Located in the Free Hill Community at 223 Judson Dr., Gray, Tennessee, just off State Hwy. 36 between Johnson City and Kingsport. There is a fence around some of the graves and it is well kept.
GPS location: 36.25.12N 082.28.02W
2010 update: Some markers are missing.
ENDANGERED
Stones inside the fence
NAME BIRTH DATE DEATH DATE COMMENTS
Borrus, Lucy Ann [No date] 15 Nov 1884 Daughter of Wm. & Lucy A. Hale
Aged 6 yrs. 1 mo. 25 days
Davis, George C. 1857 1939
Davis, Mary E. 1862 1938
Hale, Dow W. 12 Dec 1876 18 Jun 1958 Co. F, 3 Regt. Tenn. Inf. Sp. Am. War
Hale, H. Charles [No date] 05 Jun 1899 33 yrs. 1 mo. & 1 day
Hale, Lucy Annis 15 Jul 1840 29 Jan 1902 Wife of William Hale
Hale, Dr. William 29 Mar 1838 12 Oct 1906 Free to investigate, True to Conviction, the first native Tennessean licensed to preach the gospel according to Universalism. Death is the gaining of a crow, where men and angels meet, the laying of our burdens down, at the deliverer’s feet. [He was also a medical doctor]
Broken stones in a corner of the fenced area
NAME BIRTH DATE DEATH DATE COMMENTS
Hale, George 16 Dec 1766 13/18 Apr 1837 Age Y 71 . M 3 . D 2(?)
[Stone is now broken in many pieces. Information taken from an earlier photograph]
Hale, Hiram Decater
Hale, Mary Ann [No date] 28 Jun 1889 Aged 69 yrs. 1 mo. 5 days
Hale, William 03 Mar 1801 01 Oct 1855 Aged 54 yrs, 7 mos, and 1 day
Outside the fenced area
NAME BIRTH DATE DEATH DATE COMMENTS
[Hale, Hiram Decater] [No date] 18 Nov 1891 [Only the lower half of a stone, it is most likely Hiram Hale’s stone]
Surveyed, transcribed and donated to the Washington County TNGen Web 30 October 2003 by Betty Jane Hylton, Donna Cox Briggs, Robert Shell, Chester Willis and Dawn Peters members of the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee.
Copyrighted 2011 by the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee. No part may be copied without written permission from the Cemetery Survey Team.
Additional information
There could be as many as 20 unmarked graves. When I copied this cemetery in 1972, there were three other markers:
CRUMP, Ida, daughter of J.L. & M.D. Crump, April 29, 1878-June 17, 1890 [James Lawrence and Mary D. Stedman Crump, brother of Lucy Annis Crump Hale and Mary Crump Barr Hale]
RATLIFF, Robert F, son of Jas & Hannah Ratliff, d April 28, 1863, aged 3d.
Obituary in the Jonesboro Herald & Tribune
Wed., Oct. 24, 1906. Obituary (front page). Dr. William Hale, the noted Universalist preacher and writer, died at his home in Free Hill, Washington Co., Tenn. of valvular enlargement of the heart, at 11 o’clock A.M., Oct. 12, 1906. Dr. Hale was the son of Hiram Decatur Hale and Mary A.[Yoakley] Hale. He was born March 29, 1938, so at the time of his death he was in his sixty-ninth year. He was twice married; his first wife being Miss Lucy A. Crump, to whom he was married on May l, 1861. To this union were born nine children, Three of whom are dead, two dying in infancy and one son, H. Charles Hale, who died in the prime of his young manhood after having won some distinction as a newspaper man in New Jersey. The living children are: Mrs. Millie E. Davis of Lynchburg, Va., George R. Hale of New York City, Miss Annie J. Hale, a prominent teacher of Washington Co., Tenn., Wm. D. Hale, Spokane, Wash., Ben E. Hale of Philadelphia, Pa., Dow W. Hale of Free Hill, Tenn. His first wife died Jan. 29, 1902. He was married the second time on May 26, 1903 to Mrs. Mary Barr, who survives him. Of this union there are no children. In early years of his manhood he studied medicine, practiced the profession for sometime. He joined the Methodist Church early in life but later joined the Universalists. The funeral services were conducted by Rev. R. F. King, and the remains were deposited in the family cemetery.
Both of Dr. Hale’s wives were daughters of Benjamin Charles Crump and Eliza Marshall Snapp. Mary “Mollie” was the widow of William Barr.
More information about Dr. William Hale and the Unitarian Church can be found in Unitarian-Universalism in East Tennessee by Ida Metz Hyland, Johnson City, Tennessee, July 1979. A pamphlet compiled by Mrs. Hyland for the Holston Valley Unitarian Fellowship, Gray, Tennessee. A reproduction of a plaque: This is to certify that William Hale M.D. and Lucy A. Crump were united in the Holy Bonds of Matrimony May 1, 1861 at Reedy Creek in Sullivan County, Tennessee, by Rev. William Milburn.
William Hale M.D. March 29, 1838- 11 a.m. Oct. 12, 1906
Lucy A. (Crump) Hale, July 15, 1840-Jan. 29, 1902
Mary E. Hale, Apr. 2, 1862
Hiram C. Hale, May 4, 1866-June 5, 1899
George R. Hale, Dec. 8, 1867
Annis J. Hale, Apr, 3, 1870
John J. Hale, Mar. 17, 1872-Mar. 17, 1872
William D. Hale, Mar. 10, 1873
Benjamin E. Hale, Dec. 3, 1874
Dow W. Hale, Dec. 12, 1876
Lucy B. Hale, Sept. 20, 1878-Nov. 15, 1884
Obituary in the Jonesboro Herald & Tribune
Wed., June 14, 1899. Obituary. Died: at the home of his parents near Free Hill, June 5th at 4:30 P.M., H. Charles Hale, age 33 years. He was buried the 6th in the family cemetery.
Card of Thanks: The whole family of Dr. Wm. Hale hereby return their sincere thanks and gratitude for the kindness and sympathy extended during the protracted sickness of dear Charlie — signed, Wm. Hale and Family.
George Hale married 1st Ann Chase, (b. Dec. 25, 1768, d. abt. 1796), daughter of Walter Perry & Lucy Barber Chase in Maryland and married 2nd on Sep. 27 1797 in Washington Co., Tennessee to Eleanor Chamberlin, daughter of James Chamberlin. Children of George and Ann Hale: Lucinda Hale, Walter Hale, Chase Hale, Susannah Hale, George Samuel Hale. Children of George and Eleanor Hale: Matilda Hale, William Chamberlain Hale, Priscilla Hale, Nancy Hale, James Chamberlain Hale, Rebecca Hale, Hannah Hale, Hiram Decatur Hale, and Landon Carter Hale. Information on the Hale family may be found in Hale Family Tables (Hale/Hail/Haile/Hales) for the South by Denzil R. Mauldin, Valdez, Alaska.
Hiram Decater Hale b. 1815, d. 1891 married Mary Ann Yoakley b. 1820, d. 1889, daughter of Peter and Rachel Canole Yoakley. Their children: William Hale m. Lucy Annis Crump, Rachel Jane Hale m. Daniel Snyder, Benjamin Hale, Mary (Mollie) Hale m. George Davis, Dow William Hale m. Belle Marion. Genealogy of Sanders, Alison and Collateral Families of Sullivan & Washington Counties, Tennessee, compiled and published by W.R. Sanders, Kingsport, Tennessee 37664 contains information on the Hale and Yoakley families.