James Thaddeus Lundy

James Thaddeus Lundy was the older brother of my great grandfather William Augustus Lundy. He was born in 1838 in South Georgia and lived most of his life in Taylor County Florida. He served on both sides during the Civil War. He originally enlisted into Company F, 5th Florida Cavalry in April 1862.

JT Lundy Grave Pisgah Cemetery Perry, FL

He was shown as a deserter from the CSA in 1864 when he and his two younger brothers joined the 2nd Florida Cavalry, US Army.

The 2nd Cavalry took part in the ill fated Battle of Natural Bridge outside Tallahassee, Florida at the end of the war. James was fortunate to escape the battle without being captured like several others from Taylor County. The Confederate General William Miller, considered them deserters not combatants and four members of the US Cavalry who had been taken prisoner were executed the day after the battle. All of them, like J.T. Lundy were from the area and recognized by former neighbors. The 2nd Cavalry had been stationed in South Florida and had seen combat before but this was the first time the North Florida members were in a battle close to home.

James and Agnes Lundy abt 1920

Before the war he married Agnes Amanda Rogers in Taylor County. I've had several contacts over the years from the Rogers side of the family.

Recently a descendant sent me this photo of James and Amanda that looks like it was taken when they were in their 80s. That would make James the oldest living of his brothers by far. The others died in their early 50s.

Family Reunion time

We are heading out for a family reunion this afternoon for my wife's Lawrence family. We are going to a State Park in Tennessee and hope to have a good turnout.

This is the 16th time the children and grandchildren of Ivy and Lydia Lawrence have gotten together since they started these in 1982. Lydia died in 1980, 15 years after her husband. Their children decided to have a reunion every two years shortly after her funeral.

2006 Lawrence Family Reunion

This photo is from the 2006 reunion at Montgomery Bell State Park. Two from the older generation have passed away in the 6 years since but there were many more additions to the family of great grandchildren and great great grandchildren.


There were also at least 6 weddings so the potential is there to keep this going for a while longer.

Three generations under 40

An unusual fact about one of my wife's family lines is the short life spans over several generations. I first noticed this when I saw that two of her great grandfathers had multiple wives. One had three and another four. In both cases the first wife was the one that bore children that continued the line.

Eli Lawrence and family 1894

Her great grandmother, Lassie Hall Lawrence was only 30 years old when she died in 1894 in Smith County Tennessee. Her husband Eli Lawrence went on to outlive three other wives. This photo was taken when the family gathered for her funeral.

Lassie's mother Louisa Irwin Hall was only 40 year old when she died in 1886 in Smith County Tennessee. Her husband Allen Bethal Hall had two other wives after Louisa.

Louisa's mother Sarah Smith Irwin had a long life and was 83 years old when she died in 1900 in Smith County Tennessee, but her father wasn't so fortunate. Washington Irwin was only 36 years old when he died in 1849 in Smith County Tennessee.

He was a medical doctor and the family story is that he was murdered. I don't know if the last part is true or not, but he doesn't show up on the 1850 census and started the family trend of not making it past 40.

It's his place

Many public cemeteries, even in our country go back hundreds of years. We visited one in Philadelphia a couple years ago that had graves from the early 1700s. One of my wife's set of grandparents were buried there but literally none of the old markers were legible, so we don't know which marker was theirs.

Daniel Chadwick Willis house

I guess folks in more rural areas just buried family members on their property up until the early 1900s. I know of several old family cemeteries, some in better condition than others. Most just carry a surname or place name but I found one recently that is known by the name of the oldest grave.

Daniel Chadwick Willis was the father of Augustine Willis, the husband of my great aunt. Daniel lived all his life in the Smyrna area of Carteret County, North Carolina. When he died in 1887 he was buried on his property in a family plot which is now on Hill Road. His was the first grave or at least the oldest one that has a marker. His wife, Lydia Dixon Willis followed a year later.

Unfortunately the small plot got a lot of use over the next few years as Daniel's children and grandchildren filled it out. The last person buried there was his namesake, Daniel, Jr. in 1930. I don't know when the family plot got a name but it is now known as the Daniel Chadwick Willis Family Cemetery.

I wasn't able to find any photos of the cemetery online but did locate this picture of Daniel's house that was built in 1880.

One down

Guy Fulford, the first cousin of my grandfather, died in 1942. I noticed his grave didn't have a marker when I was at the Palma Sola cemetery several years ago and decided to get one for him. It took a while to find out the exact day he died but once I had it, the rest didn't take long.

The VA sent a marker since he was a WWI Navy veteran. I had it shipped to AP Bell Fish Company in Cortez, Florida where his nephew, Walter Bell would arrange to install it at the cemetery.

Turns out his daughter Karen took care of it on one of her few days off, when both the fish house and Star Fish restaurant were closed. It happened to be Memorial Day so she added a flag to the marker.

While she was there she noticed several other unmarked graves in the plot where her great grandfather, Nathan Hooker Fulford and his family are buried. I have some old records from the cemetery so we will have to see if we can figure out who these folks are.