Mountain Grove Cemetery
Centered in the Lake Russell Wildlife Management Area, is a cemetery that is literally at the epicenter for the graves of Bev's ancestors. Due to that, it became obvious that it would be the perfect place for our ashes someday. Bev agreed to the placement of a headstone there, if I could find one that was simple, and reflected her life-long habit of moving rocks! That was accomplished on March 14, 2011.
Bev and I sincerely appreciate the efforts of Howard Farmer
as he contacted many of the descendants of those buried in this
cemetery in order to assure that no one would have a problem with the
placement of this stone. We thank them all for their allowing this to be done!
Our headstone is next to that of Bev's great grandfather, Robert Franklin Stephens.
Robert Franklin died in 1920, however, his wife, Martha Emma Caudell, died
in 1940 and was buried at Harmony Grove in Homer. Had she elected to be buried
at MT. Grove, her grave would be immediately to the north of Robert Franklin's.
That spot now becomes the perfect place for the headstone for their
granddaughter, Beverly Castleberry Winsness.
Bev's ancestors graves completely encircle the Mt. Grove Cemetery:
The graves of Robert Brown of the Rev. War and his son Hugh are to the south. Minnie Bell Stephens is buried to the southwest at Harmony Grove Baptist on 441 and, Robert Franklin Stephens' wife is buried also at Harmony Grove and her mother, Sarah Ann R. Echols Stephens is buried west in Cornelia. North are the Brown lines - actually Minnie Bell's husband Joseph Wavery Brown and his parents James Leonard and wife buried at the Hazel Creek Baptist cemetery. Completing the circuit around Mt. Grove are the graves of Benjamin Pollard Brown and Caroline Hulsey Brown in the Mt. Pleasant cemetery in Ayersville to the east of Mt. Grove.
Caroline Hulsey Brown's parents, I. B. Hulsey and Nancy Kytle are within the LRWMA and southeast of Mt. Grove in the Kimbrell Cemetery and two babies of Caroline and BP Brown are buried near their homesite in the LRWMA.
That completes a 360 degree arc around the Mt. Grove Cemetery and illustrates well that it truly is the epicenter or geographic center of almost all of Bev's ancestry and a treasured place for the family.
Bev has documented the locations of all of these graves in her recently published book "The Families of Minnie Bell Stephens and Joseph Wavery Brown" - click on the link below to see those graves, and that of Robert Franklin Stephens in the LRWMA.
All the graves are now on Find A Grave with photos.
Cemetery Map
First Burial Date: May 21, 1895 - Robert Lee Kimbrell
Last Burial Date: June 12, 1958 - William Randol Brown
(click above)
The book on Minnie Bell Stephens, daughter of Robert Franklin Stephens:
|