Doctor Herbert Mann

In December of 1778, Doctor Herbert Mann, along with about one hundred other men, froze to death in a place called the cow-yard. He and 119 other men set sail with Captain James Magee Master on the Briggs General Arnold from Boston harbor on December 25. Immediately after they hoisted sail into the sea, a colossal snow storm hit forcing them to turn off course. They ran aground on a sandbar in Plymouth Harbor. As they hit the sandbar, water flooded the ship, forcing everyone to the upper deck where they froze to death.

In Memory of

Doctor

HERBERT MANN

who with 119 sailors with Captn.

James Magee Master went on board

the Brigg General Arnold in Bos

ton harbour Decr. 25th 1778

hoisted sail and made for the sea,

& were immediately overtaken

by the most tremendous snow

storm with cold that was ever

known in the memory of man,

& unhappily parted their Cable in

Plymouth harbour in a place call'd 

the cow-yard & he with about 100 

others were frozen to Death, 66 of 

which were buried in one Grave.

He was in the 21st Year of his age.

And now LORD GOD Almigh-

ty just & true are all thy ways,

but who can stand before thy cold?

This grave interested me because it is such a rare story and it has so many factors that lead to this tragedy. It really spoke to me because it is such an amazing adventure with such a good outline for a very detailed and interesting story. The brief story documented on the grave stone about Mann includes many details itself, but I feel that this is a great story to add to and expand.

My story will follow the real story but it will have much more detail and twists. The story will be about Mann and his companions setting sale to trade with foreign countries. Only a day or two after they set sail, a horrendous snow storm will hit, forcing them to head to shore. But while trying to dock their ship, they hit a giant sandbar, breaking huge holes in the bottom of their ship. As a result, the ship sank to rest on the sandbar the bottom levels flooded, forcing the men on the top deck. Due to the cold, the men froze to death. I plan to tell of his death in great detail and I'm very excited to create Mann's last days of life.

Lollie Burns

My great grandmother, Lollie Burns, is an incredible woman and she was the most economical woman I have ever met, she never spent a penny unless it was completely necessary. She will turn one hundred three in January and she lives in a nursing home in Knoxville, Tennessee, but born and raised in Gainesville, Georgia. Lollie was one of five extraordinary children of this time period. Lollie's older sister, Carolyn, was the first winner in the Miss Georgia Pageant. John, Lollie's brother, was an Eagle Scout and was a contributer in clearing the Appalachian Trail through Georgia.

Lollie was married to Brantley Burns, a World War I pilot from 1917-1918. Lollie and Brantley met through Hubert Burns, Brantley's brother, who lived on Lollie's street growing up. Lollie and Brantley moved to Knoxville, Tennessee after they got married. Brantley was twelve years older than Lollie and he died when he was eighty and when she was only sixty-eight. Brantley and Lollie would go golfing together everyday because they lived across the street from a golf course. Instead of buying golf balls, Lollie would pick up  and use balls she found in the hedge that surrounded the golf course. She was a mother of four children, my grandfather, Dave, Sis, Newt, and Lanier. She was a very firm mother and raised a very proper family. She read to them constantly, owned but hated the television, and made them play piano, whether they wanted to or not. Lollie and three of her children were very skilled at tennis while Dave wanted to play football, but Lollie did not allow it because it was too dangerous. Dave later went to Woodberry Forest School in Virginia and went on to serve in the Navy. Newt and Lanier later moved to McCallie Boarding School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but Sis stayed at home.

Lollie herself went to Brenau College in Gainseville, Georgia for one year and then transferred to another college for another year. She was probably the healthiest eater of that time but she not only ate healthy but she grew her own fruits and vegetables in her backyard. The funny thing about Lollie growing her own produce, was the way she dealt with the pests in her garden. Most organic producers chase the pests out of their garden or put up fences to keep their produce safe but she would shoot the rabbits, squirrels, and other critters that infested her garden from her upstairs window that looked out on her backyard and garden. Lollie possessed, in my opinion, one of the best qualities possible, frugalness. She never spent a penny until she exhausted all of her options. One day, someone ran their car into her mailbox and smashed it to pieces. Instead of buying a new box, she went into her basement and built a new mailbox out of spare wood and within a few hours she had a completely new mailbox in front of her house. She was such a generous woman; she was so frugal so she could be so generous with her money.

One of my favorite things about visiting Lollie was her house in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her house was big white shingled house with columns and beautiful shutters. And in her front yard were two giant boxwoods and a ginkgo tree and her house faced a golf course that was directly across the street. Lollie did all of her gardening her self but she had one man that would assist her in landscaping her house because it was so expansive. Her backyard was my favorite part as a kid because I would slide down the steep hill that dropped off from her screen porch to her garden. Her backyard was not only large, beautiful, and vegetated, it backed up to the Tennessee River and looked out on the Smokey Mountains.

Lollie is an extraordinary woman of great decorum who lived through World War II and the Great Depression. She ate healthier than anyone I have ever met and we believe that her diet of home grown vegetables and fruits has kept healthy enough to live to the age of one hundred two and maybe even one hundred three years. At age one hundred two, she has her long term memory, such as her childhood memories but she does not have much or any of her short term memory. Every time I pass her house when I'm in Tennessee I think of the time I spent there as a little girl and all of the places I explored in there, I have always loved that house. She is an unique and truly fantastic woman and I feel truly blessed to have her as my great grandmother.

Graveyard

In the graveyard by school, the ages range from those of about ninety to those who did not live more than a few hours. Some of the people that were buried in this graveyard served in WWI and had great inscriptions about their days of service written on their headstones from loved ones. Those that lived for only a few hours or at most one year also had sweet notes such as one headstone that read "Betty Ann Webb 1937-1938 Another little angel in heaven." Another read "Never Alone," this person was buried with their family and because they will never be alone because the Lord is always with them.

There were entire families married together, such as the Cook family who were all buried together, grandparents, parents, sons, daughters, everyone. There were also people were buried with their spouse, some even with heart shaped headstones. Some of the couples had one dead spouse but the other did not have a death date. At first I thought they had not yet died but the birth dates made that impossible so I then realized that they had been buried somewhere else. In the 1800s, if a person remarried they were to be buried with their new spouse so the grave stone that was created at first remained blank and their first spouse remains alone.

Sope Creek Graveyard

In the Sope Creek graveyard from the late 1800s, the Scribner family, blood and non blood relatives, are all buried here. According to the 1935 history book by Sarah Blackwell Gober Temple, the Scribner house was located near the graveyard. Dr. Daniel Dana Scribner was married to Sarah Jane Ansley. Sarah Ansley is buried with her sister, Mary Winifred Ansley Andrews, her two children, and her husband. After the death of both of their husbands, Mary Winifred Ansley Andrews and Sarah Jane Ansley, in their later years, moved in together on the Scribner place until they died in the 1880s.

This experience of visiting this graveyard was very cool and unique because when people pass a graveyard, they never take the time to research the history of it and the people buried in it. The difference in the layouts of graveyard over the years is also very interesting. In modern graveyards, in old graveyards, people were buried facing the east because of belief that those buried toward the east will be brought back to life when Jesus returns to earth but in modern graveyards, people are buried facing all different directions. Also the grave stones have been simplified over the years and only tell the name, the date of birth, and date of death, but in old graveyards, some grave stones have designs and say more information about the decease.

Graveyards and cemeteries tell stories. They are historic and tell the story of the lives of the people. Not only the grave stone tells the story of their life, but the surroundings of the grave, such as the fences and layouts of the graveyards, tell the story of the people by aged materials. Personally, I think graveyards are fascinating because you learn about people and you get to find out about their history. Some people say that graveyards are creepy because they are "standing on dead people" but I do not believe in this statement because, in a grave, it is a body but no soul or spirit and a person is not complete without a soul. Standing in graveyard, people are standing on soil but under the soil is a body in a casket but the body is lifeless and it is nothing more than a previously alive creature with no life left in them.

I believe that a graveyard tells the stories of the time period of people in it. In the Scribner family graveyard, the rusted and designed fence adds a beauty to the graveyard and the natural, hidden location of the graveyard makes it all the more beautiful and interesting. The surroundings affects the beauty and the historic values of the graveyard.