PHELPS CEMETERY (Wales Community, Hwy 166), GILES COUNTY, TENNESSEE
Phelps Cemetery Signage:
8805
The adjacent farm pond & road area to the
cemetery: 8828
Graves inside the fence:
Area overviews of fenced
section of the cemetery: 8806/8827/8829/8830/8831/8849
BLACK, Newton L., son of W.H. & Eliza P. Black, 19 Jun 1855 - 4 May 1857.
(This family migrated to Lawrence Co Tn sometime
after this child died) 8809/8809C/8809R
BURKS, Elwood, 26 Jul 1928 - 3 Jul 1986. 8819
BURKS, Christine, 29 Jan 1929 - no other date.
8819
*CRABTREE, Crawford L., 21 Jan 1918 - 12 Sep 2010. (Lincoln Co. native; s/o
late Garland L. Crabtree and Robbie Lou Touchstone Crabtree; h/o Sarah Elizabeth
Phelps Higgins Crabtree; Veteran U.S. Army, Co. I, 179 Infantry, 45th Division,
WWII; retired Supervisor with Bargain Town U.S.A. and greeter for Wal-Mart;
member of American Legion Post 11 in Florence, Al.; preceded in death by son,
Thomas Gerald Crabtree on Dec 17, 2003, two brothers, Garland L. Jr., and Robert
Crabtree, sister, Macie McKinney and step grandson, Joseph Logan Higgins.)
HIGGINS, Joseph C., 25 Dec 1924 - 2 Nov 1978. 8823
HIGGINS, Sarah E., 5 Aug 1927 - no other date. 8823
HIGGINS, Joseph Logan, Son of Pam & David Higgins, 2 Oct 1983 - 2 Oct 1983.
8824
McCLURE, Virginia Phelps, 30 Oct 1925 - 1 Oct 2008. "A beautiful person to know
and love." 8807
PHELPS, John, 1804 - 14 Apr 1873 m. 12 Oct 1837 to Virginia Ann (Black)
Phelps 1813 - 7 Oct 1869 John's last will was written 19 Dec 1872. (It is
believed he lies here, not certain if out or inside fence.)***
Notes
PHELPS, Weakley, 15 June 1880 - 14 Dec 1960. Father. 8818/8820/8821
PHELPS, Henretta, 4 Jan 1904 - 4 Oct 1951. Mother. 8818/8820/8822
PHELPS, John H., 9 Jan 1883 - 27 Jan 1952.
8817
PHELPS, Neal S., 25 Mar 1848 - 15 Dec 1925. "Father", Pfc Co K 6th Tenn Cav. C.S.A.
Cross of Honor. Only 13 years old when the war began; military marker soiled by
Fire Ant Hill. 8814C/8813/8814
PHELPS, Sarah, 7 Nov 1854 - death date left off. "Mother",
8814C/8814
PHELPS, Jesse Howard, 20 Mar 1938 - 3 Jun 1999. 8808
PHELPS, Dean, 2 Mar 1933 - 2 Oct 2001. married to Mary F. 23 Jan 1965.
8810
PHELPS, Mary F., 3 Jan 1944 - no other date. married to Dean Phelps 23 Jan
1965. 8810
PHELPS, Earl, 11 Oct 1923 - 27 Nov 1996. PO2 (Petty
Officer 2) US Navy, WWII. 8826/8825
PHELPS, Terry Shane, 30 Dec 1970 - 14 Mar 1990. "Son" 8812/8811
PHELPS, Dorothy Marie, 20 Jun 1938 - 3 Jul 1938. "Baby" 8816/8815
Graves outside the fence - oldest area -
north & west of the fence (Has as of 31 Dec 2015 been fenced and cleared and
highlighters applied to weak inscriptions by the sister of Rhonda Miller who is
obviously artistically talented:
Area overviews of the section
outside the fence: 8832/8841
BARLAR, Frances Lawhorn, 1853 - 1889. (daughter of Thomas & Mary White Lawhorn; 1st wife of Alfred Jordan Barlar who is interred in Arlington Cemetery,
Mt Pleasant Tn,
beside his 2nd wife Martha Hollingsworth Barlar, Maury Co.; she died in the
Wales Community. AJ worked here in early years of their marriage; Family passed
it down that she is buried in the Phelps Cemetery outside the fence among the other fieldstones
marked graves.)
8216
(Cenotaph memorial now located in Gibsonville Cemetery)
CARRELL, James, Died 2 Apr 1856. about 70 years of age.
(surname inscribed as Carrell, but may be Carvell or Carroll)**
8838/year 1989 photo
H..... T...., 29 Mar 1892 (or 1899?). Only date visible. (Initials T.H. and Mar
29, 1899, are all that is visible on this fieldstone.)
8834C/8834
Graves marked only with Fieldstones:8832/8833/8835/8836/8837/8839/8840/8841/8842/8843/8844/
8845/8846/8847/8848/8850/8851/8852/8853/photo
snapped in 1989
** Census of 1850 has James Carroll living with Nancy (Luty) according to
Ancestry.com records. Nancy was his wife and after he died Nancy Carroll was
living in the household of Thomas M & Nancy Campbell. Does this mean Nancy
Campbell was their daughter? You study it. See Campbell-Smith Cemetery
***
My first introduction to
Phelp Cemetery
I was introduced to this cemetery
in 1989 by two older cousins Hilliard & Isaac Leonard Jr. Barlar who were
themselves 1st cousins, both deceased now. I was shown the fenced area and the
fieldstone marked grave area of the cemetery where only one very old stone is
formally inscribed. They told about my/their ancestor Alfred J. Barlar and his first wife
Frances Lawhorn who lived in this area in a little
house across the road over on the nearby hill across Campbellsville Road.
They told that in their earlier years the A.J. Barlar's had less than
substantial means. A. J. worked as a farm labor hand for one of the large farms
in the area. After birthing the family of three boys and a girl in 1889
Frances took sick and died and was laid to rest here in the Phelps Cemetery.
Imaging that, have four kids on farm labor wages. Since money was scarce she was
not given a marked headstone. At that time in 1889 only two marked stones
were in this cemetery, but there were many burials under fieldstones. This is a
very old cemetery.
In 1992 due to the abandoned condition of the unfenced part of Phelps Cemetery
the descendents of Frances Lawhorn Barlar decided to install a memorial in the
Gibsonville Cemetery 10 miles north of this place up Hwy 166/245. Their decision
was based on the Gibsonville Cemetery being well maintained. In 1989 when I was
there the 1st time there was a chain link fence around two or three monuments
and the rest of the cemetery was infested in weeds & brush and this cemetery was
practically abandoned. Today the fenced area is well maintained as you will
notice.
The area outside the fence has been weeded only by cattle grazing. The cattle
will eventually trample all the fieldstones over so that the graves will no
longer be visibly marked by stones. The fieldstones are just common lime
boulders that are tall shaped. They are buried on their edge deep into the
ground facing east/west mostly at the head of the grave and sometimes another at
the grave foot.
Strange, but true to life encounter at Phelps Cemetery
In the 2000 era this cemetery entrance eluded me for a time after that initial visit in 1989. Because of all the farm fencing changes and added growth of vegetation & housing I was unable to easily locate the access road for several years or the few times I drove by. When I drove up Hwy 166 I always looked left into the entrance area and tried to mark the spot in my mind. As I was driving by there on one occasion about 1995 I noticed two elderly ladies sitting in the middle of the farm road to the cemetery. Though I felt that unusual, I took the occasion to stop and inquire of them to try to regain the knowledge of where the entrance road was located. I struck up a conversation with them & naturally I told them about the Barlar ancestor of mine interred there. When the subject came up as to why they were just sitting there in the middle of the cemetery road in the middle of no where, in this very rural area, their answer was that they were going to be buried in this cemetery when they died, and they just wanted to be familiar with this place. Now that is the first & last time I have encountered that situation in a cemetery. I thought it a bit strange, but then maybe not. I did not ask them their names and would keep it private if I knew. Having relocated where the Phelps Cemetery road entrance was I drove on my way to Maury County in search of another elusive ancestral cemetery there. A few years later a house was built in front of the cemetery road and then a locked gate was installed along with the farm pond dug south of the cemetery. Years later (2015) these ladie's niece (Rhonda) informed me that they lived here and was to be interred here and thus felt a closeness to this place.
Transcribed by C. Wayne Austin from site visits, photography & family history records 7 Oct 2009 12:10 PM & a few photos about 1989. Added here 4 Aug 2010 by C. Wayne Austin. This cemetery is also presented in the book Giles County Tennessee Cemeteries on page 437, published by the Historical Society 1986. Added John Phelps 18 Dec 2015 with the help of Rhonda Miller a descendent.