NASHVILLE CITY CEMETERY ASSOCIATION Vol. 9, No. 2 Fall/Winter 2013 Monuments&Milestones 10th annual Living Meet Nashville’s Leaders BY KATHY LAUDER History NCCA Board Member John Cockrill, and they settled near today’s Tour Centennial Park to raise their large family. She was the only woman among the early Cum- berland settlers to receive a land grant in her own name, earned largely for her courage in defending Fort Caswell (later Fort Watauga) Saturday, against Indian attack. William Carroll Napier owned a Nash- September 21, 2013 ville livery stable and carried Mayor Cheatham Tours from and other city officials to surrender Nashville to Union Forces in 1862. Napier and his son 2:00–6:00 p.m. James helped John Berrien Lindsley set up military hospitals around the city by trans- porting food, equipment, and supplies. James new this year: would later become Nashville’s first African American city councilor and was Register of Skip the line! the U.S. Treasury under President Taft. George W. Campbell, one of Nashville’s Pre-pay online to join t’s time once again for one of Nashville’s most distinguished citizens, was an attorney, the next tour: most popular annual events, the Nashville a U.S. Senator and Representative, Tennes- City Cemetery Living History Tour. This see Supreme Court Justice, U.S. Secretary of http://2013livinghistorytour. year the Tour will feature some of Nash- the Treasury, and U.S. Ambassador to Russia. http://2013livinghistorytour. eventbrite.com/ Iville’s most interesting and historic leaders. Campbell County, Tennessee, is named in eventbrite.com/ Join us on Saturday, September 21, between his honor. 2:00-6:00 p.m. to enjoy a delightful opportu- Mabel Lewis Imes was raised in New nity to see the past come alive before your eyes, England, where she received an excellent edu- as costumed characters step forward from the cation, learned to speak French, and took voice INSIDE gravestones to tell you their stories. lessons. Auditioning for the Fisk Jubilee Sing- Meet hero Lipscomb Norvell, a Revolu- ers during their Eastern tour, she was promptly 2 President’s Message tionary War soldier who served under General hired to sing contralto…at the age of 13! Washington at Brandywine, Trenton, and Thomas Crutcher served as State Trea- Arboretum Event Monmouth. An early pioneer, he raised a large surer of Tennessee for 25 years. An activist 3 Bringing History to Life family in Kentucky, then joined family mem- in promoting education for women, he was bers in Nashville, where he died at 87. a founder and active trustee of the Nashville 4 Upcoming Events Frank Parrish, a free man of color, was a Female Academy, where the students called Nashville entrepreneur, operating a Bathing him “Uncle Crutcher.” Memorial Day Dash House and Barber Shop on Deaderick Street. Lizzie Porterfield Elliott was the He died in 1867 and was buried in a family daughter of Collins D. Elliott, president of Interview with NCCA Staff 5 plot at City Cemetery. the Nashville Female Academy, and she was Master Gardeners Tour Meet Ann Robertson Cockrill, James perhaps the most compelling example of his Robertson’s sister, a young widow with three belief in educating women. A bright and 6 Membership Application little girls when she arrived in Nashville with interesting woman, she authored the Early the Donelson party in 1780. She later married History of Nashville, still (continued on page 4) President’s Message trolling through influenced our city. James Robertson’s sister, downtown Nashville Ann Robertson Cockrill, received a land grant in is my favorite part her own name, a rarity for a female. George W. of each work day. Campbell and P.W. Maxey ensured that Nashville SHistory fills my mind as I would remain the state capital by orchestrat- imagine Fourth Avenue ing the city’s purchase of what is now Capitol North in 1890, the Church Hill. Revolutionary War hero Lipscomb Norvell Street of my youth, or the civil rights efforts served under George Washington at Brandy- centered on Fifth Avenue North. Nashville has wine and Trenton. NASHVILLE CITY CEMETERY changed a great deal during the course of its These are just a few of Nashville’s leaders ARBORETUM DESIGNATION colorful history, and my walks through its streets that you will meet when you join us for the 2013 CEREMONY Living History Tour. I hope each of you will help remind me of the many leaders who have been T he Nashville City Cemetery was offi- instrumental in shaping our city. us celebrate our city and its great treasure, the cially designated an arboretum by the Some of these leaders who are (or were) City Cemetery. Nashville Tree Foundation at a public buried at City Cemetery will be showcased in ceremony at the cemetery on Sunday, our Living History Tour on September 21. From Jill Farringer Meese, President June 2, 2013. Nashville Tree Founda- 2–6 p.m. we will “bring to life” people who have Nashville City Cemetery Association tion board member George H. Cate Jr. welcomed the enthusiastic crowd gathered within the shelter of the Keeble Building and gave a fascinating presentation on Nashville’s trees. Forester Robin Bible presented a bronze plaque to former NCCA president, Winder Campbell, who thanked the Nashville Tree Foundation for this recognition. He also expressed appreciation to NCCA board members Lyn C. James, Robert Mather, and Steve Sirls, who worked together to apply for NASHVILLE CITY CEMETERY ASSOCIATION the designation, and to Tim Walker and Nashville City Cemetery Association Monuments&Milestones Board Of Directors Fred Zahn of the Metro Historical Com- mission for their support. P. O. Box 150733, Nashville, TN 37215-0733 Jill Meese, President Susan Laux Bill McKee, Robert Mather Following the ceremony, attend- Auxiliary Staff &Volunteers President-elect Lynn McDonald ees were invited to tour the cemetery Kathy Lauder, Newsletter Editor Elizabeth Parrott, Roy Miles guided by an arboretum map depict- Deborah Brewington, Newsletter Design Treasurer Sandra V. Moore ing the location of the 40 different Angie Nichols, Administration Carter Baker, Secretary Jeff Sellers species of trees and shrubs. You can Alice Swanson, NCCA Website Winder Campbell, Steve Sirls Past President Clyde Thompson see pictures of the event, the ceremony program, and the arboretum map on Monuments & Milestones is published twice a year Alison Auerbach by the Nashville City Cemetery Board of Directors, Deborah Brewington Ex-Officio Members the City Cemetery website, online at P.O. Box 150733, Nashville, TN 37215-0733 Fletch Coke Tim Walker, thenashvillecitycemetery.org. The Nashville City Cemetery Association is a not- Danya Downey Metro Historical In addition to designating arbore- for-profit organization founded to preserve the Frank Harrison Commission history and memory of those who are laid to rest tums, the Nashville Tree Foundation Damian Huggins Jim Hester, there. Visit us at thenashvillecitycemetery.org seeks to preserve and enhance Nash- Terry Jackson Metro Parks & Copyright © 2013 Nashville City Cemetery Lyn Cate James Recreation ville’s urban forest by educating the Carol Kaplan C. Kenneth Fieth public, planting trees in urban areas, Kathy Lauder Metro Archives and identifying the oldest and biggest trees in Davidson County. 2 thenashvillecitycemetery.org Bringing History to Life John Williams Saunders years after John’ death, Cynthia married Aaron Venable Brown, recently inaugurated n City Cemetery, near the corner BY DANYA DOWNEY governor of Tennessee. “Melrose became of Magnolia and Locust, stands an NCCA Board Member the scene of distinguished gatherings and impressive granite tombstone marking brilliant entertainments.” Brown served just Ithe grave of John W. Saunders (1807- in the Nashville Whig (September 1, 1842) one term as governor, but President James 1842). He was the son of Virginian Edward attributed his death to “a tedious illness of Buchanan appointed him U.S. Postmaster Saunders (1773-1822) and North Carolinian eighteen months marked by a complica- General in 1856. When Brown died in 1859, Elizabeth Williams (1777-1847), both of tion of the severest ills the flesh is heir to.” the family left Washington and returned to whom are buried in the Williams family On the evening of John Saunders’ death, Melrose. graveyard, which stretches across the he asked his brother-in-law, Gen. Gideon As with so many families, the Civil Kentucky-Tennessee line. Elizabeth’s father, Pillow, and his former business partner War and the years that followed created Jesse Williams, came to the Robertson George W. Martin (his wife’s brother- many hardships for John Saunders’ wife County, Tennessee/Logan County, Ken- in-law) for help writing his will. In it he and children. The fortunes left to them tucky, area in 1796 from Hertford County, stipulated that he wanted his Mississippi were decimated. In May 1865 the Nash- North Carolina. plantations, his former business (the House ville Daily Union reported the marriage of Few details are known about John of Saunders & Martin), and his Nashville Miss Cynthia Saunders, step-daughter of Saunders’ life beyond the fact that he property to be sold. He wished to make a Governor A. V. Brown, to Union Colonel married Cynthia Holland Pillow, daughter gift of $1,000 to Episcopal Bishop James Thomas C. Williams. Notations in Jill Gar- of Gideon Pillow and Annie Payne of Otey, and he requested that his children be rett’s Obituaries from Tennessee Newspapers Maury County, Tennessee, on November 5, reared at his recently purchased property on suggest that Williams had gained Cynthia’s 1832. They had three children: Narcissa (b. the Franklin Turnpike. affections by promising to protect Melrose 1835), Edward/Ned (b. 1838); and Cynthia A 1950 article by Margaret Linds- during the war, but after he moved her to (b.