MITCHELL-ABERNATHY, (Hwy 31 East side at antebellum old home) - GILES COUNTY TENNESSEE

Mapping the Location

Area views of the cemetery: 0634/0635/0636

ABERNATHY, Colston, 10 Jan 1808 - Oct 1899, (Brunswick co. Va. native; s/o James B. Abernathy and Frances M. Jennings Abernathy; h/o Annabelle Bass Abernathy; new small granite marker; Rick Gray on findagrave says the name is misspelled on the tombstone as Coalson. He and sources have proof.) 0625C/0625
ABERNATHY, Anna Bell (Bass), (4 Feb) 1814 - (16 May) 1866, (Giles Co. native; d/o nathan H. Bass & Martha Beaty Bass; w/o Colston Abernathy: Ref: e-mail to Mary Bob from Rick Gray; new small granite marker.) 0625C/0625
ABERNATHY, Buckner, 11 Aug 1881 - 28 Nov 1908. 0637C/0627/0628/0637
ABERNATHY, John W., 6 Jul 1852 - 31 Jul 1905. 0624C/0624
ABERNATHY, Catherine A. (nee; Catherine Alexander Tarpley Abernathy), 11 Nov 1852 - 3 Dec 1931. (wife of John W. Abernathy) 0624C/0624
ABERNATHY, John A., 24 Sep 1875 - 16 Apr 1900. (Dark blue upright monitor in the distance. I failed to photograph the inscription.) 0635L
ABERNATHY, Rose F., daughter of Cape Abernathy, no dates, no marker.
COX, Edwin R., 23 Jan 1846 - 19 Jan 1929. Father 0626
COX, Augusta A., 8 Nov 1853 - 24 Dec 1924. Mother  0626
MITCHELL, Marcus, 2 Oct 1774 - 23 Sep 1836. 0629C/0629/0630/0634
MITCHELL, Elizabeth, 22 Nov 1845, In the 67th year of her age. 0631/0632/0640/0641/0634
REASONOVER, Marcus J., 27 Mar 1828 - 25 May 1828. 0633/0638/0639/0634

It is strange seeing a cemetery sitting in a barn yard like it belongs there. This reinforces the knowledge that folks dying long ago and wanted to be buried on their home place, especially since they worked so hard to build up the place did they want their remains to stay of the premises. It has sure made it hard for the descending generations. They have a graveyard when they need a farm space. In that light many proceed to treat the cemetery like a part of the farming operation. You know "its jes some old busted rocks with names on them over by the fence row." Few of the farmers have the interest and resources to fence the cemetery and care for the gravestones as is needed for the long term survival of the memorials. Fewer still, of the many descendents, step in and offer a hand. Too often the descendents get all worked up and go there and cut the brush and set up the stones; then in short order forget the place which means it all reverts right back to the state of abandonment such as rampant growth of trees uprooting the graves and stones, fences fallen or trampled by livestock as they also rub against the stones causing them to fall and break. Its a vicious cycle of decline showing up on this site as stones not photographed and in many case some not even known about, meaning totally unmarked graves. We find them in the censuses and track them up to old age  and bingo there is no gravestone. Now in some case that is deliberate because of the high cost of gravestones, even religious reasons, or others putting a low value on life and memorials. In so many other cases though the stone is lost to nature, neglect or even vandals.

Visited & photographed 22 Mar 2012 by C. Wayne Austin. Initial typing by Faye Bradford. Added to this site 29 Jun 2012 by C. Wayne Austin. Also published in the book Giles County Cemeteries, Page 371 by the Historical Society 1986. Presented on Findagrave.com with 7 listings and one photo which I put there to satisfy a photo request. They also have the name wrong, as Mitchell-Coalson. There is an Coalson Abernathy for whom shares the name with Marcus Mitchell, so precisely the name in the Giles Co Cem book was Mitchell-Abernathy (Coalson) and I dropped the Coalson because in the interest of fairness I would need to give it this name: Mitchell (Marcus)-Abernathy (Coalson) Cem.