CEMETERY FOUND: Samuel Crockett and Mary Ann Hamilton Crockett
Crockett Cemetery near Holly Springs, Mississippi
Through a combination of fate and an intensive collaborative effort, we Crockett researchers have discovered the cemetery where we assuredly believe Samuel and Mary Ann Hamilton Crockett, along with other family members, are buried. For years, LouVella Zellner has had in her possession numerous documents from her extensive research at the Marshall County courthouse, but until recently had not had sufficient information to be able to completely identify and locate this place. Equipped with her documents, information from a local Marshall County contact who had visited the cemetery decades ago, correspondence with a Bond descendent (Edith Brooks) who identified a deceased Bond child, an obituary, and a computer CD atlas, we came to our final conclusion.
About 2-3 miles or so east of Holly Springs, Mississippi, Marshall County, is a cemetery listed on the government based GNIS site as Crockett Cemetery. See the listing as Crockett Cemetery here: http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnisprod?f_name=&variant=N&f_state=Mississippi&f_cnty=Marshall&f_ty=cemetery&elev1=&elev2=&cell=&pop1=&pop2=&my_function=Send+Query&last_name=&last_state=&last_cnty=&page_cnt=&record_cnt=&tab=Yhttp://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnisprod?f_name=&variant=N&f_state=Mississippi&f_cnty=Marshall&f_ty=cemetery&elev1=&elev2=&cell=&pop1=&pop2=&my_function=Send+Query&last_name=&last_state=&last_cnty=&page_cnt=&record_cnt=&tab=YThe numbers listed there are longitude and latitude coordinates for the location of the cemetery, which, after consulting a computer atlas CD, would be on, adjoining, or very near where Samuel and family lived. LouVella has been in contact with a man who was escorted to that cemetery about 20 years ago but didn't provide explicit directions. He knew it was a Crockett Cemetery, but he wasn't aware who was buried there. He took pictures which have long since been lost.
This cemetery has about 25 graves, arched with bricks, but even twenty years ago all graves were unmarked or unreadable except one. We don't yet know, and may never know, whether or not the graves were ever marked, whether vandals were responsible for the lack of markers, or whether there might have been wooden markers that burned or disappeared over time. There may actually be existing gravestones there that are unreadable. The owner of the land has been contacted, and a trip to this cemetery is forthcoming.
The one marked grave was a young boy, Sameul (the spelling as I received it) E. Bond, son of S. C. and M. Bond. We know Samuel and Mary Ann had a daughter, Nancy Modrell Crockett, who married Sanford Clayton Bond. We had ten children listed for this couple, but after checking an obituary for Nancy, who died in 1908, it states "Eleven children blessed their marriage, seven girls and four boys, ten are still living one boy being dead." After contacting a Bond descendent, it was discovered S. C. and Nancy had a child, Sameul Edward Bond who was known as Eddie and who died young. The dates on the gravestone indicate he was about 6 1/2 years old. He was born in November 1870 after the census was taken and was gone before time for the next census. The present owner of the property mentions there are no readable markers with the exception of a 7 year old child, so we assume that particular grave has stayed intact.
A document found several years ago shows where shows where Samuel Crockett bought this land from James Elder and wife and Charles Niles in 1850 for $1200. Also another document found shows where Sarah Jones (who is Sarah Wilson Crockett, daughter of Samuel and Mary Ann, and who married Madison Lee Jones) purchased the bricks to line Samuel Crockett's grave after he died.
This Crockett cemetery is less than a mile from another resting place known as Chewalla Cemetery to the southwest just across Chewalla Road, a cemetery which is also listed on the GNIS site. We know from census records there were people in the 1860s and 1870s connected to the Samuel Crockett family living in an area known as Chewalla. Judging from the census records, the Crocketts and these families appeared to live in relatively close proximity to each other.
It has also come to light just this week that a newspaper in Mississippi (presumably in Holly Springs or surrounding vicinity) known as the South Reporter printed an article in the 1990s about this Crockett cemetery. Not knowing who any of the Crockett descendents were, the owner of the property and another man provided the information regarding the cemetery to the newspaper at that time.
Therefore, with the information about the land Samuel bought, the official name of the cemetery on the website, the proximity of the cemetery to the area where the Crocketts lived, the arched graves in the cemetery along with the document showing where Samuel's daughter bought bricks to line his grave, and the existence of the grave marker for the one identified Bond child who was Samuel Crockett's grandson, LouVella has given me the honor to post that we wholeheartedly believe we can be excited and relieved to finally announce the location where Samuel and Mary Ann Hamilton and other family members of that era were laid to rest.
More Replies:
-
Re: CEMETERY FOUND: Samuel Crockett and Mary Ann Hamilton Crockett
Douglas York 11/15/02