English Family Bethel Baptist Church

These are pictures I took in Bethel Cemetery, in August 2010, of the English family gravesites.

The day I visited the cemetery August 2010 it was raining very hard. I waited for a while and it stopped.

This is the way I found Allie's grave in 2004. The headstone reads E. James 1841. The name etched on the tombstone let us know this as her grave.

I am guessing this may be Martha English and Jesse English.

This may be for George English Brother of Jesse

This one with an "N"  puzzles me. I am not sure who this would be.





My Mom and Uncle, Mickey Holland, replaced Grandma Allie's broken tombstone in 2009.

The English Family plots are in the grassy area with the broken small stones.
I contacted the man in charge of the cemetery to ask if records of the burials exist. He told me that the early records were destroyed when the church burned in the late 50's.

I am also posting a statement sent to me from Joe Watford grandson of Jesse English. Son of Alma Viola English Watford and Joe Watford. The following was emailed to me from Joe in August 2010.

JESSIE E. ENGLISH  1879-1926

   JESSIE MARRIED LULA ANDERSON FROM AROUND PANAMA CITY FL. THEY HAD EIGHT CHILDREN. LEANNER AND LAURA WERE TWINS AND LIVED ONLY FOUR MONTHS, THEN IN ORDER WERE; ALLIE B.,  EFFIE MAE, RUBY D.,  ALMA V.,  ANDERSON E.  AND ROSA LEE.

   LULA DIED 2 NOV. 1919 IN THE HOSPITAL IN GRACEVILLE FL. OF COMPLICATIONS OF CHILD BIRTH. AFTER HER DEATH JESSIE REMARRIED BUT I AM UNABLE TO LOCATE THE RECORDS AND DO NOT KNOW TO WHOM.

   IT WAS TOLD TO ME BY A VERY RELIABLE PERSON THAT SHE WAS FOUND TO BE MISTREATING HIS CHILDREN AND HE PACKED HER BELONGINGS AND SENT HER BACK TO HER FAMILY. I CAN FIND NO RECORDS OF A DIVORCE BUT I DON’T BELIEVE THERE WAS ONE.

   NEXT JESSIE BEGAN SEEING ANOTHER LADY NAMED ANNIE SIMS BLACKMON, ANNIE WAS HENRY SIMS’S AUNT, HENRY WAS MARRIED TO ALLIE B. JESSIES OLDEST DAUGHTER.

   JESSIE DIED 13 AUG. 1926 FROM INJURIES RECEIVED WHEN HE WAS STRUCKBY AN AUTOMOBILE AFTER BEING DROPPED OFF FROM WORK ON OLD HWY.203 BETWEEN REHOBETH AND DOTHAN AL.   THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE, GENE WHIDDON, WAS SAID TO BE INTOXICATED BUT BECAUSE OF HIS NAME AND STATUS IN THE COMMUNITY HE WAS NOT CITED FOR THE ACCIDENT. I RESEARCHED MICROFILM AT LOVE LIBRARY OF OLD NEWSPAPER STORIES OF THAT PERIOD AND COULD FIND NOTHING.

   SHORTLY AFTER JESSIE’S DEATH ANNIE GAVE BIRTH TO A SON WHO SHE NAMED JESSIE BLACKMON. I HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO ESTABLISH THIS AS FACT BUT THE SOURCE MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY AFFIRMED THIS. JESSIE BLACKMON WAS BORN IN 1926.

  

WRITTEN BY; JOE F. WATFORD HE WAS MY GRANDFATHER.





These are the graves of the twins that Joe is mentioning born to Jesse and Lula. These two headstones are close to Allie B.'s grave.

Allie's grave stone replaced in 2010.