2016 October 22, Saturday, Memosa Cemetery Stroll Lawrenceburg, Tn

The Lawrence County Public Library sponsored a Cemetery Stroll at the Mimosa Cemetery.

Many people gathered to hear the stories of people buried here and people that should have been buried here.
Our speaker was wearing wireless headphones with a wireless transmitter and receiver (so everyone could hear him) and he was carrying a Sealtest Crate to stand on(so everyone could see him).

Before we began our stroll the speaker told the founding story of Mimosa.
The speaker said Mimosa was formed because no one knew who was buried in the city cemetery.
The city needed a cemetery with the order.

Everyone followed the speaker into the cemetery.
Our first stop was at Mayor James D. Vaughn 1864-1941 founder of Southern Gospel Music

James D. Vaughn 1864-1941

Annie Green Kirk 1832-1910- her husband fought in the Civil War and was killed by Union soldiers after the war.

The gravesite of Annie Kirk. Her husband was killed by Union Soldiers

Senator Fred Thompson 1942-2015- Senator, Actor, born in Colbert County, Alabama at Keller Hospital and lived and is buried in Lawrenceburg. TN.

The group gathered near Fred Thompson's grave He has no marker yet!

Nettie Stewart 1874-1922

 Nettie's family was all dead when she was found in a Nashville Hotel.
Nettie was a dreamer, and she foretold her own death.
She was found lying on the floor of her apartment clothesless. In her room was a trunk full of her dream journals. She was brought back to Lawrenceburg and buried with her family in Mimosa Cemetery.

Nettie Stewart the dreamer

Captain William J. Gilbreth -Served in the Spanish America War
1864-1934. He lost a daughter while he was in the war and never got over the loss. He became a nonbeliever.

William Gilbreth a nonbeliever after the loss of a child

Mayor James W. Garrett won the election by one vote.
1859-1929. There were tornado warnings during the election.

Private Elliott Crews  1894-1918 About a young man's life cut short in World War I.

Half logs mean life is cut short. Crews KIA

John B. Kennedy 1841-1913- A Civil War Soldier and College man.

John B. Kenned is a college graduate. 

James H. Stribling 1863-1951- Mr. Stribling lost a daughter, she was age 5.
Mr. Stribling was comforted by a Christian man David Lipscomb and because of him, Mr. Stribling became a Christian.
Mr. Stribling built a school for the children of Lawrenceburg with his own money, with one stipulation, that it have a bible class.

Stribling Family.  Stribling five-year-old daughter is the middle tombstone

Everyone has a story whether dead or alive. Whether great or small.
I encourage everyone to visit a cemetery and learn more about the people that are buried there.
You might find someone you know or a relative.
I have many journals and hope someday, someone will read my stories.

2016 Sunday, April 17 Athens Character Cemetery Stroll

Sunday from 2-5PM

Athens Cemetery

Caroline Page

Mrs. Caroline Preston Peck 
This strong woman settled in Rowland now Tanner with her family after the War of the south of Independence. She relied on her Methodist faith to keep the family together. 
The Peck families came from the north to settle in Athens. 

Rebekah Thompson Davis 

Mary Mason 
Mary served as one of the strongest supporters of the United Daughter of the Confederacy. Miss Mary explains the Confederate Circle and the Confederate monument.

Confederate Circle and Tombstones
The Confederate Circle in Athens City Cemetery contains graves of over 50 soldiers killed in or around Athens during the WBTS, 8 unknown. Around 1898 ladies of the local UDC were working in the cemetery when bones, believed to be soldiers, were found. The ladies felt these soldiers deserved a proper burial. In 1901 the local UDC chapter placed markers with initials of the soldiers on each grave. In 1994 the Chapter researched and ordered new markers with full names and Military Service. The markers were replaced with the joint effort of the SCV Camp 768 and UDC Chapter 198

Kristi Valls

Mary Norman Moore McCoy
She was twice President of what is now Athens State University when she was as a single young woman and later as a mature widow with four stepchildren. 

Frank Travis

Ortho Frazier
He was born a slave but was able to buy his freedom. He was a cobble that mad and or repaired shoes and boots for Confederate and Yankee troops and civilians.

Kathy Horton Garrett

Rebecca Maclin Hobbs
Mother of Captain Thomas Hubbard Hobbs and a very stalwart supporter of the Athens Female Academy and the Athens First Methodist Church 

Dr. David Griggs

Thomas Turpentine
He joined the Confederate Army at the age of 13 and served until the surrender of his regiment in Selma. He lived in Nashville after the war in the newspaper business but upon his return to Athens, he went into the grocery business with his father. 

Glenn Hall

Jonathan Adams
He originally bought his family to Limestone County on a flatboat down the Elk River before it was legal for a white man to buy land. The Federal soldiers arrested him and burned his house and crops. He later returned was able to legally buy land and settle here

Athens Dulcimers

First formed in 2003 they meet the First and Third Monday of each month to play and practice. 

Dana Hickman

Emily Horton Sr
Her husband was a Confederate Soldier and later Probate Judge of Limestone County but her son Judge JE Horton Jr became world-famous for his brave ruling int he "Scottsboro Boys" trial. 

Carol Cordero 

Kathy Lane Townes 
A local girl who married one of the officers of the Union Occupation forces. 

Al Elmore

Chief Justice Thomas McClelland 
He served as a register in the chancery of Limestone County from 1874-1876. Served Alabama Senate for two terms. In 1884 he was elected State Attorney General. He became Chief justice in 1898 and served until his death in 1906.

Peggy Allen Towns

Emily Frazier
She became a land-owning free black lady. The soldiers were admonished to leave her and hers alone. 

Joe Curtis

General Hiram Higgins
He was a brick mason, a freemason and an archaic who organized and led a company of soldiers and fought in the Mexican-American War. 

Beth Ham

Margaret Beckham Nixon
She stood her ground in refusing to give all her meat stored in the smokehouse. 

Billy Ward

Robert Beaty Mason
Grandson of Robert Beaty who served in General Roddy's "Bull Pups" when he was 16. He started the development of the town of Bismarck. 

Jerry Barksdale 

Daniel Barksdale
He was a Secessionists until after the occupation and "Sack of Athens" by Union Soldiers under Colonel Turchin. 

Robert Reeves

Robert Donnell 
He was a Cumberland Presbyterian Circuit Rider and one of the founders of the Athens First Presbyterian Church