COX CEMETERY, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, LIMESTONE COUNTY TENNESSEE

Mapping the Location

The Gate & Cox Cemetery Signage: 0513/0523/0524/0525/0526/0527
 Overview Photos of the Cox Cemetery 0514/0519

COX, Samuel, Sr., 1797 - 1851 (b. in Kentucky, unmarked grave, h/o Charity Manning) History
COX, Col. Bartley, (b. cir 1792) - 17 Nov 1851, aged 59 yrs. 0520
COX, Eliza J. 26 Aug 1836 - 01 Nov 1836 The birth year maybe 1826. 0515
COX, John B. 29 Oct 1826 - 19 Mar 1839 0516
COX, Robert I.,  28 Oct. 28 1828 - 10 Apr 1847 0517
COX, Mary A., 22 Mar 1838 - 1838 0518
LANG, Mabelle, d/o J.H. & M.L. Lang, 13 Feb 1907 - 10 Jan 1908 0521/0522
MADREY, 1913 (not found)

COX CEMETERY RELOCATION REPORT IN FILES OF BROWN'S PERRY NUCLEAR PLANT FROM TVA (TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY)

  Maps and Surveys Branch was notified July 22, 1966, that the Cox Cemetery, the only known cemetery on the Brown's Ferry Nuclear Plant site in Limestone County, Alabama, near Athens, would have to be moved because it was within the construction area.
  Preparation began immediately for the execution of the cemetery relocation program that was established with the Norris Project and is described in the Manual for Grave Relocation Activities of June, 1948.
  The cemetery, originally number 63 in Wheeler Reservoir, was re-mapped Mar. 14, 1962, showing thirteen (13) graves as in 1935. Of these thirteen graves, six were marked with four monuments: Col. Bartley Cox, John B. Cox & Robert I. Cox (marked with one monument engraved on two sides), Eliza J. and Mary A. Cox (marked with one monument engraved on two sides) and Mabelle Lang. One grave had the name Madrey shown on the original map. After talking with people in the area no additional names could be obtained for any of the other graves.

  The job of trying to trace the descendants of the Bartley Cox family, Mabelle Lang and Madrey began. The Bartley Cox family was traced up to 1894, at which time the only direct descendants were living in Arkansas and, as far as could be ascertained, none ever returned to the area. There are several Cox families in the area but none of them can claim any kin to the Col. Bartley Cox family. No relatives of Madrey could be located. We finally located a brother of Mabelle Lang, John A. Lang, whose address is 409 Oak St., Sylacauga, Alabama. He was contacted and the relocation discussed with him. He was agreeable and a permit was prepared and sent to him for signature. He informed us that he has a sister, Mrs. Mary Bonds, living at Valhermoso Springs, Alabama. She was also contacted, agreed to the relocation and signed a permit. All this was accomplished only after an exhaustive search that lasted for over a month.
  In August, 1966, an investigative survey was made for additional graves that might be in the cemetery. Twenty (20) possible grave locations were spotted and added to the map making a total of possible thirty-three (33) to be moved.
  Due to the fact that there were possibly twenty- 6) graves of completely unknown origin, it was not possible to get permission to reinter any of them in a local church, public or private cemetery- We were then directed by Federal Court order that they would be reinterred (all of them) in a location on Federal property. There was a possible cemetery shown on land acquisition map 67MS421P501-R2. Upon investigation of this area, no graves, or knowledge of burials were found; therefore this was proposed as the site of the Cox Reinterment Cemetery. This site is located in the Northeast corner of the Brown's Ferry Nuclear Plant property, beginning 235' West of the East boundary and 60' South of the North boundary (which is the centerline of the old Brown's Ferry-Huntsville Road) and being rectangular in shape 150' X 100', designated as Relocated Cox Cemetery No. R-1. This cemetery was divided into twenty-four (24) blocks having a capacity of eight graves each. (There follows a day-by-day description of reinterment from September 20-26.)
  The only four monuments were set in place in the reinterment cemetery this afternoon and sealed by a stone mason from the Florence Marble Works. The monument of Col. Cox was in four sections: (1) a cap Chat has an open book engraved with a verse, (2) a shaft engraved with name, date of death, age and a symbol of two interlocking triangles, (3) a square section of stone and (4) a base. The stone mason stated that the base was granite but all the other sections were Italian marble. It was learned that the verse on the cap was from the 1st degree of the Scottish Rite Masonry and the two interlocked triangles on the shaft denotes 32nd degree. The monument for Mary S Eliza and John & Robert Cox were originally identical.
  September 29: Scraping operations were halted this morning in order that several soil discoloration spots could be checked. Scraping had been done to a depth of between four and five feet and had gone below a hard-pan of red clay. Eighteen (18) additional graves were located. These were undoubtedly buried at an earlier time than the group in the Cox family area because they were laid at an angle of approximately thirty degrees (30) North to them and the bottom of the graves were eight feet below the original surface of the cemetery...
  A total of fifty-one (51) graves were moved and reinterred at Cox Cemetery No. R-1 in fifteen (15) work-days, (128 man-days) of grave removal operation. Fifteen (15) of this total graves appear to have been children.

Col. Bartley Cox owned and operated the Brown's Ferry and a house for the accommodation of travelers crossing the Tennessee River at this place.
A 1915 TVA survey showed this cemetery contained approximately 11 graves.
Not sure where the name Browns came from as in Browns Ferry. Maybe someone named Brown had the ferry earlier or later than Colonel Bartley Cox.

This Cemetery presentation is based on the photography of C. Wayne Austin, 25 Jun 2014. Uploaded here by the same on 12 Jul 2016. It was presented 1st in the book Tombstone Inscriptions of Limestone County Alabama as read by by Linda H. Smith. 4 Sep 1991, Page 68-69, Findagrave has the cemetery and genealogy well listed with photos.