Miss Leila Foote Rose: "Gather the rose buds while ye may"

Miss Leila F. Rose, born 1848, was a daughter of Simri Rose, the developer of Rose Hill Cemetery.  She died at the young age of seventeen years, and was laid to rest in the family burial lot.

A tribute to young Leila was printed in the 5th August 1865 Macon Telegraph (Georgia) newspaper.  I enjoyed reading it, so thought I'd share it here.  I was especially impressed with the implication, no matter how benign, that Leila went through some growing pains -- a notion that certainly applies to teenagers to this day, more than 150 years after her death.

OBITUARY.
LEILA F. ROSE.
"Gather the rose buds while ye may,
For time is ever flying;
The lovely flower that blooms to-day,
To-morow shall be dying."

How forcibly are we reminded of the truth of the above thought, by the early and untimely death of our young friend.

"Your life is even a vapour that continueth for a little while, and then vanisheth away."

The promises of love and friendship serve for the time to brighten the future prospect and awaken joyous anticipations which dissipate the shadows that early begin to gather around the pathway; but like all the hopes of earth, they must die in disappointment.  If we taste them, it is only to quicken our thirst for a deeper draught, and then -- to feel more painfully the loss of short-lived pleasures which were once our own.

The calm dignity, the eminent social qualities, the urbanity of our young friend had gathered around her a large circle of associates, who appreciated the pleasures of her society.

Three years ago she felt the importance of seeking more enduring pleasures than could be obtained in the fitful enjoyments of the world.  She sought the peace of heart which comes from above, the gift of grace, the value of which is seemingly enhanced by a consciousness of moral and religious rectitude.  Under the abiding and cheering conviction that she had obtained the "pearl of great price," she united with the Baptist church of this city, of which she remained a member until taken to the church triumphant.

Under the impulses of her vivacious young nature, the peculiar temptations of the times, and the influence of young companions, she, like thousands of others who have enjoyed much longer experiences in walking the "path of the just," wavered for a time, but soon saw and felt her folly and abandoned it.

On her dying bed she enjoyed this sentiment, which she requested a friend to sing,

"Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God;
He to save my soul from danger
Interposed His precious blood."

Her many good qualities of mind and heart bid fair to develop a true, noble and useful woman, and constitute her an ornament of the church, but at the early age of seventeen years, she has been called to a seat in the upper sanctuary.  She died in the calm and full assurance of her acceptance with God through the merits of His Son.

"Early, bright, transient, chaste as the morning dew,
She sparkled, was exhaled and went to heaven."

Marion Preston Rose (1840-1861), Leila Foote Rose (1848-1865), and Annie Rose Ross (1850-1888) were sisters.  Other siblings, though unknown to these three, were mentioned here.  Edgar Alfred Ross (1850-1929) was the husband of Annie.  He married again, a few years after Annie's death, to Fanny Prescott (1857-1938).

The flip side of this granite obelisk bears the inscription for Simri Rose (1799-1869) and his wife Lavinia Blount Rose (1812-1883).

Children of Simri & Lavinia Rose (Wednesday's Child x 3)

Three children of Simri and Lavinia Rose.  This stone can be found in the Magnolia Ridge section of Rose Hill Cemetery.

Virginia Caroline
Born July 1st, 1831
Died Mar 10th, 1833

Caroline Georgia
Born Apr 4th, 1833
Died Oct 22d, 1833

Augustus Beall
Born June 26th, 1834
Died Feb'y 4th, 1836

They bloom in Heaven.

Notice Virginia Caroline died less than a month before the birth of Caroline Georgia.  Unless remains were moved from another location, this is likely not the site of their burial.  This lot was purchased by Simri Rose in 1840.

As buds of earth born flowers
came they forth.

And were cut down.

Blount Family Cenotaph: the Golden Bowl was Broken

Lots in Rose Hill Cemetery began to be sold about May of 1840.  According to the cemetery's records, the lot where the following stone, memorializing members of the James Blount family, was placed was purchased by Simri Rose – the developer of Rose Hill – on 28 July 1840.  Unless remains were moved from another location, the stone placed is a cenotaph:  "a tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere." [Merriam-Webster]

Rumor has it James and Elizabeth Blount were buried in Jones County, Georgia.

James Blount
Born 28th June 1780
Died 12th Dec 1820
Son of Col. Edmund and Judith Blount
of Washington Co, N.C.

Elizabeth Blount
Consort of James Blount
Daughter of P. S. and Nancy Roulhac
Born 4th Oct 1786
Died 17th Feb 1834

Edmund Sharpe Blount
Son of James & Elizabeth Blount
Born 10th Sept 1806
Died in 1826

Erected by John M. Blount, 1851.

Father
This marble to thy memory
the "Golden Bowl was broken"
when scarce I knew thee

Mother
for the lessons thou hast taught me

Brother
I can give thee but a tomb, it
bears thy name too soon.

Note:  "the Golden Bowl was broken" references the Bible.  Ecclesiastes 12:6 (KJV), to be specific – "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth..."

⁵…because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets.

⁶Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

⁷Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it…

Gov. Nathaniel Edwin Harris (1846-1929)

Confederate Soldier.  Governor of Georgia.  Founder of Georgia School of Technology.

The Southern's Ponce de Leon came through here at 8:20 p.m. bearing the body of the distinguished soldier, statesman and educator to his final honors among his friends and neighbors in Macon.

From Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)
23 September 1929 - pg. 1 [via GenealogyBank]

IMPRESSIVE RITE TO MARK FUNERAL OF 'NAT' E. HARRIS

Company of National Guard to Fire Salute Over Casket

PALLBEARERS CHOSEN

High State Officials Among Many to Pay Last Respects to Georgian

Macon, Ga., Sept 22 (AP) -- Georgia tomorrow will pay its last respects to Nathaniel Edwin Harris, former governor, distinguished Confederate veteran and father of the Georgia School of Technology, who died last night at his summer home at Hampton, Tenn., after a lingering illness...

The casket will be draped with the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy and a company of national guardsmen will fire a military salute over the grave.  Taps will be sounded as the casket is lowered.

...Governor Harris was 84 years of age and had been suffering for more than a year from trouble that forced his retirement from public life.  During the last few weeks he had been sinking gradually and his illness, together with advanced age, soon wore down his resistance.  The end came a few hours after he lost consciousness yesterday afternoon.  The family was at his bedside for several days before his death...

Further Reading:
Myers, Barton. "Nathaniel E. Harris (1846-1929)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 14 May 2013. Web.

4 Jeffers Brothers in the Confederate Army

Yesterday, I shared with you a life story of 1st Lieut. Eugene C. Jeffers, one of the Immortal 600.  He was just one of four* Jeffers brothers from Macon, Georgia to serve in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War.

These brothers were sons of John Eugene and Eliza W. Jeffers.  The family came to Georgia from Virginia about the early 1830s.

I can't provide much more information about John Jeffers beyond what you can see on his government issued tombstone.  The 1850 Bibb County, Georgia Federal census records do suggest he was born in Virginia.  They also indicate John was occupied as a painter prior to the war.

Lieut. Edward Gilbert Jeffers was also born in Virginia, about 1826-1827.  In February of 1850, he married Adeline J. Andrews in Bibb County.  The couple had at least two children:  Willis Anna and John E. Jeffers.

Since the Jeffers boys' father had died in 1848, Edward seemingly took over as clerk of the inferior court, the position held by his father.  For the 1860 census, however, Edward's occupation was listed as Livery Stable Keeper.

Edward enlisted into Confederate service at Macon, Georgia on 15 March 1861.  He was well thought of as an officer, and was recommended for promotion by Gen. Slaughter in a letter dated June 1863 [via Fold3]:

I take pleasure in recommending Lt E. G. Jeffers as a competent officer, and one who fully merits advancement.  He has been under my observation and command since 1861.  My opinion of his ability is further established by the fact of his being the only officer of his regt that was retained after it was disbanded, which was due to his having the confidence of his superiors.  His conduct during the bombardment of Pensacola was highly honorable to him; and at once distinguished him as an efficient officer...

This was attached to a letter from local citizen Thomas Hardeman, and forwarded to Hon. A. H. Kenan:

Lt Jeffers is a man of family -- gave up an office at home -- upon which he was dependent, & left with Georgia's first troops for the field.  He is now in command of a company, who have charge of a stationary battery, at Mobile.

Lieut. Edward Jeffers survived the war, but only lived to the age of about 50 years.

Albert V. Jeffers might have been the last son born to John and Eliza.  He most certainly was the youngest of the four profiled here.  Prior to the Civil War, Albert was occupied as a carpenter.

Pvt. Jeffers was enlisted into Confederate service in March of 1862 at Macon.  Muster rolls count him as either present or sick – he had issues with chronic Rheumatism – until May of 1864.  Then he was noted as, "absent; missing in action May 6, 1864 - Supposed to have been captured."

Another card from Albert's file within the Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia database at Fold3 provides he was indeed captured as a prisoner of war and held by the Union Army at Fort Delaware.  Albert was exchanged 18 September 1864.

A funeral notice for Albert appeared in the 20 July 1890 edition of the Macon Telegraph.  He was laid to rest in Rose Hill Cemetery that summer Sunday afternoon.

These fours sons were buried in the same lot as their parents, whose graves appear to be unmarked.

*At least two more sons – William H. and Thomas – were born to John and Eliza Jeffers.  They both are found in the 1850 Bibb County, Georgia Federal census, but I do not know what became of them after.

1st Lieut. Eugene C. Jeffers, One of the "Immortal 600"

Eugene C. Jeffers was born about 1833 in Virginia to John E. and Eliza W. Jeffers.  Within a few years of Eugene's birth, the family moved to Georgia.  In 1848, when Eugene was a young adult, his father died at the age of 49.

Eugene Jeffers enlisted as a junior 2nd lieutenant in Company I of the 61st Georgia Infantry before October 1861.  He was promoted to 1st lieutenant 2 July 1863.  Muster rolls after that date and through April 1864 listed him as Present.  The 3 November 1864 roll, however, stated he was absent; "in hands of enemy."

Eugene was captured by the Union army as a Prisoner of War near Spottsylvania, Virginia in May of 1864.  He was received at Fort Delaware from Point Lookout, Maryland the next month.  By December of the same year, 1st Lieutenant Eugene Jeffers was listed on a roll of prisoners at Fort Pulaski off the coast of Georgia.

That last card from Fold3's Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Georgia pushed me toward researching the names of the "Immortal 600."

I visited Fort Pulaski six years ago, and the following is on an informational marker at the historic site:

The Immortal 600 were a group of Confederate officers held as prisoners of war at Fort Pulaski during the bitterly cold winter of 1864-1865.  They were moved here from Charleston where they had been placed in the line of artillery fire in retaliation for what was viewed as similar treatment of Union POW's.

The fallen officers endured many hardships, including a six-week diet of rancid cornmeal and pickles…From dysentery, chronic diarrhea, scurvy, and pneumonia, thirteen of the prisoners died while here at Fort Pulaski.

Wikipedia adds this:  "They are known as the 'Immortal Six Hundred' because they refused to take an oath of allegiance to the U.S. under duress." For a more complete account of this Civil War history, please read this article at HistoryNet.

And, finally, a list of the Immortal 600 – on which you can locate 1st Lieut. Eugene Jeffers – is here.

Eugene Jeffers survived his captivity, but his life may have been shortened because of it.  Eugene died 9 December 1873, about the age of just 40 years.  He was laid to rest near his parents at Rose Hill Cemetery.

Nothing Good Comes With a 2 a.m. Telegram

He left to join the Navy and never returned, but not for the reason you might think.

Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)
Saturday, 15 August 1903 - pg. 2 [via Newspaper Archive at GenealogyBank]

ADDISON C. HOOK BURIED IN MACON

Young Georgian Who Lost His Life in New York State Sunday -- Little News of How He Was Killed.
Macon, Ga., Aug 14 -- (Special) -- The remains of Addison C. Hook, Jr., of Atlanta, who was killed Sunday night in Rochester, N.Y., by an elevated railway train, reached the city this morning and were laid to rest in the old Lake burial grounds in Rose Hill cemetery.  Mr. and Mrs. Hook, parents of the young man and Mr. Sid Smith, a kinsman of Mrs. Hook, came along with the remains.

So far Mr. Hook knows little of the circumstances surrounding the fatal injury to and the death of his son.  In addition to a letter dated the 11th, received by Mrs. Hook, this morning all that is known came to Mr. Hook from the chief of police at Rochester.  Sunday night last at 2 o'clock Mr. Hook received through the chief of police at Atlanta a telegram from the chief at Rochester stating that his son had been run over by a train at 10:30 Sunday night and that he was then at the Rochester city hospital in a dying condition.  Monday morning about 7 o'clock Mr. Hook received a second telegram informing him that his son had died at 5 o'clock that morning.  Over the long distance telephone Mr. Hook was told by the Rochester chief that his son had been found beside the track with the right arm and the right leg crushed off and that he was conscious when brought to the hospital, but that he had been unable to give any account of the accident or to tell anything except his name and and [sic] home.  Mr. Hook was also notified that the railroad company demanded an inquest.  Through Hon. Hoke Smith, of Atlanta, the father arranged for the presence of attorneys at the inquest.  On Tuesday afternoon at 7 o'clock the body left Rochester in charge of the American Express Co., and taking a round about way, did not reach Atlanta until 5 o'clock this morning.  Mr. and Mrs. Hook and Mr. Smith left Atlanta over the Central at 7:50 this morning, the body being consigned to Undertaker Burghard of this city.

Young Hook left Atlanta last week for Brooklyn, N. Y., to join his brother, Robert Hook, who is in the United States navy at Brooklyn, with a view to entering the service.  He was in Buffalo last Sunday and during the day went to Niagara.  That afternoon he wrote his father stating that he would leave for Albany, where he would take boat for New York.  He probably stopped off at Rochester on his way and by so doing lost his life.

Addison C. Hook, Jr., was about 18 years of age and was reared in Atlanta.  His father is one of the best known travelling men in the south.  His mother was Miss Sally Lake, daughter of the late Francis Lake, a member of the firm of Greer, Lake & Co., years ago one of the leading grocery houses of this city.  He was a young man of good habits and good reputation and was popular with all who knew him.

The Rosses of Rose Hill

In the Central Avenue Division West of Rose Hill Cemetery (block 8), is the burial ground for some members of the ROSS family.  You can't miss it.  Several of the tombstones are tall and ornate, to be sure, but what always strikes me is their stark white color.  They stand out prominently among the surroundings.

There are at least eleven family members buried in this lot purchased by John B. Ross.  The patriarch of this branch of the family was Mr. Luke Ross.  He and his wife, Mary Grimes, came to the Macon area from Martin County, North Carolina in the early 1800s.  John was a son of Luke and Mary.

As was written in his obituary (Macon Weekly Telegraph, 24 September 1844), "For some weeks previous to his last and fatal illness, he [Luke Ross, Esq.] seemed to have a premonition of his approaching dissolution." The family burial lot was purchased by son John about four months prior to Luke's death.  But what might be even more telling, is the sale of the plantation known as Ross' Place even earlier in the year.  It was described in the local newspaper as being "two miles above Macon, on the East side of the Ocmulgee River, containing 400 acres -- 250 acres cleared, 200 of which is first rate Corn and Cotton Land, under tolerable good fence."

This coincides with what was written by G. S. Dickerman in the The House of Plant about 1900 regarding the settlement of the Luke Ross family in middle Georgia:

It was about this time or in 1821, that Mr. Luke Ross having come from North Carolina with his family and all his effects, arrived at old Fort Hawkins and proceeded to select a place for his future home.  The spot decided upon was on the east side of the [Ocmulgee] river in what is now East Macon, and about two miles distant from Macon itself...

The rest of the marked burials in the Ross lot belong to John B. Ross and his immediate family.  Col. Ross was born 1808 in North Carolina, and first married Ann Lane Holt in 1834, Macon.  She was a daughter of Tarpley and Elizabeth "Betsy" (Flewellen) Holt.  This union produced five children:  William Henry (b. abt 1837), Tarpley Holt (1840-1848), John Franklin, Ann Flewellyn (d. 1892), and Carolina Virginia.

Tarpley Holt and John Franklin Ross are both buried in the family lot at Rose Hill.  John "died on the field of honor" in Kentucky, 1862.  He was just nineteen years old.

After Ann's death in 1844, John married Martha Leonora Redding in March of 1845, Macon.  She was a daughter of William Chambliss and Margaret (Flewellyn) Redding.  Martha's mother was a sister to Ann's mother.  John and Martha produced six more children:  Mary Matthews (b. 1846), Nora (d. 1855), Viola (b. abt 1850), Margaret Redding (1852-1917), Fanny Elvira (d. 1898), and Martha Florence (1857-1922).

Nora and Martha Florence Ross are buried in the family lot at Rose Hill Cemetery.

After the death of Martha Leonora (Redding) Ross in 1858, John waited eight years before marrying for the final time.  His third wife was Mary Ann (Lamar) Longstreet.  Mary was the daughter of L. Q. C. Lamar, and the widow of James Longstreet.

John had three more children with Mary:  John Bennett Jr. (b. 1867), Thompson Lamar (b. 1870), and Donald Graeme (b. 1877).  The final son was born just a couple months before the death of his father.

John B. Ross was laid to rest beside his first two wives in Rose Hill.

The other two marked burials in the Ross family lot are for Graeme Dickerman Plant (1894-1964) and his wife Elizabeth Davenport (1897-1988).  Graeme was a grandson of John B. and Martha (Redding) Ross.  The parents of Graeme, Margaret Redding Ross and Robert Hazlehurst Plant, also rest in Rose Hill – in a lot adjacent to the Ross family.

Video of Ross Family Burial Lot in Rose Hill Cemetery, from 2009:

History of this branch of the Ross family available here: