Hillcrest Cemetery, Woodward L. and Stella B. Young

This double grave stone seen below marks the burial place of Woodward L. and Stella B. Young, my great-aunt and uncle on my father's side of the family. Woodward was born on September 30, 1896 and died on February 1, 1974. Aunt Stella was one of my paternal grandfather's four sisters, born sixteen months after my grandfather, on November 23, 1900. She was just ten months away from her 95th birthday when she died on January 24, 1995. Stella and Woodward ("Woodard," as he was often called) lived in Goodman, Mississippi most of their adult lives, and it was in Goodman that the couple raised four sons. Woodward was a World War I veteran, and at least three of their sons served in the U. S. military.



Stella and Woodward saw the early deaths of two of these young men. The first son to die was William H. ("Billy") Young, whose grave marker is pictured here. Billy Young was killed on April 22, 1943, just three weeks after his 21st birthday, while serving as an Aviation Cadet in the Army Air Force. Although Billy did leave a young widow, the couple had no children.



Pictured below is the grave marker for Charles Young, who died as the result of long-term effects of a serious brain tumor. Although Charles survived the surgery, he was not able to live again on his own. After years of hospitalization, Charles died in a long-time care facility owned and operated by the U. S. Air Force on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Charles was the father of three children.



The double grave marker shown below marks the burial site of Elton C. Young and his wife, Kathryn S. Young. Elton retired with the rank of Colonel from the U. S. Air Force, having served in a number of locations both in and outside the United States. His wife, Kathryn, died on April 3, 2000, about three years before Elton's own death on Dec. 27, 2003. They are buried near Stella and Woodward, his parents, and near his two brothers, Billy and Charles.




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

Mattie A. Branch and Mamie R. Branch

The two gravestones here lie next to each other at Good Hope Baptist Church Cemetery near Camden, Mississippi, and are located to the right of Edward Arthur Branch's Woodmen of the World marker. Edward's grave marker and these two headstones are the only markers in the cemetery that bear the name "Branch."

You may notice the ground around the marker has been disturbed. Because the area had received a large rain just days before our visit, it was necessary to remove wet dirt and sand from the sides and top of each marker to read the dates of death.

On Mattie's gravestone are the words "died - 1870." Mamie's marker bears the words "died - 1800." The markers are identical, and both appear to be fairly new. I believe they are likely replacement markers for old ones that were concrete and were no longer readable. The dates on the marker, however, have created yet another "Branch Family Mystery."

The facts are this: Mattie Allen Branch was Edward Arthur Branch's mother, wife of Joseph Arthur Branch. But she could not have died in 1870. According to the U. S. Census taken in Mississippi in 1850, Edward A. (E.A.) Branch was 52 years old, with a date of birth of 1798. Their son, Joseph Arthur, was a small child. Joseph married Mattie Allen, and they became the parents of my great-grandfather, Edward Arthur Branch, their only son. Edward died in of cancer in 1915 at the age of 43. His mother could not have died in 1870, since her death would have pre-dated Edward's birth which occurred in 1872.

And just who is Mamie R. Branch? Was she an elderly aunt, unmarried when she died, or was she a woman whose maiden name began with the letter "R" and who married someone named Branch who arrived in Mississippi before Edward Tillman Branch and his wife, Winiford Ragland, were married in Hinds County in 1830?

I recall reading another blogger's advice recently that we should not take as gospel the information on a replacement gravemarker or tombstone. Could the dates of death on the headstones of Mamie and Mattie Branch be incorrect?

The mystery remains, and I feel a need to unravel it. And once again, I will open another chapter in the search for my Branch ancestors.

Good Hope Cemetery - Woodmen of the World Tombstones

The Entrance to Good Hope Cemetery, established 1851, near the Good Hope Baptist Church.

Good Hope Baptist Church Cemetery is located across a well-built and maintained wooden footbridge from the church. From the footbridge, a visitor can see deep down into a wooded ravine that is part of the heavily timbered countryside that provides a beautiful, serene setting for this old church and deceased members of its community who lived during the 1800's.

To get to the church and cemetery from Highway 51 North, turn right onto Highway 17 East, and travel about 6 miles to Rocky Ridge Road, a paved and scenic county road. Stay on Rocky Ridge Road for about 5.5 miles, passing Shrock Road on the left. Turn left onto Mullinvill Road and travel approximately 500 yards to the church and cemetery directly ahead.

The cemetery is fenced, and on each side of the gate are engraved stones dedicating the cemetery to the memory of Barrett family who were instrumental in its establishment in 1851. The actual location of Good Hope Baptist Church and cemetery is in Madison County, Mississippi, but it is very near the line that separates that county from Attala County.

The tombstone you see here is located in

the cemetery at Good Hope and was erected for Edward Arthur Branch, my paternal great-grandfather. Ed, as he was known to his family and friends, was born on November 15, 1874 in Madison County, Mississippi, and he died on November 2, 1914, in Jackson, Mississippi. The inscription on the tombstone states simply "Gone Home."

Ed Branch was only 40 years old when he was diagnosed with cancer. Two days before his death, he was admitted to a hospital in Jackson for surgery that doctors believed might save his life. He died of complications from that surgery, barely two weeks away from his 41st birthday. He left a widow and five children under the age of 18, and his only son, my grandfather, had just turned 16 years old.

Before he died, Ed Branch had been a member of an organization known as "Woodmen of the World," founded in Omaha, Nebraska in 1890 by Joseph Cullen Root. According to "Wikipedia," the organization's purpose was to help its members "clear away problems of financial security....," and one of the benefits of membership was the organization's free tombstones for its members.

My great-grandfather's tombstone, one of three present in the Good Hope Cemetery, and one of many in cemeteries across the country, is a reminder of the other men who worked in one of the earliest occupations in the United States, the wood and timber industry. Use of these tombstones, unique and shaped like stumps of wood that bore the Woodmen of the World logo, was discontinued by the organization sometime around 1920.