American Legion, Sons of American Legion Clean Up Veterans' Cemeteries

Morris Cemetery is small, and one can drive by and not even realize it is there. It’s located in a field on private property just off Highway 64 West, about one mile from Leatherwood Church and Leatherwood Cemetery. According to Wayne County Historian Betty Peacock, Morris Cemetery is “inaccessible” and is “rarely taken care of.” Sadly, that is a true assessment.

Waynesboro American Legion Post 130 was made aware of the situation at Morris Cemetery and began to investigate a little further. It seems that there are several military veterans buried there, most of whom fought in the Civil War.

A few members of Post 30 made the trek through the cow pasture to reach Morris Cemetery and discovered that it is sadly one of Wayne County’s cemeteries that has fallen into disrepair – and some would say disrespect.

No one can be blamed for the cemetery falling into a state of neglect. According to TNGenWeb, a historical and genealogy website, the last known burial there took place in 1962. Without a doubt, those buried in Morris Cemetery had families. However, later generations of those families may never have learned much about their ancestors, especially where they were buried. Even if they were told about their ancestors, the traditions of decorating graves, leaving flowers, or just visiting cemeteries are not followed much anymore, especially at small or remote cemeteries like Morris Cemetery.

Mr. Harry Floyd owns the property where the cemetery is located. When some members of the American Legion approached him about the cemetery, Mr. Floyd was very gracious and said he was more than happy to let them clean up the cemetery and put up a new barbed wire fence to keep cows out. Mr. Floyd said he had been having problems with some of his cattle walking over the old fence and trampling the cemetery itself.

Members of Sons of the American Legion Squadron 130 Waynesboro carried out most of the physical labor at Morris Cemetery with supplies donated by Johnny Ramirez, George Mansfield, and other members of American Legion Post 130. Post 130 Vice Commander Darrin Dykes and his son-in-law, Paul Wayne Johnson, have already spent many hours putting up a new barbed wire fence and straightening headstones. People’s Bank also made a sizeable donation that helped buy supplies needed for the cleanup and repairs.

There is still a great deal of work to be done at the small cemetery, but these American Legion and Sons of the American Legion members have stated their intention to continue working on the cemetery and cleaning it up to make it more accessible, along with respectfully placing the fallen headstones back where they should be.

The Waynesboro American Legion and Sons of the American Legion have for several years been working to identify and clean up Wayne County cemeteries where veterans are buried. Most Wayne Countians don’t really have a clue as to how many remote cemeteries we have here that have been neglected for years. Mr. Ron Tripp of Post 130 has spent hours making beautiful cedar signs for several of those cemeteries and plans to keep doing so as more cemeteries are identified.

Below is a list of those buried at Morris Cemetery taken from a database posted on tngenweb.org. The database contains cemetery surveys and transcriptions from counties across the state of Tennessee. It contains cemeteries identified by the U.S. Geological Survey for Tennessee as well as many cemeteries not identified by the USGS. This is a work in progress and is the result of the work of many volunteers.

ALEXANDER, Infant - b. 3 May 1900; d. 4 May 1900 - son of G and M Y

CARR, Hannah Morris - no dates

CARR, Infant - b&d. 6 Jan 1873 - child of Tom and Mary Carr

CARR, Infant - b&d. 15 Aug 1877 - child of Tom and Mary Carr

CARR, Joseph Jerome - b. 8 Feb 1862; d. 13 Sep 1878 - child of Tom and Mary Carr

CARR, Mary A - b. 28 Mar 1840; d. 17 Jan 1885 - wife of T S

CARR, Son - b. 8 Jan 1869; d. 12 Sep 1876 - child of Tom and Mary Carr

CARR, Tom S - b. 21 Sep 1831; d. 2 Nov 1902 - son of T S and Mary A

HOLLANDSWORTH, Wm - no dates

HOLLANDSWORTH, Nancy Morris - b. 26 Sep 1838; d. 11 Jan 1920 - wife of Wm Ledbetter

LEDBETTER, Raymond - b. 18 Nov 1897; d. 20 Oct 1899 - son of J T and Ada

MORRIS, Amanda Whitfield - b. 15 Mar 1852; d. 24 Apr 1890 - wife of C L

MORRIS, Charlie L - b. 28 May 1847; d. 9 Sep 1922

MORRIS, David - 16 Apr 1831 - no other dates

MORRIS, Eliza (Elizabeth Whitfield) - b. 1837; d. 1912

MORRIS, Eula Viola - b. 9 Jan 1879; d. 28 Aug 1900 - wife of J

MORRIS, J F - b. 24 Sep 1867; d. 1948 - 81y 2m 22d

MORRIS, J G (Jacob G) - b. 1808; d. 1887

MORRIS, Jesse Jeane - b. 28 Dec 1928; d. 2 May 1931 - son of Mr and Mrs Herman

MORRIS, John - b. 1830; d. 1897

MORRIS, Jonathan - b. 19 Apr 1840; d. 17 Feb 1930 - 89y 9m 28d

MORRIS, Lizzie - b. 13 Aug 1837; d. 30 Mar 1878

MORRIS, M C (Mary Copeland) - b. 1810; d. 1892 - wife of J C

MORRIS, Mary Artis - b. Apr 1872; d. 1942 - wife of J R

MORRIS, Rebecca (Single) - b. 1837; d. 1921

MORRIS, Wm E (Single) - b. 1849; d. 1923

WILSON, Denson - b. 2 May 1808; d. 22 Sep 1880 - grave to R marked M W?

WILSON, Nancy - b. 4 Dec 1817; d. Sep 1895 - 77y

WILSON, WIlliam (Billie) - b. 15 Apr 1844; d. 18 Apr 19

American Legion Post 130 and Sons of American Legion Squadron 130 deserve everyone’s gratitude for their dedication to veterans’ services, even if the veteran has already passed away. Cleaning up cemeteries and making beautiful signs are just part of the great work they do.