This is going to be one of my shorter blog posts simply because this cemetery is small and I didn’t take many pictures. That may surprise you since my posts usually go over 1,000 words, and often much longer than that.

Thompson Cemetery is located a mere two miles away from Gulf Cemetery, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. Find a Grave lists a total of 34 memorials with the earliest marked burial happening in 1914. Seven of them have the last name of Thompson. It’s interesting to note that the earliest Thompson burial in the cemetery is for Andrew Thompson, Sr., who died in 1959. It makes me wonder what it was called before that. There are several graves simply marked with crosses, their identities unknown.

There isn’t much online about Thompson Cemetery. I did find a website called “Walton Past to Present” that focuses on Walton County, Fla. history. A May 2021 post includes a 1984 newspaper article concerning a new Eagle Scout named John Fleury, then 16 years old. The article notes that Fleury’s Eagle Scout Project was to clean and upgrade the cemetery.

Part of that entailed marking 24 unmarked graves and using a 60-year-old map of the cemetery. That would date that map to 1924. I suspect it was John Fleury who put up those white crosses I mentioned.

Where John Fleury is today and what happened to the map he used at the time is unknown. But the Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation is hoping to find John and see if he knows where that map is.

Who was Mrs. M.J. Potter?

The oldest marked grave in Thompson Cemetery also raises the most questions. Since it’s uncertain if Mrs. M.J. Potter went by the name of her spouse or if her initials “M.J.” are her first and middle names, researching her background is difficult. I could find nothing about her beyond her marker. She is the only Potter in this small cemetery.

It’s frustrating not to know. But as I am finding out through my research of these early Florida graves, sometimes people arrived in this promising paradise near the end of their lives without leaving much evidence (if any) of how they got there.

Father and Son

Thankfully, someone has done the research on the next oldest grave at Thompson Cemetery and that is Andrew Nicholls. He has two markers, one of which I photographed. I did not see the other one that is on Find a Grave, photographed in 2011. This one is flat on the ground and looks like it was carved by the same person who did Mrs. M.J. Potter’s marker.

Here’s the information from Andrew’s Find a Grave memorial:

Andrew was the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Richards) Nicholls/Nichols. The family moved from England to the U.S. where Henry worked as a miner. It is not known where Henry or Elizabeth are buried. Elizabeth lived with Andrew and his family for many years, so she may be buried in Minnesota.

Andrew had a sister, Alice Broad, who is buried at Evergreen Cemetery, Eagle River, Keweenaw County, Mich., and a sister Sarah/Sara Elliott/Elliot, who is buried at Lake View Cemetery, Houghton County, Mich. The burial locations for his brother Henry, and his sister Susan, are unknown.

Besides his daughter Bessie, Andrew also had a son, Thomas.

According to the 1900 U.S. Census, Andrew and his wife, Mary Jane, were farming in Kittson, Minn. with two of their children, Bessie and Thomas. The record indicates they had two other older living children but I don’t know where they ended up.

Bessie, who married Herman Miller in 1902, died a week after giving birth to a son in June 1905 at age 22. She is buried in Stephen, Minn. Sometime between 1910 and Andrew’s death in 1917, Andrew and Mary Jane moved to Santa Rosa Beach.

I located Andrew’s will, which was written only seven days before he died. After his debts/expenses were paid for, he left his estate to Mary Jane. Mary Jane remarried in 1921 to a Thomas Crookshank.

We do know that son Thomas Nicholls made it to Santa Rosa Beach with his parents because he is also buried in Thompson Cemetery, although his marker is barely readable. There’s one very much like it over at Gulf Cemetery.

According to the 1930 U.S. Census, Mary Jane was again a widow and living with Thomas, who was divorced and working as a carpenter. Mary Jane died in 1933 in Santa Rosa Beach but I could not find a burial site for her. I believe she is likely buried at Thompson Cemetery under one of the white crosses. Thomas died on Sept. 20, 1969 at the age of 85.

A Story-Telling Sea Captain

Born on August 5, 1918 in Millville, Fla., Ichabod Mitchel Raybon was something of a rarity in that he was a Florida native. Mitchel shows up at two different residences in the 1930 U.S. Census, so I suspect he split time at both the home of his widowed mother, Mary, and his older married brother, Pasco. Mary died in 1934 when Mitchel was 16. He would go on to spend much of his life as a sea captain, as the anchors on his grave marker testify.

Mitchel has a World War II draft card but I could not find a record of him serving in the military. He married and divorced twice over the years. He died on May 31, 1976 at age 57.

One family story that I found on Ancestry.com noted that Mitchell had a talent for drawing. It also included this quote: “He never lived in one place too long and was known for telling stories.” I can imagine with his occupation being that of a sea captain, it was quite fitting for his personality.

Next time, I’ll be further down the road at Marler Cemetery in Destin.

Happy 2022!

Yes, I’m still at Gulf Cemetery in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. In my last post, I shared some of the history behind this burial ground and some of its oldest markers. Today, I’m going to branch out into some more recent ones since this is an active cemetery.

There are a number of military graves at Gulf Cemetery. One of my favorites is this one for Rick Pfieffer. His military marker is underneath the wreath and I wasn’t inclined to disturb it when I photographed his grave.

A native of Milwaukee, Wisc., Richard “Rick” Pfeiffer (1942-2004) was a Vietnam veteran who spent his final years in Florida. His grave is covered in many different kinds of shells. There’s also a bench positioned across from the grave which tells me there are folks who come to sit a spell with Rick and share a cup of coffee from time to time.

Solving The Mystery of George H. Brown

There are a few Civil War veterans buried at Gulf Cemetery and one presented a bit of a mystery. The only information on his government issued marker is his name and the unit he served in. No birth or death dates. So I got to work trying to find out.

George Hosea Brown was born around 1838 in Rutland County, Vt. He was living in Modena, Ill. and working as a teacher when he enlisted in the 65th Illinois Infantry, Company I, in February 1862. His enlistment rank was that of sergeant so I’m guessing he had some previous military experience.

During the Civil War, the 65th Infantry took part in several skirmishes including the Battle of Resaca, the Siege of Atlanta, and the Battle of Nashville. George served for three years, mustering out with the 65th around July 1865. His final rank with either that of First Lieutenant or Second Lieutenant as some records conflict on what rank he mustered out at.

George returned to Illinois after the Civil War. Records indicate he married during the war to an Anna Lena Raycroft in 1864. Census records show he was a clergyman by 1880, living with his family in the Chicago area. There were a few years spent in Cherokee, Iowa where two sons were born. Anna died in 1901 and Rev. Brown remarried in September 1903 in Michigan to widow Laura Pine, who was nearly 40 years his junior. The couple moved to St. Louis where they had three children together.

Sometime after 1910, the family moved to Pensacola, Fla. and George died on Oct. 6, 1912. His son, George Dewitt Brown, is buried at Gulf Cemetery as well.

“A True Craftsman”

I feature many grand, intricate monuments in this blog and that’s always fun. But there are also times when a more humble marker can get my attention. This small one for James “Jim” Bradford is one of them.

Born in 1977 in Tallahassee, Fla., Jim spent much of his life there. According to his obituary, Jim had many hobbies including playing the drums and guitar, attending music festivals, traveling the country in his Volkswagon bus (which you can see on his marker), and riding ATVs with his father and brother.

His obituary also notes, “When not away on one of his many journeys, Jim was always willing to lend a hand to friends and family. Jim was a true craftsman, he could fix anything and customized practically everything he owned to his liking with meticulous detail. Jim graced the world with a unique flair.”

I think Jim is somebody I would have liked to have known, if I had been blessed with the opportunity.

I noticed on Find a Grave that Jim’s father, Charles Bradford, died in 2020 and is also buried at Gulf Cemetery.

The Unknown Dead

Gulf Cemetery also has a number of crosses marking graves that have no names on them at all. They are scattered throughout the cemetery.

These are close to the road.

In the back corner, I found a plot with these brick markers with no names. I can only guess that the family couldn’t afford markers but wanted to marker the graves in some way.

But I think one of the saddest markers I’ve ever seen was this one for “Unidentified Hispanic Male” who died on February 2, 2008. I have seen temporary funeral home markers like this many times before, which are placed to mark a grave until a stone can be placed. But I have never seen one like this that had no name of any kind, just a date.

Perhaps this poor fellow died and the country provided a space for his burial. I don’t know. But he had a mother, a father…he meant something to someone out there. And they may have no idea what happened to him. Rest in peace, my friend…

The Watchmaker’s Daughter

This last grave is for a child, Lynnette K. Nealley. She was the daughter of watchmaker Lynn Leroy Nealley and Evalina Woodland Nealley. She was the youngest of their four children. The family moved from Kansas to Florida before Lynnette was born. Lynette was only three when she died on Nov. 3, 1922.

Her father, Lynn Nealley, died many years later at age 81 in March 1959. I did not see his marker when I was there, but according to Find a Grave he is also buried at Gulf Cemetery and there’s a picture of his half of what appears to be a shared marker. Oddly, there’s no memorial for Evalina, who died in August 1959. I will be returning to the area next month, so I’ll stop by the cemetery to see if I can solve that mystery.

Gulf Cemetery is a sweet gem of a cemetery that I enjoyed visiting during my vacation. Next time, I’ll be about a mile from this burial ground at a much smaller one with more Florida history.