As we head toward the end of 2025, I’m going to wrap up my series on Saint John’s Cemetery in Pensacola, Fla.

A Tale of Two Gargoyles

Two markers at SJC are topped by gargoyles. Yes, you read that right. Gargoyles.

While I’ve encountered a few cemetery gargoyles before, (the chapel at Evergreen Cemetery in Southgate, Ky. and the Busch mausoleum in St. Louis, Mo.’s Bellefontaine Cemetery come to mind), I haven’t encountered any attached to a specific gravestone until now.

First, let’s take a look at the grave of little George Wills.

George Gadsden Wills, born on July 29, 1904, was the son of George William Wills and his second wife, Sarah Frances Kelly Wills. She was 40 years his junior when they wed and the couple had seven children together.

Little George died only four months after his birth on Nov. 30, 1904. His cause of death is unknown. Another Wills baby would die in 1911. But their four other children would live long lives. George Wills, the father, died in 1923 at age 77. Sarah remarried to John Witherden and had a child, Lorna, with him in 1927. She died in 1953.

So why does little George’s grave have a gargoyle on top of it? I don’t know. I couldn’t find anything about it. My only guess is that perhaps whatever was on top originally broke off and someone replaced it with the gargoyle? That’s all I’ve got.

Let’s move on to Lizzie Henry White Kirkpatrick. Born in Alabama in 1857, Lizzie married John Alexander Kirkpatrick in Birmingham, Ala. in 1873. The couple had seven children together, with two dying in infancy.

Lizzie gave birth to a son, John, on April 27, 1890. She died less than a month later on May 30, 1890 at age 32. Her death may have been related to the birth, but I don’t know for sure. John (her husband) remarried the following year to Lena Brownlee. They had one son, Claude, together. John died in 1928 at age 75. John, Lizzie, and Lena are all buried at SJC.

So who placed the gargoyle atop Lizzie’s grave marker? Again, I don’t know. I’m not aware of any connection between the Wills family and the Kirkpatrick family. If anyone does know, please send me an email to let me know. I’d love to know the story behind the gargoyles.

Pensacola’s Madame Mollie

The original grave marker for Mary C. “Mollie” McCoy was stolen at some point after her death on February 4 1920. It remained unmarked until 2012 when her grave was discovered in a new survey of the cemetery and a new one was placed there.

You might wonder why that happened but her profession (explained by a helpful sign) might have been a reason. I’ve posted it below so you can read her colorful history for yourself.

In short, Mollie went from being a washerwoman to a prostitute in Selma, Ala. sometime during the Civil War. She gave birth to two children, who were sent to live with relatives.

In 1878, Mollie moved to Pensacola and eventually operated her own establishments. Later, when Pensacola had a legal red light district, Mollie shrewdly catered to wealthy customers. In addition to being described as very attractive, Mollie had a head for business. The prostitutes at McCoy’s establishments were widely considered “the prettiest girls you ever saw.”

Mollie died at 76 of natural causes on Feb. 7, 1920 and the news of it was in the local newspapers. Her grave marker at SJC received many male visitors in the coming years, to the consternation of some local women. So her marker was removed until a new one was placed decades later.

It’s believed (as it was back when her first one was placed) that if you touch it, you’ll have a better love life.

Her son, Augustus, is buried to her right. He died in 1915.

Death of a Railroad Man

SJC has a few white bronze (zinc) markers but the largest one is for Wilbern Fallaw. I didn’t know his story until this week because when I would do newspaper searches for him in the past, his name was misspelled in the articles so nothing would come up. Some kind person who was more diligent than I was posted his obituary on Fallaw’s Find a Grave memorial last year.

A native of Alabama, Wilbern was born on April 13, 1868. While visiting a carnival Pensacola, he met and fell in love with local girl Pearl Hendrix. The two were married soon after and returned to Alabama. He soon had to leave her behind to resume his job as a flagman for the Illinois Central Railroad.

Disaster struck when he was injured in a train wreck between New Orleans, La. and McComb, Miss. He survived and was taken to a hospital in New Orleans, but died there on May 16, 1903.

By this time, Pearl likely knew she was pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter, Wilbern Pearl Fallaw, in 1904. Pearl never remarried but raised her daughter with the help of her parents. Pearl died in 1934 at age 57. She is buried beside her husband.

It’s my belief that Wilbern’s monument may have been provided by the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT). The BRT was a labor organization for railroad employees founded in 1883. Originally called the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen, its purpose was to negotiate contracts with railroad management and to provide insurance for members. The BRT insignia is on one of the monument’s plates.

Down With His Ship

No Pensacola cemetery series would be complete without the telling of a tale about a sea captain whose ship sank.

Born in 1855, W.H. Allen didn’t leave much of a paper trail about his past. He married Hattie Lonsbury in 1885 in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.

By 1898, he was a sea captain in charge of the 97-ton tugboat William J. Keyser. In the early hours of Aug. 3, 1898, the tugboat was headed for the Dry Tortugas. It foundered 15 to 20 nautical miles off Point St. Joseph, Fla. Four of the 13 crew were lost, including Capt. Allen. He was 42.

Initially, I thought that Capt. Allen’s body was lost at sea and his marker was a cenotaph. But an Aug. 9, 1898 article in the Pensacola News leads me to believe that’s not the case. It states that Capt. Lyons of the tugboat Nellie went to St. Joseph to bring back the bodies of Capt. Allen and Henry Brown (the cook), in addition to searching for the bodies of the two other victims.

This poem is inscribed on Capt. Allen’s monument:

Steady! O pilot, stand firm at the wheel. Steady! you’ll soon outweather the gale.

O how he flies ‘neath the loud creaking sail, he is homeward bound.

Into the harbor of Heaven, he now glides. Softly he drifts on its bright silver tide.

He is home at last. Glory to God! he will shout at last.

Capt. Allen’s wife, Hattie, outlived him by more than 40 years. She died on Dec. 27, 1946 at age 81.

That’s all from Pensacola, Fla. Next time, I’ll be writing about the Houston County Poor House Cemetery in Dothan, Ala.