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

Wordless Wednesday - Wigley Family Grave Stone

The Grave of Six Family Members buried in Coxburg Methodist Church Cemetery, Coxburg (Holmes County) Mississippi - All of the deceased died within days of each other.

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

Ella Julia Williamson's Grave Monument - Hillcrest Cemetery, Goodman, Mississippi

Pictured here is the grave monument that marks the burial place of Ella Julia Williamson in Hillcrest Cemetery, in the Holmes County, Mississippi town of Goodman. According to her gravestone, Ella was the wife of R. D. Williamson, and was born on October 17, 1878. Mrs. Williamson died on August 20, 1903, barely two months away from her 25th birthday. There are no other graves of Williamson family members in Goodman Cemetery.

According to information found at The Donalds of Panola County, Ella Julia Williamson was the daughter of John Poole Donald and Sara Jane Elizabeth Unger. Ella Julia Donald Williamson had two brothers and two sisters. Her sister, Maggie Donald, married W. E. Grandberry. One brother, Donald, died before he was a year old. A second brother, Ira Unger Donald was born July 17, 1880, and another sister, Ruth Augusta Donald was born in Attala County on September 9, 1882. Ruth died on July 10, 1969, and is buried in the Donald family plot, also located in Hillcrest Cemetery in Goodman, Mississippi.

The unique marker for Ella Julia Donald Williamson's grave is constructed of both marble and granite, which adds contrast to its color, and its shape is that of a draped altar. A covered urn sits atop the altar-like monument, and the name "Williamson" is inscribed in large letters on the base.

A complete list of those buried in Goodman Cemetery, including other members of the Donald and Unger families can be found here.

Tombstone Tuesday - Christianna Frederikka Nelson

Located among many old graves in the Goodman Cemetery, Goodman (Holmes County) Mississippi, is the grave of Christiana Frederikka Nelson. According to her grave stone, Christiana was the wife of W. R. Nelson and is buried near her husband, who was also born in Denmark, within the wrought iron fence that surrounds the Nelson family plot. The inscription on Mrs. Nelson's grave stone states that she was born on October 30, 1833 in Levenholm Castle, Ronden, Denmark, and she died on January 25, 1917.

Source: Digital Photo Collection, privately owned by Janice Tracy

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