MY RIVERSIDE CEMETERY TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS
SCRAPBOOK PART VI
by Jonathan K. T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1995
NOTES BY LOT
LOT 271, McGRAW
In 1937, Ingram James copied the inscription on the one McGraw tombstone on this lot:
SOPHIA F., wife of
D. G. McGRAW
Born Nov. 16, 1840
Died Jan. 2, 1872
Madison County Marriage Records: David E. McGraw was married, Sept. 19, l872 to Miss Melinda Emeline Welch, Perhaps this was the Widower McGraw.
This tombstone has almost totally crumbled to pieces with only the death date, "Jan. 2, 1872" intact. This fragment is here pictured:
In the sexton's report to the city council, Jan. 3, 1872, "Mrs. McGraw, wife of David McGraw," appears as one of the most recent interments in Riverside. (Jackson City Council Minute Bk. 1869-1874, page 243)
The WHIG-TRIBUNE, Jackson, January 6, 1872 carries this obituary for Mrs. McGraw:
At her residence, in this city, on 2d Jan., 1872, Mrs. F. S. McGraw, wife of David McGraw, about 35 years of age. Mrs. McCraw was an excellent Christian woman, and died in the faith of Christ. She leaves several children, who will miss her motherly care. We sympathize with them and her deeply-distressed husband.
June 3, 1870 U.S. Census, Jackson, page 314:
David McGraw, age 37, born Tenn. vocation, shoe maker
L. F. McGraw, age 29, born Tenn.
M. A. McGraw, female, age 7, born Tenn.
I. McGraw, female, age 8 months, born Tenn.
Also on this lot is a small upright tombstone, now difficult to read: Infant Son of J. L. & Ruth Siler. Born Mar. 20, 1891. Died June 22, 1891.
LOT 310, WORRELL-HALL
[In Tombstone Inscriptions this is treated as LOT 310, PAYNE-WORRELL and LOT 310½, HALL]
A small shaft stone, seated on a square base, with a very worn inscription to read:
BIRDIE LUA, dau. of J. J. & Lua WORRELL
Born July 1, 1876
Died Sept. 1, 1877
Aged 11 Mos. & 1 Da.
The inscribed age does not tally with the dates on the tombstone; although this is a difficult inscription to read, the dates, with enhancement, are distinctly as rendered here, along with the age. Newspapers that would have carried notice of this child's death are fragmented or missing (September 1877).
In 1937, Ingram James listed an inscription on a stone "next to" that of Birdie Lua Worrell:
MARTHA BAKER, wife of Col. John Baker
July 28, 1807-Jan. 9, 1866
This inscription may have been on a tombstone, the base only of which is intact, on an adjoining lot, to the north, Lot 272, Morgan. There is no other tombstone on the Morgan lot. Now, next to the Worrell infant's stone is that inscribed:
GUY PHILLIP HALL, Feb. 5, 1922
Near the present entrance of Riverside Cemetery, on the north side of First Street is a Taylor lot with some members of a Worrell family, descendants of Benjamin Worrell of Fayette County, probably related to the Joseph J. Worrell whose family lot is #310, the only member of which Birdie Lua, is known to be buried here.
(Page 34)
GOODSPEED'S HISTORY OF TENNESSEE (Madison County), 1887, page 916:
|
Joseph J. Worrell, editor and proprietor of the Jackson Despatch, is a native of Hardeman County, and was born November 19, 1843, to the marriage of John Worrell and Harriett Williams, both of whom were natives of North Carolina. The father came to Tennessee in 1833, locating in Hardeman County, where he farmed until late in life, when he moved to the adjoining county of Fayette, where both parents died. Joseph J. grew to the age of seventeen years on a farm, receiving only an ordinary education. When the war broke out, at the age of seventeen he enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Senior Tennessee Confederate Regiment, and was assigned to Gen. Cheatham's division. He served three years as a private, and after the war engaged in mercantile pursuits two years in Somerville, Fayette County, and clerked in the same business two years in Memphis. In 1872 he came to Jackson and engaged in the newspaper business as solicitor, and in August, 1873, he and A. H. Parker, established the Jackson Despatch, and three months after, Mr. Worrell bought his partner's interest, and has since conducted the paper alone. This venture, a difficult one at any time, has been highly successful. The paper represents clean and pure Democracy, and is the champion of the people's rights. His paper was the first to advocate the nomination of R. L. Taylor for governor of Tennessee. February 18, 1875, Mr. Worrell was united in marriage with Miss Lua G. Taylor, of Jackson, Tenn., and to this union there are two living children: Sallie Lula and Kate. Mr. Worrell is a member of the K. of H., and is a progressive thinker and an enterprising business man. |
Joseph J. Worrell
The above portrait is that of Joseph J. Worrell, editor of the weekly Jackson Dispatch.
JACKSON DAILY WHIG, August 11, 1893:
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Mr. Worrell was born near Cedar Chapel, Hardeman county, Nov. 19, 1843, and lived on a farm till the war came on, when he enlisted in Company B, 154th Regiment of Tennessee, Cheatham’s division. At the close of the war he engaged in the mercantile business at Somerville, Tenn. In 1873 he came to Jackson and established the Jackson Dispatch in connection with H. F. Parker. Mr. Worrell soon bought the entire interest of the paper, and has owned it ever since. He has made it one of the leading country weeklies of West Tennessee. Mr. Worrell is a member of the Knights of Honor, a Master Mason, Royal Arch Mason and Knight Templar. |
Buried in the Somerville, Fayette Co., Tenn. Cemetery:
JOHN WORRELL
Born Halifax Co., N.C., Oct. 18, 1803
Died Mar. 28, 1878
HARRIETT WILLIAMS WORRELL
Born Washington City, D.C. 1810
Died Apr. 2, 1878
Joseph J. Worrell listed as age 17 in his parents' household, June 14, 1860 U.S. Census, Fayette Co., Tenn., page 418.
Madison Co. Deed Book 72, page 409, In May 1907, Mrs. Lua G. Worrell of Caldwell Co., Texas sold a lot in Jackson, Tenn. through POA, M. S. Neely.
June 11, 1900 U.S. Census, Jackson, Tenn. Enumerator's Dist. 107, Sheet 10:
Joe J. Worrell, born Nov. 1843, Tenn. Parents born N. C. Vocation: advertisement solicitor
Lula G. Worrell, wife, born Feb. 1853, Tenn. Parents born Tenn. Married 21 years
Lula T. Worrell, dau., born Feb. 1881, Tenn.
Kate Worrell, dau., born Feb. 1885, Tenn.
Rebecca Worrell, dau., born Nov. 1889, Tenn.
LOT 137-E, HILLMAN
[Lot 137 in Tombstone Inscriptions]
Buried at the southern edge of the family lot of W. A. and Della Hillman is their infant son, Charlie, with a tombstone shaped like a bell graph, a remnant of what is called a cradle-tombstone. Roughly rectangular, stone edges enclose the top of the grave while the inscription is often given on such a bell graph shape. Most of these have been removed, years ago, from graves in Riverside Cemetery. Ruined they are an eye-sore and make maintenance around them difficult.
Bussie
CHARLIE, son of W. A. & Della HILMAN
Born Feb. 25, 1882
Died May 29, 1883
"Bussie" was apparently a nickname for this child; it is inscribed on the top rim of the "bell graph." Also, the name Hillman is spelled with only one "l" on this tombstone.
LOT 407-B, TURLEY
WILLIAM PAYNE TURLEY
Born the 11th day of February 1826
Died the 12th day of July 1846
He was the only son of his parents.
Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.
The NASHVILLE (Tenn.) WHIG, July 21, 1846 mentions that this young man had died recently and that he was a son of Judge William B. Turley. (He was also a recent graduate of West Tennessee College.)
In the wind storm of April 11, 1995 this slab tombstone was heavily damaged (west, inscribed portion) by a fallen oak.
According to a sketch about Judge Turley, on pages 150-152 of SKETCHES OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF TENNESSEE, by J. W. Caldwell (1898), he was born William Bruce Turley in Alexandria, Virginia, 1800; came as a child with his parents to Davidson Co., Tenn.; educated to practice law, which he did and served also on the Supreme Court of Tennessee, 1835-1850. In the genealogical files of the Tennessee Room, Jackson-Madison Co. Library, in Turley notes, is a photocopy of a letter from Mariah Turley Henderson, Sequin, Texas dated March 21, 1884 written to A. W. Campbell, Jackson, Tenn. She was a daughter of Judge Turley. She wrote, "The names of my father's parents were Sampson Turley and Sarah Bronaugh. He was born in Alexandria, Va. in the year 1800. . . . My father married Miss Annie C. Payne, Russellville, Ky. in May 1822, I think. . . . /He/died May 27, 1851."
At the time of his death, Wm. B. Turley was serving as judge of the Memphis Court of Common Law and Chancery. On April 23, 1851 he slipped on a round stick, after "stepping from the door of the hotel/in Raleigh, Tenn./, he fell and his cane, being broken, pierced his left side near the region of the heart, inflicting a terrible wound of which he died Tuesday night /May 27/." The remains of the Hon. W. B. Turley were yesterday borne to the Winchester Cemetery; with Masonic honors; buried from home of his brother, Thomas J. Turley. (MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL, May 29, 30, 1851) The Memphis and Somerville Bars published tributes to his memory. (IBID., May 31, June 3, 1851)
In a transcript of tombstones in Winchester Cemetery, Judge W. B. Turley's death date was given supposedly as May 28, 1851, which cemetery was obliterated
(Page 36)
and its tombstones destroyed in 1931. However, the newspaper and other accounts confirm his death date to have been May 27, 1851.
Judge Turley's wife, Ann C. Turley, died in November 1859, aged about 51 years in Madison County; native of Kentucky. (Tennessee Mortality Schedule, 1860, page 357) She is undoubtedly buried near her son in Riverside Cemetery in an unmarked grave there. Also buried in the lot with tombstones are her daughter, Mary E. Turley and husband, Thomas W. Harris (who married March 24, 1842); no dates are inscribed on their tombstones. Another daughter, Irene Turley, born about 1838, married James Coburn, Feb. 25, 1857. Robert H. Cartmell's Diary, volume 33, page 60 (May 1915), mentions that on May 3, 1915 he learned of the recent death of Maria Turley, daughter of Judge W. B. Turley; she had moved to Texas many years ago; aged about 80 years.
[Lot 409-A, Chester]
Note:
Also damaged in this April 1995 wind storm was the box vault tombstone of Elizabeth Hays Chester (1805-1841), wife of Robert I. Chester. The slab top which had been replaced in recent years was chipped in about four places on the edge of the slab, by a fallen oak tree. The inscribed portion was undamaged. This tombstone is located in Lot 409-A, Chester.
A large oak tree next to the tombstone of William Stoddert was uprooted, doing no damage to the grave or tombstone.
LOT 52, BOON
[LOT 52½-A, north, BOON in Tombstone Inscriptions]
south to north:
D. LACY BOON
Oct. 22, 1869-Apr. 25, 1926
MAGGIE MAULDIN BOON
Dec. 12, 1876-Aug. 7, 1949
MARGARET BOON THOMAS
Mar. 9, 1904-Oct. 17, 1978
Unmarked grave:
CODIE E. THOMAS
THE JACKSON SUN, August 24, 1994 Obituary of Codie E. Thomas, who died at age 91, August 23, in Anniston, Alabama. Native of Crockett County, Tennessee; son of William R. and Emma Thomas. He was a retired railroad employee. Predeceased his wife, Margaret Mauldin Thomas. Surviving was one daughter, Margaret Emily Thomas of Anniston, Alabama.
[LOT 52½-B, south, JAMES in Tombstone Inscriptions]
On the extreme north section of this lot are two graves. One is marked by a fragment of a cradle tombstone, no names or dates. From its location one may determine that this was the grave marked with a tombstone that Ingram James copied in 1937:
JESSIE, daughter of G. B. and Lizzie James
Oct. 10, 1881-July 1, 1882
The other tombstone was originally a cradle tombstone; only the west and east ends are intact. The east end reads, "My Wife." The west end is inscribed:
LIZZIE S., wife of G. B. JAMES
Dec. 13, 1864-Dec. 14, 1886
This portion of the lot was owned by G. B. James.
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