Station 10: The Cemetery
Family cemeteries have been traditional since ancient times. An area in the family tract is set aside and designated as the final resting place where deceased family members will be laid to rest with appropriate tombstones to mark and identify them. This cemetery is no exception. Soon after it was completed in 1819-20, an area of about one acre was set aside by William and Dicy Austin, the first owners, in the northwest corner of my tract.
According to dates on the grave markers, the earliest grave (in 1851) was for William Jasper Austin, son of the first owners, William and Dicy Austin, followed in 1855 by three of William and Dicy’s daughters who died of typhoid within one week in the summer of that year. They were, Minerva Emaline, d. August 24, Dicy Jane d. August 29, and ElizabethGreen d. September 3, a tragic week indeed.
This cemetery also contains the graves of other children of William and Dicy including Calvin Franklin Austin d. February 27, 1894 and his wife Lurana Elisabeth, d. October 4,1891, and also Mary Zen “Zenie“ Alspaugh, William and Dicy’s youngest who inherited Lonesome from her parents, She died May 7, 1922, and was buried with her husband Josiah Clifton Alspaugh who died December 22, 1918. It was Zenie and J.C. Alspaugh who deeded Lonesome to their foster daughter, Betty Austin on her 21st birthday, so the Alspaughs became members of the family, and several of them are buried here.
A recent grave is that of William and Dicy’s granddaughter Betty, who inherited Lonesome from her foster parents. She was born February 6, 1891 and died December 10, 1994 at age 103. Her epitaph reads, “In others she sought the best, always she found it.“ Altogether there are about forty graves in this cemetery, including the graves of several slaves of the Lonesome families. But many of the graves have no markers.
LONESOME HISTORIC SITE
2006 TN-96 • Burns, TN 37029 • 206-953-2766
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