Oak Grove Cemetery, Tolarville, MS

I am finding that being a Graveyard Rabbit has benefits besides the satisfaction of writing a post about something that interests me and those who read it. It is also a great way to find new cousins. Today, I received an email from one of my Pettus cousins....a cousin that I have never met. We plan to talk on the phone soon. It seems that my new cousin's great-grandfather, John D. Pettus, and my maternal great-grandfather, William Ezra Pettus, were brothers. I don't know nearly as much as I would like to know about the Pettus family, so I am hoping my Pettus cousin can help me piece together the family tree. I especially want to know about William Ezra's family, particularly the name of his parents.

What I do know is that my maternal grandmother, Rosa Mae Pettus Netherland, was the daughter of William Ezra Pettus, and that he was married to Lucy Lula Trigleth, Rosa Mae's mother. According to my new cousin, both of our great-grandfathers are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery at Tolarville in Holmes County. I am already planning a trip to cemeteries in Coxburg and Ebenezer, where most of my mother's family are buried, and now it sounds as if I need to include a visit to Oak Grove Cemetery, as well.

I am also interested in knowing how my Holmes County Pettus ancestors are linked to the Pettus family of Limestone County, Alabama, and if they are related to former Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus. If you are related to the Pettus family and are interested in more information about these early immigrants from Norwich, England who settled in Colonial Virginia in the early 1600's, please read my post from earlier this year at http://attalacountymemories.blogspot.com/search/label/Pettus.

William Nichols, the Architect from Bath, England

Photo by Natalie Maynor

Entrance to Odd Fellows Cemetery located
in Lexington, the County Seat of Holmes
County, Mississippi

Photo by Natalie Maynor

The inscription on the gravestone of William Nichols (pictured above) includes the letters "ARCHT" after his name, and according to the inscription, William Nichols, a native of Bath, England, died on December 12, 1853, when he was "aged 73 years." The monument marking the grave of William Nichols is one of the oldest in Odd Fellows Cemetery in Lexington.

Photo by Natalie Maynor

William Nichols was a native of Bath, England whose profession was that of architect, as his gravestone states. He is remembered in Holmes County as the designer of the second courthouse in Lexington, Mississippi, a structure that later burned in 1893. Nichols also designed the Old Capitol Building and the Mississippi Governor's Mansion, historic state buildings located in Jackson, Mississippi.