Cemeteries On-Line for Taylor County.

Mailing List to save Georgia Cemeteries
GA-CEMETERIES-L
Topic: A mailing list for anyone interested in locating, and preserving historical information about, Georgia cemeteries. We welcome queries and postings regarding location of graves, cemeteries which have been indexed both on the internet and in other written forms, cemetery research, and the care of tombstones.
GA-CEMETERIES-admin@rootsweb.com

GA Cemetery Preservation

Other ideas for Saving a Cemetery

• Locate an Eagle Scout who would take this as a Project
• Find out who owns the property today
• Use the Surname Query Boards and/or mailing lists to locate as many descendants as possible
• Use Newspaper editors and Feature Writers
• Make everyone in the County aware of the cemetery by media, letter writing, etc.

Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering Cemeteries and Burial Places from US Dept of Interior.

Symbols on Tombstones

Alphabetical Listing

Cemeteries on-line

USGenWeb Tombstone Project

Funeral Homes Serving Taylor County

Goddard Funeral Home

Early Records on-line Goddard Funeral Home Records 1935 - 1940

Edwards Funeral Home

African-American Funeral Homes

Hicks & Sons Mortuary
2233 Anthony Road
Macon, Georgia 31204.
Phone 478-788-4300
(The records for the Hicks Funeral Home in Butler are kept in Macon)

Cemeteries with Links to OTHER COUNTRIES CEMETERIES, FUNERAL HOMES & OBITUARIES at Cyndi's List

USGenWeb TOMBSTONE TRANSCRIPTION PROJECT

THE ASSOCIATION FOR GRAVESTONE STUDIES (AGS) was founded in 1977 for the purpose of furthering the study and preservation of gravestones. This is an international organization with an interest in gravemarkers of all periods.

CEMETERY SYMBOLISM A Wary Glossary of Symbols on Tombstones.

 HOW TO FIGURE A BIRTHDATE

 REMEMBER THIS NUMBER: 8870

 How do you figure the birthdate?

 Suppose the person died May 6, 1889, at the age of
 71 years, 7 months, 9 days.

 1. Write the year, month, day as:  18890506
 2. Subtract the age at death:         710709
3. This gives the figure:   18179797
4. Now subtract 8870: 
 5. The result is: 18170927
 Year 1817, 9th month (Sept), 27th day or 27 Sept, 1817

 Source: Platte Co, MO Historical/Genealogical Society

There are still several remaining "covered graves" in Taylor County-- Union Methodist - Hays Campground(County Rd 92 off State 208);New Hope Cemetery(Little Vine)- Reynolds; Mt. Nebo Cemetery(Bloodworth) - Charing. At one time these were also at Horeb-Shiloh Cemetery-Daviston.

These were wooden framed buildings with shingled roofs made of cedar--used because of the long lasting quality of cedar. The sides are carvd pickets with a point at the top. The corners are 4 x 4s and the ends are closed in at the roof.

Mr. John Adams, Editor of the Taylor County Tracer, monthly newsletter of the Taylor County Historical-Genealogical Society, studied wills to glean information about burial practices.

Persons Walker - 1788-1854
"I desire and direct that two hundred dollars and more if necessary be set apart and appropriated to the building of a stone wall embracing around the graves of my two children already buried and to enclose a part learge enough for the graves of all the members of my family to be protected from the rain by a shingled roof"

Suggestion from another mailing list:
A friend types this on a 3x5
card then puts her name, relationship, snail-mail address and e-mail address
on the back, then laminates it, punches a hole in it and ties it to a single
stem artificial flower and puts it on her ancestor's graves when she is
visiting cemeteries whether those close by or in different states.  That way
the next person who might be researching may get in touch with her.  


Dear Ancestor:
Your tombstone stands among the rest; 
Neglected and alone
The name and date are chiseled out
On polished, marbled stone.
It reaches out to all who care 
It is too late to mourn.
You did not know that I exist 
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
Entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled 
So many years ago
Spreads out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved, 
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot, 
And come to visit you.


Grave Matters: Symbols, Designs and Epitaphs on Tombstones
  http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/memorial.htm



MAKE YOUR OWN TOMBSTONES
From: "Bonedigger" 
To: GA-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com

Friends and fellow genealogists:
Just now completed a project and wanted to share the details with others who may want to undertake same for their unmarked Ancestor's graves. I did this on the cheap as is most always the case with me. Cost me no more than about $10.00 if we got down to specifics I used scrap lumber so it may have been less.
1]. Build a frame to hold the concrete in place until it cures.
2]. Cut out letters and numbers.
3]. Glue the numbers inside the form you built in 1. above. There is a gotcha here! Glue the letters as if you were looking thru the wood to the letters. In other words the glue goes on the front of the letters not on the back as you would normally glue on stuff. Use the kind of glue that you set floor tiles with for two reasons a] it holds firmly until the concrete is poured b] it releases as soon as the concrete is cured but the impressions are lasting and as deep as the thickness that you made the letters. Imagine for a minute that the front of the form is glass and you are looking thru the glass to the interior of the form what you see is the writing you want to put on the marker just as you want to read it. Keep this thought in mind as you are gluing the letters in place.
4]. when you have the form made and letters glued into place [glue has set] take a paint brush and spread oil, about a 30 weight heavy oil all over the letters and front side inside of the form so the concrete will not stick to the letters or to the front side of the form. If desired oil the whole inside for ease of operations.
5]. Mix the concrete a little wetter than you would normally pour a sidewalk then pour it and let the concrete cure for several days probably 3 or more days is best. then remove the form and voila you have a tombstone with proper looking message that will last until some idiot decides to break it with a sledge hammer or worse.
6]. I put a little reinforcement in my concrete to make it more durable. i.e. two little pieces of pipe running top to bottom inside the form. Or you can use a little grill work e.g. wire mesh or any old steel or iron rods lying around will strenghten the concrete.
7]. there are many variations you can choose. I cut out the letters on my scroll saw but a band saw will work. Probably you can talk a local friendly woodworker into making the letters free for you. They should be made from 3/8" thick plywood. Letters any thicker would probably be too hard to remove from your forms without damaging the image you want to leave impressed in the concrete.
8]. the form is made from 1"x 6" boards with plywood. Here is a description of the forms.
1 each 1x6x24" vertical each side        2 required
1 each 1x6x18" horizontal each side     2 required
place them into a tee shape, square them and screw them together. The top of the tee is your base so turn it upside down and the top becomes the side of your floor of the form.
Cut a piece of plywood 18x18" to tie the two tees together and your floor is finished. Use screws to tie the tees to the plywood floor. Don't use nails anywhere; you don't want to hammer anything to get the forms off when the concrete dries.
cut 2 pieces of plywood approximately 14"x18" for the front and back. this front is where you will stick your letters on. When ready screw them in place [after letters are glued on].
4 more pieces of plywood finish the form. They will be about 14"x6" to be horizontal and vertical end caps for the ends of the tees. All these are screwed into place.
Leave the top open to pour in the concrete mix.
This design is based upon 2 bags of concrete mix at approximately $2.00 each at 40 pounds each so the final marker weighs about 90 pounds. I doubt you want anything larger or heavier unless you have help to make it and set it in place.
Try it I think you will like it and I would like to hear from you and how yours turned out. 
I can send you a drawing via attachment if my instructions above are not good enough.
Charles the bonedigger

Washington Memorial Library (Macon)
has Goddard Funeral Home records for the years 1935 to 1940 inclusive and records of Goddard's casket sales from 1921 to 1935, along with copies of burial permits from the same time period.  These are the records that we
received from Goddard's.

Send info to Virginia