Taphophilia.(dot) Com - Confederate soldiers descendant says goodbye

Welcome

Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.

What's at Taph?

Taphophilia Home

Thanatology Forums

Taphophile Weblinks

Taph's Article Archive

Contact Deadgirl

Donating to Taphophilia

Book Library

Deadgirl Recommends

Dig Deeper

Literature

Topics at Taphophilia

Deadgirl's Dictionary

Cemetery Photography

Industry News

Carved in Stone

A Taphophilia Thank You...

Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From
its conception and early development, DarkestWeb
was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.

Cemetery Snapshot

Announcements

Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!

Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!

Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.

Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.

Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.

West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.

Confederate soldiers descendant says goodbye

Written by DeadGirl
Thursday, 19 August 2004
Hollywood Cemetery ceremony marks end of genealogical search BY GARY ROBERTSON TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Aug 17, 2004 For Vicky Blackard, it was a chance to say a final farewell to a man she never had met, whose face she never had seen. But whose life was dear. "I'll try not to cry," Blackard told a group gathered yesterday in Hollywood Cemetery. Yet she did cry. She cried for the memory of her great-great-great-grandfather, Pvt. John Thomas Fullwood, Co. A., 1st Georgia Calvary. Fullwood died 139 years ago. Until yesterday, he was among 11,000 Confederate veterans who lie in unmarked graves in Richmond's most famous cemetery. Altogether, about 18,000 Confederates are interred in Hollywood. Blackard, a nurse from Savannah, Ga., started searching for the remains of her great-great-great grandfather about a year ago, after her mother's genealogical efforts stalled. She ordered his service records from the United Daughters of the Confederacy. That's how she learned that he had died in Richmond, in Jackson Hospital on March 23, 1865, from dysentery, which was as lethal to Civil War-era soldiers as a musket ball. Then she had some good luck. "I called Hollywood Cemetery because I knew they had a large number of Confederate dead there. After Richmond burned, most records were lost. It was just pure luck that my ancestor was on the list that was not burned," she said. She ordered a free headstone from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and made plans to come to Richmond with her mother, Lois Blackard of Largo, Fla., and other family members and friends. In the beginning, she envisioned it as a simple ceremony. But as time passed, interest grew among such groups as the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. By the time of the ceremony, there was a bagpiper to play "Amazing Grace," Civil War reenacters, dozens of onlookers and a three-volley cannon salute. "We never expected anything like this," said Blackard, who has since joined the Daughters of the Confederacy and was dressed in a Civil War-era black mourning dress for the headstone dedication. Darryl Starnes of Mechanicsville, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said he believed there are two or three headstone dedications for Confederate veterans every year in the state. "People will look for 20 or 30 years to find someone. It means something to them," Starnes said. What it meant to Blackard, 41, was recognizing a family member who died in a place far away from home at the age of 39, leaving a wife and an infant son. After leaving Richmond, Blackard said that she and her mother and father will go to Washington to research the National Archives for whatever other information is available about her great-great-great-grandfather. She's hoping for a little more good luck. "The cherry on my sundae would be to find a picture of him," she said. Contact Gary Robertson at (804) 649-6346 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031777348974&path=!news&s=1045855934842

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

SEO by Artio

Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries

Taphophiles Speak

Have you decided on eternal repose?

	earthen burial
	entombment
	cremation
	donation to science
	cyrogenically frozen
	you mean I'm still alive?

Quote Repository

“Come lovely and soothing death, Undulate round the world, serenely arriving, arriving, In the day, in the night, to all, to each, Sooner or later, delicate death.”

Walt Whitman