Sacred Ground: Mill Branch Cemetery
Many children were buried at Mill Branch during the early 20th century
If you ever doubt the hardships that rural Americans faced in the 19th and early 20th centuries, simply visit the nearest cemetery that dates back that far.
Infant mortality, quite rare today, was extremely common in the United States — but particularly in rural parts of the country — prior to the modern era. In 1900, around one in 10 children born in the U.S. died before their first birthday.
For that reason, a significant number of Scott County’s cemeteries began with the burial of an infant or young child. Many of the earliest burials at a lot of these cemeteries were children. And this is especially true at Mill Branch Cemetery in the Norma community.
Founded in 1925, Mill Branch Cemetery saw more than its fair share of child burials in its early years. Ten of the first 13 people buried at the cemetery were babies or young children. By 1958, when Charles D. Anderson died as a newborn infant, there had been 51 burials at Mill Branch. Of those, 30 were children — a staggering 60%.
The earliest graves
As with any community cemetery in Scott County, some of the most common names you’ll find at Mill Branch are those who called the community home when the cemetery began in the 1920s, including Lloyd and Jeffers.
It was baby Dola Lloyd, a six-week-old infant, who was the first person buried at Mill Branch in December 1925, less than two weeks before Christmas.
Dola was the daughter of James Shafter Lloyd and Ina Marie Sharp. She had an almost two-year-old sister, Wanda Lloyd, buried at the cemetery in 1932. Most of the rest of the family is buried at Morgan Memorial Gardens in Wartburg, which is where they moved to after James Lloyd took a job with the Emory River Lumber Company.
The Lloyd family had been at Norma for several generations by the 1920s, dating back to Andrew Lloyd and his wife, Mary “Polly” Jeffers. Andrew Lloyd was James Shafter Lloyd’s second-great-grandfather.
The first Jeffers buried at Mill Branch was Silas Jeffers, who was also the first adult buried at the cemetery, in 1932. He was the 58-year-old husband of Florence Tidwell, the son of Blackborn Jeffers and Elizabeth Bowling. His father was a Civil War veteran from Winona. This particular branch of the Jeffers family came to present-day Scott County with Silas Jeffers’ grandfather, John Jeffers Sr.
In between Dola Lloyd and Silas Jeffers, a one-year-old child named Raymond Lane Jr. was buried at Mill Branch in June 1929. He was the son of Raymond Lane Sr. and Mary Anderson. His parents were later buried at Mill Branch in the 1970s. Raymond Jr. had a brother, nine-month-old Denver Lane, who was buried at Mill Branch in 1936. Several of his siblings who survived to adulthood are buried at the cemetery, as well — including Norman Lane, Glenna Day, and Kenneth Lane.
The Jeffers twins
Silas Jeffers was the third person buried at Mill Branch in 1932. Less than 10 weeks after his death, his twin daughters died and were buried at the cemetery.
Lettie and Lennie Jeffers were born on March 8, 1932, one month before their father died. Silas, who had an 8-year-old and 1-year-old at home in addition to his newborn twins, fell ill with the flu that spring, which worsened to pneumonia. He died on April 7, 1932.
Just weeks later, both of the babies became sick. Lennie was the first to die, on June 17, 1932. The next day, her sister died.
As heartbreaking as the year 1932 must have been in the Jeffers home, it wasn’t the end of the hardship. Silas Jeffers’ widow, Florence, remarried to Roscoe Anderson, the son of Stearling Anderson and Marlenia Hutson. They had a child, Mary, who was born March 27, 1935. But four months later, in August, she died and was buried at Mill Branch.
Less than a year later, in June 1936, 5-year-old Evelene Jeffers — who had been a little less than two years old when her father died of flu in 1932 — died of kidney disease — which was at the time called Bright’s disease. Dr. D.T. Chambers, the Norma doctor who had tended to her father’s death four years earlier, was summoned to her bedside as she became critically ill and died.
Florence Tidwell Anderson was buried at Mill Branch in 1986. Her second husband, Roscoe Anderson, was buried there in 1989, as were his parents before him. Florence’s children who survived to adulthood — Tidwell Jeffers, Venice Anderson and Peggy Sue Chambers — were all buried at Mill Branch, as well.
The Anderson family
Just mentioned was that Stearling Anderson and Marlenia Hutson were buried at Mill Branch when they died, she in 1942 and he in 1955. We should pause to explain who they are, because their names will be mentioned frequently in this story. All of their children and many of their grandchildren are buried at Mill Branch.
Born Oct. 25, 1875, Stearling Anderson was the son of Timothy and Kiziah Thomas. His parents were married in 1868. His paternal grandparents were George Anderson and Lurana Tackett.
Marlenia Hutson was born Oct. 20, 1876, the daughter of Carter Hutson and Martha Cross. Her paternal grandparents were John E. Hutson and Lyda Neal. Her maternal grandparents were Absalom Cross and Sally Patterson.
Stearling and Marlenia had nine children: Martha Lane, Kizzie Williams, Esther Sharp, Mary Lane, Nancy Green, Arnold Anderson, Vertie Anderson, Earl Anderson and Henry Anderson.
More early burials
By the time nine-month-old Denver Lane died eight days before Christmas in 1936, there had been 11 people buried at Mill Branch in an 11-year span. Nine of them were children: Dola Lloyd in 1925, Denver’s brother Raymond in 1929, Lennie and Lettie Jeffers in 1932, Mary Anderson in 1935, and Ellie Jeffers and Denver in 1936.
Newborn Bernice Green had also died and was buried at the cemetery in January 1934. She was the daughter of Verlin James Green and Nancy Anderson, who later left Scott County and moved to Ohio. Nancy was the brother of Roscoe Anderson, who married Florence Tidwell Jeffers following Silas Jeffers’ death in 1932.
The other adult buried at the cemetery during that first 11 years was John Hutson, who died in 1933 at age 46. He was the son of Carter Hutson (who was later buried at Mill Branch) and Martha Cross. He was a brother to Marlenia Hutson Anderson; an uncle to Roscoe Anderson and Nancy Anderson Green. He had first been married to Delilah Hicks. He had six children with her, one of whom — son Willie — was buried at Mill Branch in 1992.
More children’s deaths
Following the death of baby Denver Lane in 1936, there were two more children buried at Mill Branch: Robert Reed in May 1938, and Dorothy Daugherty in September 1939.
Four-month-old Robert was the son of Furd Reed Sr. and Ellen Reece. His father died in 1957, and his mother subsequently returned to her native Virginia.
Dorothy was the newborn daughter of Howard Daugherty and Ella Mae Crabtree. Her parents were later buried at Mill Branch. She had a brother, David Daugherty, who was buried at Mill Branch in 2021.
Thirty-two-year-old Elbert Lloyd was the third adult buried at Mill Branch in 1939. He was a first cousin to James Shafter Lloyd, whose daughter was the first person buried at Mill Branch. He shares a stone with his mother, Mary Butler, who died in 1964. He had a brother, Frank Lloyd, buried at the cemetery in 1973.
Texas Ann Newport Sexton died in 1940, at age 68, and was buried at Mill Branch. Her husband, Cicero Sexton, was buried there three years later. They had a child, Arminda Duncan, who would later be buried at Mill Branch, as well.
Although they aren’t buried at Mill Branch, Cicero and Texas lost three children in one month during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918. Fourteen-year-old Lassie died on Nov. 1, 12-year-old Allie died on Nov. 5, and 16-year-old Leland died on Nov. 14. They also had a 2-year-old son, Tilmon, who died in 1912. All four are buried at Duncan Cemetery at Norma.
Another child, 2-week-old Sylvester Pergram, died in May 1940 and was buried at Mill Branch. He was the son of James Corbet Pergram and Artha Bond. Less than a year later, in 1941, 17-month-old Arvel Sharp died and was buried at the cemetery. He was the son of Russell Sharpe and Esther Anderson. His mother was another of the children of Stearling Anderson and Marlenia Hutson. His parents were later buried at the cemetery, as well.
In between the deaths of Sylvester and Arvel was the death of Rev. George W. Cecil. He was originally from the Cherry Fork community in Helenwood, and was one of he most notable Baptist preachers in Scott County in the first half of the 20th century. After his first wife died young, he remarried to Martha Jane Jeffers of Norma. She was later buried at Mill Branch.
In 1941, George Cecil’s son, “Little George” Cecil Jr., died at age 26. He had a sister, Divine Truth Cecil Cooper, who was later buried at Mill Branch, as well.
The 1940s
By 1941, it had been 16 years since Dora Jeffers died in 1925 and Mill Branch Cemetery was started. There had been 20 burials at the cemetery during that span of time, 13 of which were children.
In November 1941, newborn Mary Addie Washam became the 14th child buried at the cemetery. She was the daughter of Walter Washam and Eva Pearl Smithers. Her parents were later buried at the cemetery. In 1957, her 2-year-old sister, Paula Gaye Washam, was buried there.
Less than a month after Mary Washam’s death, newborn Arbet Sharp was buried at Mill Branch. He was the son of Russell Sharpe and Esther Anderson. His brother was Arvel Sharp, who had been buried at the cemetery just a few months earlier.
Clara June Day, a 4-month-old baby, was buried at Mill Branch in March 1942. She was the daughter of Arthur Day and Ruth Lawson. Her parents were later buried at Mill Branch. She has two siblings, Charlotte Marlow and Arthur Day, buried there, as well.
In 1942, 5-year-old Kermit Anderson was buried at Mill Branch. He was the son of Elisha Anderson Sr. and Vertie Anderson. They were later buried at Mill Branch, as well. Vertie was another of the children of Stearling Anderson and Marlenia Hutson. Kermit had a brother, Lonnie Anderson, buried at Mill Branch in 2002.
Marlenia Hutson Anderson died a month after her grandson Kermit. Her father, Carter Hutson, died a month after she did. Both were buried at Mill Branch.
In 1943, 2-year-old Norma Jean Phillips was buried at Mill Branch. She was the daughter of Helen Phillips Day, who was later buried at Mill Branch in 1969.
Three years later, in 1946, 1-year-old Ronda Pergram was buried at Mill Branch after dying of malnutrition. She was the daughter of Henry Clay Pergram and Winnie Donathan. She had a brother, Espy Pergram Sr., buried at the cemetery in 1999.
Two months after Ronda’s death, twins Arvin and Marvin Sexton died. They were the sons of Leonis Sexton and Elizabeth Thomas. They both died of malnutrition as the result of a premature birth. They were born on July 4 and died on July 14.
The following March, in 1947, newborn Loretta Cook was buried at Mill Branch. She was the daughter of Jay Cook and Lodenia Duncan, who were later buried at the cemetery.
One year later, in March 1948, 1-month-old Judy Ann Washam was buried at the cemetery. She was the daughter of Geneva Washam. Her mother was later buried at Mill Branch, as well.
Eleven-month-old Willie Daugherty was buried at Mill Branch in May 1949. Two-month-old Imogene Daugherty was buried there in June 1950. Her twin sister K.H. Daugherty died one day later. All three Daugherty siblings are buried together with matching stones.
The burial of children continued at Mill Branch in the 1950s. Imogene Lane was buried there in March 1953, after dying of brain cancer at the age of 10. She was the daughter of William Lane and Martha Anderson, who were buried at Mill Branch later. Martha Anderson was another of the children of Stearling Anderson and Marlenia Hutson. William and Martha had several other children buried at Mill Branch through the years, including James Lane, Avery Lane, Cleda McGhee, Mabel Gunter, and Cleopas Lane.
Four-month-old Edna Ruth Daugherty died in 1953 and was buried at Mill Branch. She was the daughter of Mitchell Daugherty and Emily Hutson, who later moved to Rockwood. Emily was the daughter of Carter Hutson and Litha Cook; a sister to Marlenia Hutson Anderson.
J.L. Phillips was 20 days old when he died in November 1957 and was buried at Mill Branch. He was the son of Hubert Phillips and Pricella Duncan.
It was 13 months later, in December 1958, that Charles Dean Anderson died at the age of six months and was buried at Mill Branch. He was the son of Helen Anderson, who was the daughter of Elisha Anderson Sr. and Vertie Anderson. He was a great-grandson of Stearling A. Anderson and Marlenia Hutson, joining so many of their other grandchildren who were buried at the cemetery, many at young ages.
At that time, there had been 51 burials at Mill Branch, with 30 of those being children. The only adults buried there during that 33-year-span not yet mentioned were Francis Williams Woods in 1942, Wiley Duncan in 1948, Rhoda Sexton Sharpe in 1949, Temperance Brown Jeffers in 1952, Elba Duncan in 1952, William Washam in 1953, and Emerson Jeffers in 1955.
The cemetery today
There have been more than 220 burials at Mill Branch Cemetery in the past 100 years. The most recent burial, as of this writing, was Ona Ruth Wright Lane, who died April 19 at age 91. Her husband, Norman Lane, was earlier buried at the cemetery in 2000. The Lane family has been mentioned several times in this story. Norman’s brother, Denver Lane, was one of the many children buried at Mill Branch when he died in 1936. Norman’s grandparents were Stearling Anderson and Marlenia Hutson.
Prior to Ona Lane’s death, the most recent burial at Mill Branch was Jerry Gibson in December. He was the son of Samuel Gibson and Lakie Chambers, and the husband of Phyllis Washam.
For a complete transcription of Mill Branch Cemetery, see Tim West’s genealogy website.