BROWN/KNIGHT CEMETERY, Hanna Ward Bridge Rd, GILES COUNTY TENNESSEE

Mapping the Location

Cemetery Overview Photos:9339/9341/9344/9345/9346/9347/9348

KNIGHT, Rebecca R., (b. cir 1784) - 3 July 1854, Aged 70 years, footstone R.R.K.*  9342
BROWN, Sarah, 1778 - 21 May 1862.
BROWN, Martha, (b. cir 1774) - 14 Nov 1855, Age 75 years 9343L/9343
BROWN, Elizabeth, Stone Broken - very little readable inscription remains.  9340L/9340
_______, Minnie & George, (Vault, no other information)

*Remains of footstone is all I found

Notes:
Four Brown sisters or in-laws (don't know which) came to Giles Co in early times to live there and nothing much is known. One married a Knight it seems. They sold their slaves to C.E. Reed's grandfather. They were relations of that early Brown family in southern Giles Co that became very prominent in Tennessee History, two of which served as Governors of the state. Still their small graveyard was destroyed by neglect & un-thoughtful people.

What I found here was a completely destroyed graveyard. No stones were standing. We are left only with fragments of tombstones and most of those were dug from deep into the ground. I am sure there were other fragments, but it was difficult digging among the tree roots to find them. This was all located under a lone Walnut Tree, perhaps 20-25 years old. Part of a base of a stone was still there. I am told land owners in the past used the stones to weigh down their cultivator disks when there were plenty of boulders around the area that could have been used.
A probe was utilized to uncover several pieces of stones completely buried. All were parts of tombstones that were smashed into several pieces many years ago by some violet force, probably vandals, livestock, falling trees or some combination of these. Couple that with soft limestone composition and these stones and this is the outcome.

A part of a headstone for Martha Brown was found. Another footstone had the initials R.K. standing for (Rebecca R. Knight?). Another stone was found with bits of inscription for the monument to Elizabeth Brown, nothing else known. Another footstone with one initial R remaining on the left side (initial of given name, which I believe to part of the footstone for Rebecca R. Knight. This cemetery at one time had most of five monuments standing. It should be excavated more thoroughly to uncover all the sunken parts of tombstones and reassemble them for more inscriptions.
Later I would be told this was an old Slave Graveyard. Well you know the story. All "old torn up unmarked graveyards" were slave graveyards to the uninformed public. I was not convinced and when I investigated further I found this was the Brown-Knight Cemetery in the Giles Co Cemetery Book 1986, by the Historical Society.

My interpretation of this cemetery is based on the book Giles County Cemeteries. If they had errors then I may have carried them forward. If not we have an accurate translation of the inscriptions from the fragments of the tombstones in this cemetery and the book in combination. Also some of the translations are based on years of knowing what and how a tombstone will be inscribed as they tended to be all be inscribed with similar language.

Visited 18 Jan 2017 on an overcast day at about 1 PM in the afternoon. I thought for awhile this may have been the Rich Billy Brown Cemetery but not so.  Added here on 31 Mar 2017. This cemetery was also presented on page 60 of the Giles County Cemetery book about 1985 when evidently most of the stones were readable. Not presented on Findagrave.com until I added the menu and Martha Brown's listing.