BILLS FAMILY CEMETERY, MOORESVILLE PIKE, MAURY COUNTY TENNESSEE

This cemetery has been removed to the Rose Hill Cemetery though I have not as yet verified that. For now I offer very general directions: The cemetery is/was located out Mooreville Pike about three miles on the right. 
Mr Fred Hawkins offers this instruction in 1987: Go south on Mooresville Pike from Highway 50 three miles. The cemetery is on the right side of the road beside a barn on the A.T. Hill place. However, I am sure it is not the A.T. Hill place today nor do I believe the barn to be still standing.

Locator Map     Cemetery photo view

BILLS, Isaac, 19 Nov 1773 - 24 Aug 1821. Box tomb, War of 1812. Son of Deborah Denman and Daniel Gersham Bills, Father of Placebo M. Bills and Isaac Newton Bills; mar. to Lillias Houston Bills.
BILLS, Isaac Newton, 26 Sep 1812 - 14 Oct 1854. ( Son of Isaac Newton & Lillias Houston Bills, Box tomb.)
BILLS, Lillias Houston, 6 Nov 1773 - 26 Feb 1850. "For 27 years the consort of Isaac Bills, Esq. from whose union came Alvin W., John H., Placebo M., Sarah E., Olivia L, Isaac N., and Martha E., by whom this monument is erected as a tribute of respect to an affectionate mother."; Box tomb. (Daughter of Christopher Houston and Sarah Mitchell Houston.) [ref: Mr. Dan Woodruff a Houston descendant.]
BILLS, Placebo M., 13 Feb 1803 - 20 Apr 1828. ( Son of Isaac Newton & Lillias Houston Bills; Box tomb.)
HALE, Jane W., 24 Jan 1829 - 5 Sep 1850.
HALE, Sarah E., 9 Jan 1850.  "Infant child of Mrs. Jane W. Hale."
SMITH, Mary D., 24 Mar 1834 - 11 Sep 1856. "Consort of Dr. B.F. Smith." Box tomb.

I was advised by Bills descendent Jack Dugger who lived near here at one time that one of the last purchasers of the property removed the cemetery to downtown Columbia to the Rose Hill Cemetery.   See details of E-mail conversation with Jack Dugger concerning his Bills Ancestors. 

This is a very old cemetery with several box tombs & I just imagine in the outlining areas unmarked slave graves. I would hope complete consideration for that along with other unmarked graves would have occurred. [Wayne Austin 5 Jan 09]. It is likely if there were unmarked graves that those could have been considered in this moved

Updated Oct 2011 E-mails from Linda Wallace Garrett:

From: RAY GARRETT <ldg2143@hotmail.com>
To: wayneal1 <wayneal1@aol.com>
Sent: Mon, Oct 24, 2011 9:40 pm
Subject: Bills Cemetery

I am a 5th generation from Daniel Bills. The information of the Bills Cemetery being removed to Rose Hill Cemetery in Columbia, Tennessee is correct documents and today can be researched at Oaks & Nichols Funeral Home, West 7th Street, Columbia, TN 38401. When Mr. Kelly Greene purchased the Bills' Place (from 1797 to abt 1807) around 1997, Mr. Frank Sowell of the Funeral Home actually supervised the remove of the six (6) graves seven (7) bodies to Rose Hill Cemetery.
The burial plot (Bills Cemetery) on Mooresville Pike was enclosed by a circular planting of Trees. As of 2007 these trees could be seen from Mooresville's Pike but as of today (Oct. 2011) bushes and trees have grown up at the road side preventing viewing.

The Oaks & Nichols Funeral home will be able to tell us the lot and location of the new graves in Rose Hill. The grave slabs were also carefully moved to the new grave lots at Rose Hill Cemetery. Mr. Sowell also stated that the caskets were in remarkable condition. Mr. Frank Sowell has now passed away but his son Mr. Tony Sowell should be able to help us.

Daniel Bills (1740-1829) and his wife Deborah Bills (1745-1819) are buried in the Houston Cemetery in nearby Marshall County. This is about 1 mile off of Interstate 65 at exit 32. I have not been there, a neighbor of the cemetery told me is it very grown up as of (2005). To get to that cemetery take exit 32 from I-65 and go east toward Lewisburg. However almost immediately turn back south or right onto Globe Road and go about a mile and the cemetery will be out in a field between the road and the creek with the noise from I-65 heard further west across from the creek.

Hope this helps, if there is any more information that I can help with let me know.

Linda Wallace Garrett
931.388.2143
ldg2143@hotmail.com
Columbia, Tn 38401


RE: Bills Cemetery
From: RAY GARRETT <ldg2143@hotmail.com>
ldg2143@hotmail.com To: Wayne Bills Family <wayneal1@aol.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 25, 2011 10:03 pm

Wayne,
I did speak to one of the Sowells today [owners of Oaks & Nichols Funeral Home] she said she was there when the Bills Cemetery was uncovered and removed to Rose Hill. Everyone was very impressed. The actual caskets were not made of wood, but some type of cast iron.
Something else amazing...a viewing glass opening about the head area. A lot of history people around here went to view the caskets.. - all were astonished. As I also said before all graves had "grave slabs" which were engraved instead of headstones. Mr. Frank Sowell had Mr. Kelly Greene [new property owner of Bills Cemetery Land] purchase vaults for the caskets and a nice head stone for the combination of graves. One more note: Frank Sowell tried with all his might to convince Kelly Greene to leave the BILLS Cemetery intact because of its history, but to no avail. Yes I will gather the information, dates, new lot #'s, notes and any pictures if there is any.

It may take me a while I'm in the middle of my Wallace Family research.

I have information on the Bills back to 1516.


This cemetery listing was listed in the various books of the past. Mr. Fred Lee Hawkins in the book Maury County Tennessee Cemeteries listed this cemetery 17 Mar 1986 on page 463. Before that it was listed in the book They Passed This way page D-144, about 1967. While some of this info came from the above books much of it came from descendents with various ancestral books having common original sources.  [Wayne Austin 4 Jan 2009]  Updated and revised again 26 Oct 2011.