May 22, 1783

Died Feb. 27, 1853

Aged 69 yrs 9m 5d

Dear mother thy pilgramige is united (?)

Photo by Aubrey Wren

Jane M. Barwick, Wife of H. K. Barwick

Died Sept. 16, 1853

Not lost but gone before

On the left lies her infant daughter

Margaret Eleanor

Aged 12 days

Photo by Aubrey Wren

W.B. Barwick

Born  June 12, 1840

Died  Dec. 17, 1868

Aged  28 years 5 months 19 days

"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall ___ "

Tombstone Tuesday - Dr. J. H. Binford, Coxburg Cemetery, Coxburg, MS

Digital Photography Collection (2009-2010); Privately owned by J. Tracy

Dr. J. H. Binford
Born April 9, 1938
Died Nov. 16, 1889
Buried in Coxburg, Cemetery
Coxburg (Holmes County) MS

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

Wordless Wednesday - Carlotta Nelson Fairchild's Mother

Source:  Digital Photo Collection
Privately Owned by J. Tracy

Grave Marker of Carlotta's Mother
Nelson Plot, Hillcrest Cemetery
Goodman, Mississippi

Christiana Fredrikka Nelson, Wife of W. R. Nelson
Born at Lovenholm Castle in Denmark on October 30, 1833
Died in Holmes County, Mississippi on January 25, 1917

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.

Tombstone Tuesday - Nancy J. Porter Tucker, Quiet Ridge Cemetery, Durant, MS

Nancy J., Wife of J. S. Tucker, Sr.
Born July 22, 1823
Died Jan 28, 1902
She Trusted in The Lord

Nancy J. Porter Tucker, daughter of Samuel Porter, and a sister to my paternal great-great-grandfather, James M. Porter, was born on July 22, 1828, in Port Gibson, Mississippi. When Nancy was about nineteen years old, she married John Smith Tucker, a wealthy planter who was twice her age.  Mr. Tucker was also a widower, with the oldest of the children by his deceased wife being just four years younger than her new step-mother. Nancy and John had several more children and raised their large family near Canton, Mississippi, in Madison County.  When Nancy died on January 28, 1902, she was buried near other Tucker family members in Quiet Ridge Cemetery near Durant, Mississippi.


Source:  
Ancestry.com, U.S. Census Record, 1850
Personal Family History (Oral) - Porter Family of Madison and Attala Counties in Mississippi

Tombstone Tuesday - Maggie Neal Unger, Buried in Sharon Methodist Church Cemetery

Photo by Natalie Maynor


Maggie Neal Unger
Date of Birth Unknown; Died April 23, 1897
Sharon Methodist Church Cemetery
Madison County, Mississippi

Sunday's Poem - "Beyond the Years," by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Beyond the Years  Beyond the years the answer lies, Beyond where brood the grieving skies    And Night drops tears. Where Faith rod-chastened smiles to rise    And doff its fears, And carping Sorrow pines and dies—    Beyond the years.   Beyond the years the prayer for rest Shall beat no more within the breast;    The darkness clears, And Morn perched on the mountain's crest    Her form uprears— The day that is to come is best,    Beyond the years.  Beyond the years the soul shall find That endless peace for which it pined,    For light appears, And to the eyes that still were blind    With blood and tears, Their sight shall come all unconfined    Beyond the years. By Paul Lawrence Dunbar

Tombstone Tuesday - William Bailey Netherland, Coxburg Cemetery, Coxburg, Mississippi

 Digital Photo Collection 
Privately held by J. Tracy


W. B. Netherland
Coxburg Cemetery
Coxburg (Holmes County) Mississippi

William Bailey Netherland, my maternal great-grandfather, served in Red's Company, Mississippi State Troops, Confederate States of America (C.S.A.)  A son of John Patrick Netherland, William Bailey was married to Martha Elizabeth Garrard, and the father of twelve children, including my maternal. grandfather, Ralph Ernest Netherland.  The C.S.A. marker shown here is located in Coxburg Cemetery, near Coxburg Methodist Church, in Holmes County, Mississippi.  Many other Netherland family members and their allied families are buried in this old cemetery.   

Sunday's Poem - God's Acre by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

GOD'S-ACRE

I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls
  The burial-ground God's-Acre! It is just;
It consecrates each grave within its walls,
  And breathes a benison o'er the sleeping dust.

God's-Acre! Yes, that blessed name imparts
  Comfort to those, who in the grave have sown
The seed that they had garnered in their hearts,
  Their bread of life, alas! no more their own.

Into its furrows shall we all be cast,
In the sure faith, that we shall rise again
At the great harvest, when the archangel's blast
  Shall winnow, like a fan, the chaff and grain.

Then shall the good stand in immortal bloom,
In the fair gardens of that second birth;
And each bright blossom mingle its perfume
With that of flowers, which never bloomed on earth.

With thy rude ploughahare, Death, turn up the sod,
And spread the furrow for the seed we sow;
This is the field and Acre of our God,
This is the place where human harvests grow!

Wordless Wednesday - Susan E. Coggins (Trigleth) Killebrew, My Maternal Great-Great-Grandmother

Photo by Dudley Rinicker

Susan E. Coggins (Trigleth) Killebrew
b. Nov. 25, 1855
d. June 24, 1921
"Wife of Ike"
Buried in Hebron Cemetery
Brozville (Holmes County) Mississippi

Tombstone Tuesday - Wigley Family Tombstone - Coxburg Cemetery

Source:  Digital Photography Collection, 2009-2010; privately owned by J. Tracy

Wigley Family Tombstone
Coxburg Cemetery
Coxburg (Holmes County) Mississippi

This large tombstone marks the burial places of Wigley family members who were killed in a tragic automobile accident that occurred in mid-1927.

Sunday's Poem - "Dear Ancestor"

Dear Ancestor

Your tombstone stands among the rest, 

Neglected and alone.

The name and date are chiseled out

On polished, marbled stone.

It reaches out to all who care

It is too late to mourn. 

You did not know that I exist,

You died and I was born.

Yet each of us are cells of you

In flesh and blood and bone.

Our blood contracts and beats a pulse

Entirely not our own.

Dear Ancestor, the place you filled

One hundred years ago

Spreads out among the ones you left

Who would have loved you so.

I wonder if you lived and loved,

I wonder if you knew

That someday I would find this spot

And come to visit you.

- Author Unknown

Tombstone Tuesday - Helen Loveless Steffner, Brandon Cemetery, Brandon, Mississippi

Photograph by Natalie Maynor


Grave Monument Marking the Grave of Helen Loveless Steffner

Born December 20, 1882
Died July 12, 1904
Buried in Brandon Cemetery
Brandon (Rankin County) Mississippi