Tombstone Inscriptions from Black Cemeteries
in Henderson County, Tennessee
Compiled by Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1995

(Page 31)

HEPZIBAH CEMETERY

Located in west-central Henderson County about 3 miles south of the juncture of Highway 20 with Sand Ridge Road. Situated about .5 mile behind a brick house on the east side of Sand Ridge Road. Formerly the location of the white Hepzibah Missionary Baptist Church and burial ground, one of the oldest cemeteries in the county. A major local road once passed this cemetery. Blacks with ties to this area and with some of the white settlers buried here. The cemetery is overgrown with vines and other vegetation so that it would be difficult to point out the blacks' graves as they are unmarked by tombstones but it is likely that their graves are located on the southeast side of this fenced-in cemetery. The name, Hepzibah, was often pronounced by black and white alike as "Epseby." Some death certificates indicate the following black persons are buried here.

HENRY DIFFEE, died August 26, 1921, aged 25
M. H. DIFFEE, died Feb. 20, 1922; born Jan. 29, 1900
EUIJA TALBERT, died Dec. 27, 1923, aged 26

 

(Page 44)

Burial Locations from Death Certificates

HEPZIBAH CEMETERY:

GEORGE YOUNG, died July 30, 1914, aged about 21. Born Hardeman Co., Tenn.
EVOGENE YOUNG, died July 1, 1917, aged 2 years.Child of Cornelia Young
ELIZA PRIDDY, died Nov. 24, 1917, aged about 3 years

 

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