After refueling over lunch, Mom and I decided to hit one more cemetery before calling it a day. Ebenezer United Methodist Church Cemetery (EUMCC) is not far from Partner’s Pizza so it was an easy stop to make.

EUMC is still an active church with a rich heritage. It was established around 1882. According to a church history on their web site, EUMC was originally known as Old Field Church. Charter members were G. M. Davis, James Davis, Frank Davis, Barney Tinsley, James Speer, William S. Brown, F. B. Brown and Ed Speer. The 1884 dedication service included the hymn “Nearer My God to Thee”.

Ebenezer United Methodist Church as it looked in 2019.
Ebenezer United Methodist Church was established around 1882.

Polly Palmore donated the acre that the church was built on, and Chub Davis provided the adjacent land for the cemetery. According to Find a Grave, there are about 530 marked graves on the property. It is in good condition and looked to have been recently mowed. I saw a few recent burials.

Chub Davis provided the land for the cemetery at Ebenezer United Methodist Church.

A Tragic Fire

One of the first stones we happened upon was for a woman and a child. I felt a wave of sadness, knowing that something bad had likely happened to them. Unfortunately, when I looked into their story, my fears were confirmed.

A small lamb adorns the grave of Bessie Pope and her little boy, Ralph.

Born in 1911, Elizabeth “Bessie” Parrott was the daughter of William and Rachel Lavonia Adams Parrott. She married Ralph “Boots” Pope, a Fayette County farmer. They had a son, Ralph Gerald Pope, on March 11, 1939. They lived in a four-room house on the Redwine farm where Ralph worked.

On Dec. 4, 1942, Ralph said goodbye to Bessie and little Ralph, then headed with a co-worker to fetch a load of hay. An hour later, the overseer caught sight of the Pope house and it was engulfed in flames.

Ralph “Boots” Pope lost his wife and son in a terrible fire in 1942.

Despite all attempts, Bessie and little Ralph could not be saved. The cause of the fire was deemed accidental. Robert was now a widower at 31.

Bessie and their son were laid to rest together at EUMCC. Ralph did not remarry (as far as I know). He worked as a freight handler in his later years. He died at age 82 on Oct. 23, 1994. He was buried beside Bessie and little Ralph.

Ralph “Boots” Pope is buried beside Bessie and their son.

Accidental Shooting

We like to think that deaths caused by playing with guns is a modern occurrence, but it has been happening for decades. I only learned this week that this was the case for college senior Willie Sam Loyd.

Born in 1882, Willie Sam Loyd was the youngest son of Samuel and Sarah Loyd. The Loyds were well-to-do farmers in Fayette County. Willie attended the University of Georgia in Athens and was approaching graduation when tragedy struck.

Headline from the Macon Telegraph, Nov. 6, 1905.

On the evening of Nov. 5, 1905, Willie was relaxing with his roommate in their dorm when he drew out a pistol and began playing with it. Despite his roommate’s warning to stop, Willie continued and accidentally shot himself below his stomach. He died about an hour later, despite medical efforts to save him. Willie was 23 when he died.

Yearbook picture of Willie Sam Loyd from the 1905 University of Georgia Pandora.

Willie’s parents were understandably heartbroken. Their older son, Thomas, had died two years earlier at age 45. A delegation of Willie’s classmates accompanied him as his remains were taken home to Fayetteville. Many people from near and far attended his funeral at EUMCC.

Willie Sam Loyd was only 23 when he died at the University of Georgia in Athens.

Willie’s mother, Samuel, died on June 30, 1909 at age 72. His mother, Sarah, died on Aug. 22, 1910 at age 69.

Grave of a Murderer

At the end of last week’s post, I mentioned that I was going to follow up on a convicted killer buried at this cemetery. If you want the full story about the murder, please read my post from May 2019 about Bethany United Methodist Church Cemetery. It’s also located in Fayette County.

In that post, I told the story of Acey Edward “Eddie” Banks on May 15, 1931. He was only 38 a the time. Eddie was married to Lexie Mae Griffin Banks. Lexie’s mother, Emma Griffin, lived in fear of her husband (and Lexie’s father), Charlie Griffin. She was living at her daughter’s home when Charlie arrived and tried to take her home.

Eddie stepped in to protect Emma and Charlie killed him, fleeing into the nearby woods. He was caught and convicted of murder, then sent to prison. Amazingly, he only served seven years and was released. Eddie was buried at Bethany United Methodist Church Cemetery. Lexie, who remarried, died in 1964 and is buried with Eddie.

Charlie died a few years after his release on Jan. 11, 1945 at age 70. The epitaph on his marker is a familiar one: “Remember me as you pass by.” Unfortunately, the Banks family likely remembers him painfully for what he did to Eddie.

Charlie Griffin’s grave marker’s epitaphs reads: “Remember me as you pass by.” I am sure the Banks family remembers him none too fondly.

Emma, like her daughter, lived until 1964 and was 89 when she died. She is also buried at EUMCC.

The Short Life of Simmie Griffin

I didn’t connect Charlie Griffin to the Banks murder until several days later. I was distracted by another grave marker that I saw at EUMCC for a young man named Simmie Griffin, who was Charlie’s nephew. Simmie was the son of Charlie’s brother, Clifford.

It was what was inscribed on Simmie’s stone that stopped me in my tracks. I have never (or since) read anything like this before.

Simmie’s parents, Clifford and Nancy Pollock Griffin, were both deaf and mute.

I don’t know how Clifford and Nancy met. I don’t know if they were both born deaf and mute or if they were became so later in life. It appears they both lived in Mitchell County. I wondered if perhaps they met at a school for the deaf but I could find nothing. They married in Dekalb County in 1902. Together, they would have five children. They did not let their disabilities stop them from living happy and active lives.

Simmie was the second oldest of the children. According to what I read, he served as the “spokesman” for his parents and made sure the household ran smoothly. From what I can tell, neither he or his siblings had any hearing/speech/sight issues. At night, when his baby sister would cry, Simmie would take her to their mother because she couldn’t hear her.

On April 22, 1918, Simmie went out for a ride with local automobile salesman Thomas Nipper. They were struck at a railroad crossing and Simmie was killed. He was only 14 years old. Thomas Nipper, while injured, survived. He would die a few months later on Oct. 22, 1918 at age 23 after a long illness. He is buried at Fayetteville City Cemetery.

“We Have No Simmie Now”

I don’t normally post this lengthy of an obituary, but in this case, I thought it was worth sharing.

This tribute was published in the Fayetteville News on June 7, 1918.

Sometime between 1920 and 1930, the Griffins moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where both Clifford and Nancy took factory jobs. Clifford died in 1942 and his body was sent home to Fayetteville for burial at EUMCC. Despite the fact her name is on Clifford’s marker, after Nancy died in 1963, she was buried at Arlington Memorial Gardens in Mount Healthy, Ohio (near Cincinnati).

While Nancy Griffin’s name is on this marker, she is actually buried in an Ohio cemetery near Cincinnati.

End of the Road

This wraps up my Fayette County “hop” with my Mom from October 2019. We’ve been on a few since then, and I’ll be sharing them in due time.

Next time, I’ll be taking you with me out of Georgia. The angel statue immortalized in Thomas Wolfe’s autobiographical novel, Look Homeward, Angel, now marks a grave at the Oakdale Cemetery in Hendersonville, N.C. Lots of stories to share from that cemetery!

Lucile Loyd was almost four years old when she died of “membranous croup” on Oct. 2, 1908. It was a form of diphtheria that is now rare.