Brooks County Cemeteries

Mom, Grandpa and I took an impromptu road trip to Brooks County, Georgia today. Our first destination was the Brooks County Museum and Cultural Center in Quitman. I did a little research and located a book called A Survey of Brooks County Cemeteries that we were able to purchase from the museum. Armed with 355 pages of cemetery details, we headed to Concord Cemetery, which is located about 5 miles north of Quitman on Morven road. There is absolutely no sign (road or cemetery) to alert you of the small grass road that travels back through a short path cut out of a wooded forest of pine trees. Suddenly the forest ends, opening up into a vast open space and the cemetery. Of interest to us was the tombstone of Mary Frances Watson Pedrick (8.7), my great-great-great grandmother.

The Concord Cemetery is small and it is particularly easy to pick out the Pedrick plot. Frances is to the right of the three towers ... I have to do some research to determine how these other Pedrick's fit into our family.

With a couple hours of daylight remaining, we decided to hunt for another cemetery that we found in our new book. The Old Bethel Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery listed Elizabeth Alderman Newton (8.9), my great-great-great-great grandmother! With the help of a very kind local, we were able to find the cemetery off Highway 122 with no trouble at all. Heading west from Barney to Pavo, we traveled through two flashing lights (red) and just before the third flashing light (yellow) is a dirt road called Bethel Church Road and a sign for the church. About a mile down the road is a beautiful old white church and well kept cemetery.

After reviewing about three graves, Mom pointed out a huge rat snake that was sleeping in a sunken grave. This of course made my entire experience a little uncomfortable as I then expected to see snakes in every hidden nook. Still gives me chills.

Anyway, this cemetery includes numerous Alderman's, which I still need to research, but we were specifically on the lookout for Newton's. Behind the church on the left side, there is a huge memorial stone that shows the location of William Newton's (8.8 son) burial. The stone can actually be seen in the picture above, the tall memorial furthest to the left. Check out all of the information on it ... a gold mine.

We were unable to locate a headstone for Elizabeth Alderman Newton, but have a feeling she is near the memorial above. I will call the church to see if they can help me learn the location of her burial.

All and all it was a very successful road trip!