LEGG-COFFMAN CEMETERY (Earl Townsend Road) GILES COUNTY, TENNESSEE


Mapping the Location

Legg Coffman Cemetery overview photos:  8581/8582/8585/8614/8615/8619
Historic home in the nearby Bethel Tennessee: 8576
Methodist Church Bethel: 8577

These old homes along the Earl Townsend Road were owned by folks who lived in this valley and were related in some way:
The old Earl Townsend Home - in earlier years they raised a large family here: 8578/8578L
Earl & his wife's grave monument in Booth Chapel Cemetery on Findagrave:
Earl Townsend Memorial (off site-Findagrave). The road thru here is named after him.
The Smitty Howard home. Smitty Townsend who is named after him said his Father Earl b.1897 & Smitty often hunted together years ago: 8579

BROOKSHIRE, William M., 14 Dec 1830 - 28 Dec 1845, s/o M. and Sarah Brookshire, Age 15 yrs, 14 days. 8594/8595/8596
COFFMAN, David Harmon, Sr., 1751  - 31 Mar 1835, (unmarked grave, tombstone not found today, but buried here - based on the family knowledge passed down to Steve Turnbow.)
COFFMAN, Mary Ann Lovell, 1754  - 1832.  Dau of Robert Lovell III (unmarked grave, tombstone not found today, but buried here - based on the family knowledge passed down to Steve Turnbow.)
COFFMAN, Loviel S., 7 May 1775 - 25 Feb 1842, He was a good husband and a kind and affectionate Father.  s/o David H. and Mary Ann Lovell Coffman, h/o Sarah Green. 8591/8589/8590/8614
COFFMAN, Sarah (Green), 4 Jun 1785 - 30 Mar 1853, Aged 68 y 9 M & 26 Dys, She was a good companion, A kind and affectionate Mother.; w/o Lovell Coffman. 8587/8586/8588
COFFMAN, Sarah, 14 Jun 1770 - 30 Mar 1878, {Age 108 yrs., 9 mos., 26 days} (now an unmarked grave, I could not verify this listing)
TOWNSEND, Erskin, (no other information, grave under house as reported in the Gi Co Cem Book. Could this mean he was buried under the house?)
HINE?, R.S., born 1839, (This is my best guess at this hand inscribed fieldstone. It is a stretch but could this be the Erskin Townsend inscription). 8612/8613/8615
LEGG, Betty, birth unknown - died 13 Oct 1826. (Hand carved stone.) 8616/8617/8619
MONK, F. F. No dates
NICH_ _ , M. T., 17 Sep ----   -   -- --- ----. (stone broken, only two fragment found of this box tomb; from this you cannot conclude the surname began with "Nich", but it probably did as in Nicholas.) 8611/8613/8615
SMITH, Samuel, 16 May 1785 - 8 Oct 1840. 8599/8600
WALKER, William Cannon, born 1796 in Tennessee - died: March 8, 1870 in Limestone Co., AL (Father of Lovell Walker. He and his wife lived in Limestone County Alabama.)
WALKER, Rebecca Ann (Coffman), born 1797 in Tennessee, died 1861 in Limestone Co., AL (w/o William Cannon Walker, Mother of Lovell Walker ;Rebecca Coffman Walker was the youngest sister of Lovell S Coffman.)
WALKER, Millie C., 22 Feb 1834 - 23 Aug 1873 (nee: Millie Carolyn Golden Walker was the w/o Lovell Coffman Walker & d/o Shadrack and Charlotte Vickery Golden of Madison Co., AL; Lovell Coffman Walker was the son of William Cannon and Rebecca Coffman Walker. Lovell S. Coffman was the brother of Rebecca Coffman Walker.) 8601/8602
WALKER, Lydia, 1868 - 1888. died of Typhoid likely buried near her mother. (d/o Lovell & Millie C. Walker) ref: Steven Turnbow F-A-G #71839484. could this be the lady Earl Townsend remembered as added to this graveyard, but 3 years before his was born.)
WALKER, Infant baby, died at birth 19 Nov 1870, who was a twin to Ada (Walker) Parker, (d/o Lovell & Millie C. Walker; probably brought there for burial by my gr-gr grandfather Lovell Coffman Walker. Ada Parker is interred in the Covington Cemetery, Covington, Hill County, Texas (This infant is in an unmarked grave or one marked with fieldstone; Source: Steven Turnbow.)

+Smitty Townsend is pointing to the fieldstone marking the grave of a lady who was buried here in the late 19th century as related to him & as remembered by his Father, Earl Townsend. Happened in the childhood of Earl b. 1891. Smitty could not recall the lady's name. This grave is just south of a giant beech tree and is over toward the road: 8610
+Base stones of a box tomb with the top missing. Likely sunken into the soil or missing for whatever reason: 8592
+More base stones beside the above in the midst of the standing stone for Betty Legg: 8593
+Unknown fieldstones marking graves in the cemetery: 8583/8584/8585/8597/8598/8603/8604/8605/8606/8607/8608/8609
+Unknown fieldstone loose and outside the boundary of the cemetery: 8580
+Unknown slab - severely fragmented - any remaining inscription long since peeled away. I dare say the grave is up in the row next to (east of) Lovell Coffman and this had slide down the hill: 8618

A story has circulated that some of the grave stones in times past have been removed and used for patio tops etc. This is not corroborated by myself nor Annie Hindrix. I can see there are missing monuments, but they are not likely to have disappeared by any other than natural events of nature. Some stones may still be here 4 inches under the topsoil. For about all these old graveyards there are stories of abuse around. While some of that is true, mostly, the worst I find is neglect by land owners and the families of the interred which then brings mother nature's natural forces in play. This has the tendency to break every thing back down into dust. Especially old limestone and sand stone monuments. The trees in this cemetery have been somewhat controlled in the past so that is helpful.

 

This publication is based on the photography and visit of this cemetery by C. Wayne Austin 7 Feb 2012 with the help of Smitty Townsend and his sister Annie Townsend Hendrix. Added to this site 12 Feb 2012 by C. Wayne Austin. Many of these listings were previously published in the book Giles County Tn Cemeteries by the Historical Society, 1989.