Tombstone Tuesday

Sheats Cemetery - Walton County, Georgia

At first glance, one would naturally assume these two old tombstones found lying beside each other would be husband and wife. The assumption would be wrong. The first indication is that Cornelius is almost 30 years older than Mood.

Cornelius is my great-grandfather and more than likely my great-grandmother Fannie's second husband. This is the only picture, to date, I have for my great-grandfather.

Mood, I've always loved her name, is my grandmother's first cousin. Her father, Lonnie, was one of great-granddad's younger brothers.

I've always been grateful that my grandmother passed down her uncle Lonnie to us because without him, I would have never found my great-great-grandparents.

I wounder if more of my ancestors are buried in Sheats cemetery. I'm hoping that I will be able to visit this cemetery during my research trip, hopefully August. I tried to get there about 15 years, ago, when our family reunion was head in the the Atlanta area but ran out of time.

I would like to take this time to thank a wonderful volunteer in Georgia, Bob Kelly. If you don't live in the state of Georgia, yet need some foot soldiers to do lookups or visit cemeteries, the Georgia Cemetery and Volunteer List, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gacemete/, is a wonderful resource. This has been my only time using it, to date, but I am so grateful for the work of this volunteer. On the site, it said he only does lookups, so you can imagine my joy and surprise when I received an e-mail from him saying that he had actually gone to the cemetery, and I was so happy that I was crying when I saw the pictures he had taken and sent me.

Receiving the pictures from Mr. Kelly brought sadness, too. It may be difficult to tell from the pictures but both tombstones are off their bases and just laying down. Mr. Kelly informed me that the entire cemetery is in a state of disrepair. That report confirms a report received from a local undertaker about the cemetery when I tried to get there during the mid 1990s.

Haven't quite figured out how I would do it, but I would love to be able to restore this old cemetery.

To my great-grandfather Cornelius, cousin Mood, and all my waiting to be discovered ancestors:

One Day!

Until the Next Time!