One of my readers, Bill Hays, contacted me several months ago about a post I had written on Cemeteries of Dancing Rabbit Creek about Mound Bluff Cemetery in Madison County. In his email, Mr. Hays thanked me for posting photos of the old cemetery in which a number of his ancestors are buried. According to my contact, many of those buried in the cemetery once lived in an area of Madison County that was referred to as the "Vernon Neighborhood," families that had migrated from Wilkinson County, Mississippi and from Bayou Sarah, Louisiana. Mr. Hays explained that his great-great-grandfather, William Lovett Balfour and his wife, Elizabeth Davis Gartley Balfour are among those buried in the cemetery, as well as other members of the Balfour, Davis, and Gartley families who were part of the migration. Proudly, he also related that he was in the process of replacing his great-great-grandparents' demolished grave marker with a "flat plaque."
Recently, Mr. Hays recontacted me and included photos of himself and his cousins from Woodville, Mississippi and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when the "flat plaque" was placed on the gravesite of William Lovett and his wife, Elizabeth Davis Gartley. Interestingly, Dr. William Lovett Gartley was a Founder and President of the Board of Trustees of Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi. A photo of the plaque can be viewed on my other blog, Cemeteries of Dancing Rabbit Creek.
In the weeks ahead, look for posts here about members of these three families and the area known as the "Vernon Neighborhood."
In the weeks ahead, look for posts here about members of these three families and the area known as the "Vernon Neighborhood."
