PORTRESS-MOORE CEMETERY, Odd Fellow Hall Rd, GILES COUNTY TENNESSEE

Mapping the Location
 

Area view photos of the Portress-Moore Cemetery:4891W/4873/4874/4875/4878/4882/4883/4884/4885/4886/4887/4888/4889
/4890/4891/The Portress-Moore home:4893
 

ANDERSON, Virginia Agness, dau of W. & R.(Willis & Rebecca) Portress, wife of S. S. Anderson, 23 Oct 1830 - 30 Mar 1881. I miss thee dear, Mother & Wife ...... That the deepest shade fell on my sunny spot. Though only twas I was chained to the world I then tread. My affections, my thoughts were alert but now, they have followed thy spirit to God. 4866C/4866/4872
HARWELL, Little Owen Welburne, son of J.F. & Loren Harwell, 25 Oct 1885 - 28 May 1886. Buried deep (s/o James F. and Lorena Anderson Harwell). 4876/4877/4878C
MOORE, Benjamin F., 26 Feb 1823 - 16 May 1901 (h/o Ann Rebecca Portress Moore)4869C/4869/4870
MOORE, Ann Rebecca, wife of Benjamin F. Moore, 10 Oct 1827 - 21 Sep 1906 (d/o Willis and Rebecca Brown Portress) 4868C/4868/4870
MOORE, Florence R., 5 Aug 1859 - 16 Sep 1863 (d/o Benjamin F. and Ann Rebecca Portress Moore) It must be sweet in childhood to give back the spirit to its maker ere the heart has grown familiar with the paths of sin. 4861/4860/footstone F.R.M.:4880
PORTRESS, In Memory of W. F. Portress & Rebecca B. Portress, 1800 - 1876, dates not proven to census)4864C/4864/4875
PORTRESS, W. (Willis) F., 1798 - 1876 Census says born about 1798. and died between 1870 and 1880.Pvt Seldens' Va. Militia.** 4864C/4864/4875
PORTRESS, Mary "Poly" Rebecca B. (Brown), 1802 - 1865. She died between 1860 & 1866 (2nd marriage date of Willis) hence d. about 1865 4864C/4864/4875/footstone R.B.P.:4892
THOMPSON, Adela, wife of A. J. Thompson, dau of B. F. & A. R. Moore,  14 Sep 1848 - 29 Sep 1875. While here beloved Now gone lamented  4862/footstone A.T.:4881
THOMPSON, Clarence L., 3 Aug 1875 - 6 May 1896. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. 4863C/4863/4867/4871
WEST, Fauntainella, dau of Willis & Rebecca Portress, (2nd) Wife of D. (David) K. West 16 Jun 1838 - 15 Apr 1877 Funeral Text by Dr. Rivers, D.D. Meany Daughter, have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.*** 4865C/4865/wife of D.K. West:4891/4874

Unknown memorial stone wedged under the tree growth - probably a footstone to Fauntainela Portress:4879
 

** Willis remarried to Levena Simmons m. 16 Jan 1866 after the death of Rebecca. He 1st married to Mary Rebecca "Polly" Brown in Virginia in 1827 who later assumed her middle name of Rebecca. (my Conclusion) Her mother Sallie Brown is found in the 1870 census as 70 years old adding proof to the above conclusion.

*** David was 1st married to Fauntainella Portress listed above. After Fauntainella died in 1877 David remarried to Sue [Strong] [McClellan] of Limestone County Alabama. Sue was a widow of William C. McClellan resulting from the Civil War. See McClellan Cemetery Limestone Co Alabama. David & Sue West are both interred in Maplewood Cemetery in Pulaski in unmarked graves I believe in plot 608 New Maplewood section.

Census reporting on the Portress family from 1850 to 1870. The parents are not found in the Census by 1880 in fact Rebecca is gone by 1870 leaving us approximating their death dates:
 

1st & 2nd marriage of Willis after Mary "Polly" Rebecca Brown Portress died in about 1865: - Also Willis Potress's military service:

So we can visualize from this grave and census info that the Willis & Rebecca Portress family left Virgina and arrived in Tennessee about 1830 and built or purchased the ole 2 story mansion home place to the southeast of the cemetery. The first children were born before they left Virginia and after living in Tennessee and rearing children one of the daughters Ann Rebecca Portress married Benjamin F. Moore and then this extended family lived a fairly long life (to early 1900s) after the death of Willis & Rebecca Portress. Another son Jackson McFerrin Portress lived longer so he may or may not have taken over the farm after the death of the Benjamin Moore family, but there is no evidence of that in the above display of information. These conclusions just follow the grave and census patterns.

While this cemetery has been neglected and abused in the past from falling trees, livestock. It would do no good to restore & stand the stones back up without protection from the cattle and elimination of the trees. Nor are the bases of the stones level enough to stand on the side of a hill. This lack levelness adds another reason the stones have all fallen down. So restoring this cemetery including fencing and restoration of the stones is not plausible unless it is done correctly and then a minimal amount of maintenance is applied to keep the vegetation out and the stones level. Also some of the stones need to be glued back. I recommend a three wire fence with the upper and lower wires smooth and the center one barbed wire. That would allow the cattle to eat the grass inside the fence to about 2 feet in without allowing them to push over the fence trying to get to the grass out of reach. The other part of the restored cemetery stones area could then be trimmed with a weed eater about 3 times each summer and that is a plan for long term survival of this cemetery. Care should be taken not to allow any growth of trees. I call this a minimal maintenance cemetery method.
 

Added here 5 Jan 2016i. This cemetery is also listed on Page 447 of the book Giles County Tennessee Tombstone inscriptions, by the Historical Society. about 1988. It is what I term a lost cemetery since it is not publically mapped or instructions cannot be found to this cemetery anywhere and most especially not on USGS mapping. Thanks to Judy Griffin for notifying me of the information that Pam (admin) for the Maplewood Cemetery knew where this cemetery is located. I am related to the folks interred in this cemetery by marriage.