MY RIVERSIDE CEMETERY TOMBSTONE
INSCRIPTIONS SCRAPBOOK PART II
By Jonathan K. T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1992SOUTH SLOPE
(Page 2)
There is no single life. We have not lived unless our lives have mingled with the lives of other persons. That mingling is but poverty-stricken if it is limited to physical contact. The mingling of hearts and imaginations goes far deeper.
Edgar Johnson
SOUTH SLOPE
I copied the inscriptions of the few tombstones on the south slope of Riverside Cemetery, between the McCarty lot on the west and the Confederate graves on the east and basically south of the Beck gravestones. To the south is the block wall enclosing that section of the cemetery. There are literally hundreds of people buried in the south slope without tombstones to mark their individual graves.
[HTML editor's note: Lot numbers below do not appear in Scrapbook Part II but are those which appear in "Tombstone Inscriptions in Historic Riverside Cemetery in Jackson, Tennessee"]
[Lot 502-B in Tombstone Inscriptions]
AILSIA GOFORTH
B/Jan. 16, 1804
D/Feb. 6, 1878LEE GOFORTH
B/July 10 (1851)
D/Aug. (10, 1873)
The parens indicate missing pieces of the stone. I must rely upon Ingram James, here, as he was able to read this 'stone in 1937.WHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, Aug. 16, 1873. Died. In this city on Sunday, Aug. 10th, Miss Aleithia Goforth, aged 22 years. "Her parents reside near Shawneetovn. Ill."
WHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, Oct. 4, 1873.
HAUNTED HOUSE
Some time in August last a young girl, some sixteen or seventeen years of age, died in a small cottage on south short street. Her name was Goforth and her parents reside in the north. It seems that her life here was not a happy one and yet for want of means she was unable to change it. Since her death it is said that her restless spirit returns daily and nightly to the house in which she died. Sometimes a sound as if someone wildly weeping. Then as if merry with laughing is heard, followed by dancing and perhaps sighs most plaintive and touching. There is no particular hour for these visits, but they are reported to be of frequent occurrence both by day and night. She comes in the shroud in which she was buried; is said to walk back and forth in the room where she died; reclines, occasionally, on the bed, and on the approach of anyone disappears through a closet door. Several families have been tenants of the house since her death but never stay longer than a week, all driven away by the ghostly visitor whose restless sorrow comes to defy even the grave. What the mystery is we don't pretend to say but that it will, on close investigation. Divulge anything but a ghost we of course have not the shadow of a doubt. But there is a mystery about it that has frightened many good people and shaken the faith of several anti-spiritualists. . . .
[Listed with Lot 502-B in Tombstone Inscriptions]
Two small 'stones, close together, both broken into:
NANCY
dau. of
J. S. & M. A. YORK
B/Mar. 31, 1851
D/July 29, 1857FRANCES
dau. of
J. S. & M. A. YORK
B/Dec. 2, 1856
D/June 29, 1857Both children had initials in their given names, but rather than attempt to read these largely dissolved initials, I have deleted them.
John S. York was married in Madison Co., Tenn., Nov. 20, 1838, to Milla Hight.
Towards the western portion of the south slope, distanced from the other 'stones I copied in this area, is a tombstone for a black person:
MARY OGLESBY
Died Hay 6, 1883
[Lot 500-A in Tombstone Inscriptions]
On a Moses tablet these records of the Kelly children:
ELLEN,
Dau. of Peter & Ellen
KELLY
Born
Aug. 2, 1866
Died
Aug. 6, 1867MARY ANN,
Dau. of Peter & Ellen
KELLY
Born
Apr. 26, 1864
Died
Aug. 31, 1868CATHARINE,
Dau. of Peter & Ellen
KELLY
Born
Jan. 14, 1863
Died
May 14, 1863
Although I could find no tombstone for their mother, there was mention in the TRIBUNE and SUN, Jackson, August 3, 1877, that Mrs. Ellen, wife of Peter Kelly, abt. 37, died July 29. She was an affectionate mother and died a Christian.
[Lot 504-B in Tombstone Inscriptions]
LUCY M.
wife of
W. E. GREEN
B/Mar. 4, 1831
D/May 1, 1874
* * * * *
[Lot 434-B in Tombstone Inscriptions]
ISABELLA
wife of
Jas. F. HADAWAY
Born in
Rothshire, Scotland
Died in
Jackson, Tenn.
Sept. 29, 1877
Aged 46 yin.
I have gone to Heaven.There is no specific birth date inscribed on thin tombstone. Although I cannot locate a Rothshire as a place name in Scotland , the tombstone distinctly states that her birthplace was ROTHSHIRE, SCOTLAND.
TRIBUNE-SUN, Jackson, Oct. 5, 1877.
Died. In this city on Sunday last, Mrs. Isabella, wife of Jas. F. Hadaway, age 48 years. . . .According to the Madison Co. marriage records, Jas. F. Hadaway was married to Isabella Murchison, March 23, 1842. Therefore, I suspect that she van older than age 48 at the time of her demise. Among her children were John A., Rachel, Catherine, and William Hadaway.
Although he has no tombstone, JAMES F. HADAWAY, Riverside sexton, must be buried beside his wife. In the TRIBUNE-SUN, Jackson, Oct. 18, 1876, is this:
Died. In this city on Monday night at 10 o'clock, James F. Hadaway, aged about 65 years. Deceased was an old citizen, had been city sexton for many years and was esteemed an honest, conscientious man. Peace to his ashes.(The town aldermen later approved paying for the clothes in which Hadaway was buried so indigent was he at death.)
THE YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMIC OF 1876 IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, by J. M. Keating (Memphis, 1879), page 240. James Hadavay, Mrs. Reardon and Andrew Wilson were given as only official victims of yellov fever, 1876, of Jackson.
[Lot 432-B in Tombstone Inscriptions
C. H. RAWLINGS
B/Aug. 6, 1816
D/Nov. 9, 1870
in the 53 yr. of his age
About 30 years a consistent member of the Christian ChurchThis stone is just south of the Beck slabstones.
[Listed with Lot 500-A in Tombstone Inscriptions]
NATHANIEL W. BIVENS
The St. Luke Episcopal Church burial register reveals that this man was buried Aug. 10, 1861.
[Lot 433-B in Tombstone Inscriptions]
A tiny 'stone, bearing no dates:
Infant dau. of O. & C. H. Raushenberger
[Listed with Lot 500-A in Tombstone Inscriptions]
In Memory of
MARTHA J.
Wife of F. G. TARKINGTON
D/May 24, 1869The Tarkingtons lived in Hardin Co., Tennessee, at time of 1860 census. She was aged 32 at that time.
[Lot 504-B in Tombstone Inscriptions]
A small shaft 'stone, the upper part of which has fallen:
MINNIE
wife of
F. W. ZEISER
B/Dec. 9, 1866
D/July 22, 1889
Aged 22 yrs. 7 ms. & 13 days
In life, beloved, in death lamented.[Lot 435-A in Tombstone Inscriptions]
This stone-bordered family grave lot has a step-stone inscribed: L. FARRELL; however, this step-stone was removed from its original place on the south side of the lot, onto the Allen lot. Madison Co. Court Min. Bk. 15, page 433, shows that Laurence Farrell died in Madison County on October 10, 1860 and that his wife was Ellen Hefferman Farrell.
[Listed with Lot 500-A in Tombstone Inscriptions]
CATHARINE
wife of
JOHN TOUHEY
D/Nov. 20, 1864
Aged 20 YearsThis stone is broken into three large pieces. The death DAY may be 26.
KITTIE S.
dau. of
John & Catharine TOUHEY
B/Oct. 15, 1861
D/Jan. 17, 1865The name Touhey may have been pronounced tooee, as John Touheys name is spelled Toohey in the 1880 census.
[Listed with Lot 435-A in Tombstone Inscriptions]
HUSBAND
HENRY HARRISON
Consort of
HARRIET ALLEN
D/(stone broken) 1860This stone vas turned over, buried partially in the ground. A fragmented stone nearby would yield only the latter part of a given name ___IA.
Allen stones just north of the L. Farrell lot.
* * * * *
The stones below are at graves on the high point of the south slope:
[Lot 418-A in Tombstone Inscriptions]
JOHN MAGRANE
D/April 1, 1873
Aged 36 YearsWHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, April 5, 1873.
Died. At his residence in this city on Tuesday last, Mr. John Magrane, in the 34th year of his age. Mr. Magrane was a machinist in the Mobile and Ohio Railroad shops of this city and was held in high esteem by his friends. He leaves a wife and one child.Just south of this grave is that of
[Lot 417-B in Tombstone Inscriptions]
WILLIAM EUGENE
son of J. C. &. Martha SHARP
D/Dec. 20, 1846
Aged 2 Yrs. 4 Mos. & 16 Days
[Lot 416-B in Tombstone Inscriptions]
All substantial, well-preserved tombstones:
JOHN J. BECK
1826-1899WILHELMINA BECK
1827-1900CLARA BECK
1866-1927The 1880 Census, Madison Co., Tenn., Civil District 15, shows that Julius (John J. ) Beck, a butcher, was born in Saxony. Wilhelmina, his wife, was a native of Prussia.
[Lot 414-B-1 in Tombstone Inscriptions]
SARAH CALEDONIA
dau. of
Con S. & M. J. HAMNER
Born Jan. 11, 1866
Died (dissolved)Apparently this was the grave and tombstone of a young child. Constantine S. Hamner and Martha J. Cockrill were married in Madison Co., August 19, 1857.
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