The Meriwether Family of MS and KY

Today, while searching for additional information on the Wilds and Meriwether families of Mississippi and Kentucky, I stumbled upon a cemetery listing for the Meriwether Cemetery in Kentucky. Most of the Meriwether family members who died in Kentucky and are buried in this cemetery in Todd County, once lived in Mississippi.

My great-grandmother was Margaret Susanna ("Maggie") Meriwether, and I have been searching for over ten years for information about "Wilds" Meriwether, her father. Although I have not yet solved the mystery, I am certain now of a connection between the Wilds and the Meriwether families. According to the U. S. Census recorded in Mississippi in 1850 and in 1860, the families lived near each other. And as the cemetery transcription found at the link in this post shows, members of each family are buried near each other in the Meriwether Cemetery in Kentucky.

Maybe one day I can be certain that Wilds Meriwether was my paternal great-great-grandfather.

Coxburg Cemetery - Ralph Ernest Netherland and Rosa Mae Pettus

Ralph Ernest Netherland was one of the nine children born to William Bailey Neatherland and Martha Elizabeth Garrard Neatherland. Their grave stone was pictured in my post yesterday. Ralph was born on February 1, 1886 in Holmes County, Mississippi. He married my grandmother, Rosa Mae Pettus, whose grave stone is pictured below, when he was 39 years old and she was barely 17. My mother was born a year later, and four and one half years after she was born, Rosa Mae and Ralph Netherland and a son. I know very little about my grandparents' life together, except that their marriage was not an enduring one, and they were divorced when my mother was about 14 years old. Several years later, my grandmother married again, this time to Frank B. Parsons, Sr., a widower, whom I knew as a child as "Pa Frank." Mr. Parsons died a few years later, and was buried in the cemetery near Coxburg Baptist Church, next to his first wife.

Born on August 28, 1908 in Holmes County, Mississippi, Rosa Mae Pettus was the daughter of William Elza Pettus and Lucy Lula Trigleth. As a young woman, "Grandma," as she was later called by her grandchildren, worked as a visiting nurse in the Lexington, Mississippi area, near Coxburg and Ebenezer, where she had grown up. Grandma moved from Ebenezer to Jackson after Mr. Parsons died, and worked at St. Dominic's Hospital until she retired in the early 1970's. After retirement, Grandma sold her house in Jackson and moved back to Holmes County, where she lived until she died unexpectedly on January 4, 1986. As far as our family could determine, Grandma had driven home from church on Sunday, and apparently went inside, sat down in her easy chair and removed her shoes to rest for a few minutes, possibly to take a short nap. And it was in that chair that she died, just a little over seven months before her 78th birthday.



Rosa Mae Pettus Netherland Parsons was buried in Coxburg Cemetery, next to her first husband, Ralph Ernest Netherland. Buried nearby are many deceased members of the Pettus and Neatherland/Netherland families. I know that her children made the final decision about Grandma's burial location, but I have often wondered if this was her choice, as well.

Tombstone Tuesday - William Bailey Neatherland and Martha Elizabeth Garrard

William Bailey Neatherland and Martha Elizabeth Garrard, my maternal great-grandparents, are buried in Coxburg Cemetery, in the old community of Coxburg, Mississippi, near Lexington, the county seat of Holmes County. William Bailey Neatherland and Martha Elizabeth Garrard Neatherland were parents of nine children, including my maternal grandfather, Ralph Ernest Netherland. William was born on May 22, 1845 in Scotland and died in Holmes County, Mississippi on May 24, 1937. Martha Elizabeth Garrard was born on September 8, 1853 in Kentucky, and she died on January 17 1939, just a few months after her 85th birthday. Coxburg Cemetery is the burial place of many other Neatherland/Netherland family members as well as members of several allied families, including the Bass, Harthcock, Killebrew, Pettus, Thomas, Trigleth, and Ziegler families.

Source: Digital Photograph Collection, Privately held by Janice Tracy

Holmes County Cemeteries - Netherland, Pettus, and Trigleth Families

My mother has always told me that everyone I am related to on her side of the family is buried in the cemetery at the Coxburg Methodist Church. Recently, I visited this old cemetery in Coxburg and discovered that almost everyone in that cemetery truly is related to me in some way. Beginning tomorrow, I will be posting photos of graves belonging to many of my ancestors belonging to the Netherland, Pettus, and Trigleth families.

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

Chinese Cemetery in Greenville, Mississippi

Entrance to Chinese Cemetery, Greenville, Mississippi
Photographed by Janice Tracy, May 27, 2009

During a recent tour of the Mississippi Delta, we stopped by to see the Chinese Cemetery in Greenville, Mississippi. I had heard from sources in Greenville that this cemetery is unique, in that it is the only Chinese Cemetery in the State of Mississippi. The cemetery is located less than two miles from downtown Greenville, in a peaceful residential setting, surrounded by trees. According to our contact in Greenville, the cemetery across the street from the Chinese Cemetery is an African American cemetery that contains the grave of a freed slave and well-known Confederate veteran, who accompanied Teddy Roosevelt on his infamous "bear hunt" in Mississippi.

The entrance to the Chinese Cemetery is pictured above. Although the gates to the cemetery were locked, I was able to get a photo of the graves from the street.



Chinese Cemetery in Greenville, Mississippi
Photographed by Janice Tracy on May 26, 2009

The history of the Chinese families who settled in Mississippi is an interesting one. Like other ethnic groups that settled in towns along the Mississippi River, they played a vital role in the development of the economy of the towns in which they lived.

"The Angel of Grief" - Friendship Cemetery, Columbus, Mississippi

"A century later, Friendship’s weeping angel still inspires," writes Jan Swoope in an article published in the Columbus (MS) Dispatch on May 19, 2009. A reprint of Ms. Swoope's article can be read here:

"She is one of the most photographed ladies in Columbus, her image gracing magazines, brochures and gallery walls. She captures imaginations and inspires artists. And, even after 118 years, the weeping angel of Friendship Cemetery still keeps a silent and poignant vigil over the grave of the Rev. Thomas Cox Teasdale, the ninth pastor of First Baptist Church in Columbus, who died in 1891, at the age of 83.

Photograph by Natalie Maynor

“The Angel of Grief,” as the statuary is also known, epitomizes the beauty of the weathered, hand-carved monuments found in the cemetery. This marble creation came from the firm of J.L. Miller, in Quincy, Maine, a gift of the beloved pastor’s congregation conveying, “When he died, even the angels wept.”

Sharon Foster, of Columbus, and Carolyn Wright, a former Columbian now living in Macon, are among artists inspired by the city’s resident angel. They join others, like Rene Sheridan and Robert “Uncle Bunky” Williams, who have found a muse in the celestial figure.

Through the lens

“It’s all my mother’s fault,” smiles Foster, sorting through dozens of greeting cards she has made using images of her whimsical paintings as well as photographs she took of the angel. “She was the one who got me started; she loves cards and wanted me to make some.”

Foster became intrigued with the Teasdale marker, taking over 300 photographs with a 35 mm camera over several months, capturing the lovely figure at different times of the day and in varying light.

“The way her body is placed displays so much emotion,” the artist said. “You can know without words what she’s feeling.”

Using computer software, Foster has produced a series of quality greeting cards available at The Hitching Lot Farmers’ Market and Table of Plenty. The images have become popular, especially as sympathy cards, and not only locally.

“I’m able to sell my cards online on several sites. It’s been really interesting; I’ve met people from all over the world,” she enthused.

Foster, who designed the 2008 Farmers’ Market poster, also has an array of cards featuring whimsical animals and colorful flowers. Several benefit animal welfare groups, including the Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society. More of her greeting card art can be found at www.sharonfosterart.etsy.com.

Angel in clay

Carolyn Wright is skilled at painting portraits and still life, but the Macon woman doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty either. Wright began working with polymer clay, natural woods and stone about eight years ago. Several of her pieces are on display at the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi sales gallery in Ridgeland.

Wright’s first interpretation of the fabled angel grew out of personal loss. When her own brother passed away several years ago, she crafted a version of the grieving figure around an 8-inch-by-10-inch frame holding his photograph to give to her mother.

“That one was all white, and I put a red rose in her hand,” recalled Wright. “My mother loved it.”

The original article, complete with photos of Sharon Foster and Carolyn Wright, can be viewed here.