While out hunting plants today I got distracted. I’m always passing old cemeteries. Sometimes I stop and walk through them and read some of the headstones. Some are quite interesting… if you know a little history. Some are clear, some leave lots of riddles.
Today I found several… Here are 3. The first was a man named Walker. He died April 25,1918, 5 months before his 19th birthday.
The inscription is hard to see in the pic but I wrote it down while there.
A precious one gone but not forgotten… He gave his life to save others… Gone to Rest
This is just a guess but where might a young 18yrold give his life to save others in April of 1918? WW1 in europe perhaps? Headstones in these parts rarely reflect military service during the Spanish American War and WW1. Left over sentiment from the Civil War? Probably… I worked for a man named Walker as a teen. He would have known this person or something about him but died many years ago.
The next one is clearer… A 30yrold Staff Sargant named Savage. The inscription is simple…
Killed in the European Area July 11, 1944.
This was 5 weeks after D-Day. He was army but a soldier or army air corps isn’t clear to me. The symbol on the medal is a purple heart but the star hanging beneath confuses me. I guess I need a ww2 medal expert.
A sad part... there isn't another headstone with the name Savage in this cemetery. There is nothing to indicate a family relationship of any type. This cemetery has always been a community cemetery and unaffiliated to any church so there are no records to research.
The last one is one of the earliest birth dates in this area… 1792. What follows is the only one I’ve ever seen like this…
Tenn Militia
War of 1812
I happened to know this man fought in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend with Andrew Jackson in March of 1814 and then in the Battle of New Orleans against the British in January of 1815. And a bit more…
My dad did extensive research over 40 years of all the families for miles around, a hobby he was passionate about. All the families in this area connected over a century in time, so n so married a person of this family whose child married so n so of that family… you get the picture.
Dad still gets calls from people he’s never heard of but have heard of him. They are researching their family’s history. I get some of those calls by mistake sometimes…
Mr. Henry Logan has fascinated me since I was a kid as well as the history of this part of Alabama before the Civil War. His grave is yards from a cousin’s house, we went over there often when I was a kid. Mr. Logan had what was called “tent grave” a sandstone cover… When I was a kid the tent was intact and the inscriptions clear. The words War of 1812 held my attention. I was already a history buff.
Mr. Logan is just one of many families my dad researched. The man didn’t own slaves but had land with lots of children and grandchildren. He had lots of goods to trade. Not to far from here in eastern Mississippi is the Natchez Trace. Everyone, and I mean everyone traded in New Orleans and via water down to Mobile.
My dad’s research into the families in this area revealed something odd. A lot of young men born in the area simply disappeared from census roles and church membership records when they were about 18 to 20 years old. I think the answer is simple.
Westward expansion was in full swing well before the war. I suspect a lot of young men from this area moved on to Louisiana and Texas looking for land, adventure and a new life. Especially Henry Logan’s offspring after growing up hearing about the exploits of grandpa in the Battle of New Orleans. That had to be a stop on their travels.
Headstones can be interesting!
Tent graves with stones intact… The members of many churches in this area with tent graves will donate money for simple markers as replacements as the tent stones degrade.
Today I found several… Here are 3. The first was a man named Walker. He died April 25,1918, 5 months before his 19th birthday.
The inscription is hard to see in the pic but I wrote it down while there.
A precious one gone but not forgotten… He gave his life to save others… Gone to Rest
This is just a guess but where might a young 18yrold give his life to save others in April of 1918? WW1 in europe perhaps? Headstones in these parts rarely reflect military service during the Spanish American War and WW1. Left over sentiment from the Civil War? Probably… I worked for a man named Walker as a teen. He would have known this person or something about him but died many years ago.
The next one is clearer… A 30yrold Staff Sargant named Savage. The inscription is simple…
Killed in the European Area July 11, 1944.
This was 5 weeks after D-Day. He was army but a soldier or army air corps isn’t clear to me. The symbol on the medal is a purple heart but the star hanging beneath confuses me. I guess I need a ww2 medal expert.
A sad part... there isn't another headstone with the name Savage in this cemetery. There is nothing to indicate a family relationship of any type. This cemetery has always been a community cemetery and unaffiliated to any church so there are no records to research.
The last one is one of the earliest birth dates in this area… 1792. What follows is the only one I’ve ever seen like this…
Tenn Militia
War of 1812
I happened to know this man fought in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend with Andrew Jackson in March of 1814 and then in the Battle of New Orleans against the British in January of 1815. And a bit more…
My dad did extensive research over 40 years of all the families for miles around, a hobby he was passionate about. All the families in this area connected over a century in time, so n so married a person of this family whose child married so n so of that family… you get the picture.
Dad still gets calls from people he’s never heard of but have heard of him. They are researching their family’s history. I get some of those calls by mistake sometimes…
Mr. Henry Logan has fascinated me since I was a kid as well as the history of this part of Alabama before the Civil War. His grave is yards from a cousin’s house, we went over there often when I was a kid. Mr. Logan had what was called “tent grave” a sandstone cover… When I was a kid the tent was intact and the inscriptions clear. The words War of 1812 held my attention. I was already a history buff.
Mr. Logan is just one of many families my dad researched. The man didn’t own slaves but had land with lots of children and grandchildren. He had lots of goods to trade. Not to far from here in eastern Mississippi is the Natchez Trace. Everyone, and I mean everyone traded in New Orleans and via water down to Mobile.
My dad’s research into the families in this area revealed something odd. A lot of young men born in the area simply disappeared from census roles and church membership records when they were about 18 to 20 years old. I think the answer is simple.
Westward expansion was in full swing well before the war. I suspect a lot of young men from this area moved on to Louisiana and Texas looking for land, adventure and a new life. Especially Henry Logan’s offspring after growing up hearing about the exploits of grandpa in the Battle of New Orleans. That had to be a stop on their travels.
Headstones can be interesting!
Tent graves with stones intact… The members of many churches in this area with tent graves will donate money for simple markers as replacements as the tent stones degrade.
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