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Paupers Cemetery
Visited on February 18, 2001, by Vickie Stevens, Brent
Stevens and Rachele Dunlap.
Located at the corner of US319 South and Capitol Circle,
on a dirt road with no markers and no signs. This cemetery has been called
The Jail Cemetery and the Paupers Cemetery. It contains the burials of
John Doe’s and Jane Doe’s, the children from a now closed institution called
SunnyLand, a home for the mentally ill and “mentally retarded”, and the
“paupers”.
It’s fenced in with a locked gate and no signs of recent
visitation. This cemetery is about 4 or 5 acres and the graves sections
are spilt with older graves in the back. Graves from the 1960’s are in
the front and several other sections with only one marker as Section C.
There is a small red building that I believe houses a water pump and well.
The grounds are mostly sand and brush. There is no landscaping and little
maintenance. Outside the entrance there are piles of concrete blocks and
brick from a building that was destroyed and a large pile of old empty
flower pots that look as if they were all gathered and dumped. There are
some flowers growing up through the pile. Also piles of old fencing and
other trash that is right in front of the entrance. One side of the fence
is torn down and this where we entered the cemetery.
All the graves are laid side by side with little space
in between. Only about 4 graves have actual head stones and the others
that are named have only funeral home plates to identify the people buried.
There are at least 50 graves with small metal poles
marking them and a number plate about 5x5 inches on the pole. The numbers
are not in order and I could figure no pattern. In the back of the cemetery
there are about 200 graves marked with concrete poles about 4x4 inches
and about 1 foot tall. These also have only a number on them and appear
to start at 1 up through the 200’s. Again they are not numbered in any
order and appear to be old since some have large trees growing up
through the graves. One section of this area has a 70 or 80 foot pine tree
laying across some of the markers and it appears to have been there for
quite a while. As we approached one of the numbered graves a rabbit came
running out from an old gopher turtle hole right against the markers where
it appears he’s made his home. These are the paupers graves.
Toward the front there are 4 recent graves that are
high mounds of dirt with metal poles but no numbers, 2 of these graves
are small and I assume belong to children.
The front graves are the graves of the children and
young adults from the institution. These have the funeral name plates and
we had to brush away the dirt and leaves that had built up in order to
read them. There are no “family” plots and none of the people buried there
with name plates appear to have been related to one another. Leon County
owns and maintains this Cemetery.
Emmett Goodman
1917-1975
(This grave has a head marker made of several pieces
of 2x4’s placed together and his name carved into the wood.)
Wilfred Harry Schulte
5/5/1932-12/24/1995
US NAVY KOREA
(This is the only grave with an upright head maker
)
Lee Collins
5/28/1927-9/17/1995
Thomas Parks
12/9/1916-9/14/1994
Emory Robert Ward Jr
US ARMY WWII
1/28/1928-3/12/1994
(This grave has a ground plate head stone)
? Sol Baker
?/28/1931-3/12/1994
Anthony A Renard
1955-1967
John Bywater
1958-1967
?ard McCorvy
?-1968
William F Card
1957-1968
Susan Aycock
1967-1968
Jerlyenn Mortele
1951-1969
Robert E Tillotson
1912-1969
??
1908-1969
Dorothy Alice Munde
1916-1969
Paul Mueller
1969-1969
? Shell
1968-1970
Gary M Schimmelman
1956-1971
William Jesse McDaniel
1906-1971
Ray Ingram
1908-1971
Steve Towens
1949-1971
Carl ???sm
1954-19?
Wanda Kay Steele
1959-1972
Maude M Bridgewater
1888-1972
Laura Inez Paladino
1960-1972
Ya??? L Herminez
1972-1975
? F ?ulwood
1909-1974
Emma Willis
1975-1974
? Douglas
1917-1974
Clara White
1907-1974
Scott Sheffield
Aug-September
Van Stewart
1952-1976
Grady G A?
1933-?
Charles Bushong
1915-1977
Jamie Edenfield
1977-1978
Glenda Cameron
1953-1978
John S Manning
1977-1978
Gregory McMann
1970-1979
Sandra Powell
1970-1987
? Nostrand
1971-1986
Tara Monfort
10/4/1974-7/11/1985
Ernest Rivera
8/14/1960-?/1982
unknown
age 34, born in 1954
Heather Nelson
1981-1981
Sandra Y Whitting
1963-1980
Ronald Grigger
1958-1980
Thomas Martin
1/31/1936-7/14/1998
age 62
L Crumpton
1948-1970
Sentrilla Newsome
1963-1969
(This grave has a ground plate head stone)
Robert Holland
1939-1970
? Eubanks
1968-1969
Wanda Fay Murray
1967-1968
Vincent R Glover
1958-1968
David Davenport
1952-1967
Hampton Birks
1954-1967
Ellen Williams
1969-1970
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