MORTON CHAPEL CEMETERY Vernon, Lamar County, Alabama

No. 70 on the 2002 map of Cemeteries of Lamar County Located on Morton Chapel Road, approx. 1.5 miles north of Hwy. 18 East

Transcribed by Paul Hays, October 31, 2004, last revised April 23, 2005.

The inscriptions on the gravestones appear in boldface Roman type; annotations added by the transcriber appear in Italics and [brackets] or (parentheses). The parenthetical annotations reflect the transcriber’s best efforts to identify, based on his own personal knowledge and research, the parents and/or spouses of the people buried there. Corrections or additions are welcomed at paulhays@verizon.net.

First Row

Infant … Mr. and Mrs. E. Pennington [no other information; otherwise illegible]

Second Row

Two concrete stumps, which may be footstones

Third Row

Alice S. Tate, Feb. 11, 1866 - May 27, 1940 (Wife of John A. Tate)

I. H. Sprayberry, Co. C. 3 Ala. Res. C.S.A. [no other information]

Fourth Row

Ford [double] Rebecca Jane Ford, Sept. 11, 1864 – Jan. 11, 1946 Everette W. Ford, Feb. 8, 1863 – July 4, 1919 (Rebecca Jane Morton Ford, daughter of Margaret R. Moore Morton & Milton Robertson Morton; Everette West Ford)

Curtis Milton Ford, Oct. 24, 1894 – Sept. 29, 1915 [Woodmen of the World marker] (Son of Rebecca Jane Morton Ford & Everette West Ford)

James W. Moore, April 1, 1829 – Aug. 5, 1905 (James Wesley Moore, son of Elizabeth Kirkland Moore & John Patterson Moore; husband of Eliza Jane W. Hankins Moore [buried at Vernon City Cemetery])

Three concrete stumps

Kennedy [double] Addie Hankins Kennedy, Dec. 23, 1888 – Jan. 2, 1960 Clinton L. Kennedy, Nov. 16, 1886 – June 18, 1955 (Adline Rachel Hankins Kennedy, daughter of Priscilla Rebecca Harvey Hankins Finch & her first husband, John B. Hankins; Clinton L. Kennedy, son of Nancy [Nannie] Molloy Kennedy & Leroy H. Kennedy)

Kennedy [double] Hunter C. Kennedy, Feb. 9, 1927 – [no other information] Ruby Lee Kennedy, April 7, 1928 – Nov. 10, 1994 (Hunter C. Kennedy, son of Adline Rachel Hankins Kennedy & Clinton L. Kennedy)

Danny Mike McLeroy, Aug. 4, 1952 – May 18, 1998

Fifth Row

Lillie Morton, Aug. 20, 1881 – Mar. 18, 1944 (Lillie Sims Morton, wife of Thomas D. Morton)

Tom Morton, Sept. 14, 1876 – April 22, 1946 (Thomas D. Morton, son of Margaret R. Moore Morton & Milton Robertson Morton; husband of Lillie Sims Morton)

Margaret Moore Morton, Feb. 1, 1834 – Nov. 27, 1915 (Margaret R. Moore Morton, daughter of Elizabeth Kirkland Moore & John Patterson Moore; wife of Milton Robertson Morton)

Milton R. Morton, Confederate Soldier, C.S.A. [no other information] (Milton Robertson Morton, born May 6, 1828, died 1914, son of Mary A. [--?--] & James B. Morton; served 1862 – May 1865 as Private (Blacksmith), Harrington's Co. Cavalry, CSA; husband of Margaret R. Moore Morton. There is a question as to whether his mother’s maiden name was Brown or Malloy.)

N. F. Morten [3 stars – Eastern Star?], Dec. 28, 1822 – April 20, 1899 “She sleeps swetley here” [sic] (Uncertain who this is: perhaps the wife of Newton F. Morton, Lydia Matilda Redus Morton? Newton F. Morton was a son of Mary A. [--?--] Morton & James B. Morton)

Concrete stump

Josie Morton, 1863 – 1952 (Martha Josephine Gibson Morton, daughter of Mary J. Davis Gibson & Joel E. Gibson; wife of William Locke Morton)

W. Lock Morton Jr., March 25, 1855 – Feb. 25, 1910 (William Locke Morton [Jr.?], son of Margaret R. Moore Morton & Milton Robertson Morton; husband of Martha Josephine [Josie] Gibson Morton. The “Jr.” was most likely adopted to distinguish him from an uncle of the same name.)

J. Oscar Morton, Oct. 14, 1881 – Sept. 18, 1906 (Son of Martha Josephine Gibson Morton & William Locke Morton)

Spann [double] Alma Spann, July 20, 1909 – Aug. 19, 1999 Frank Spann, July 10, 1903 – Aug. 7, 1974 (Alma Glover Spann; Frank Spann, son of Liffie Price Morton Spann & George Crockett Spann)

Arnold R. Spann, SSgt USAF Korea, Feb. 14, 1931 – May 20, 1996

Sixth Row

Hankins [double] Emma J. Hankins, June 14, 1875 - [no other information] I. G. Hankins, Sept. 17, 1874 – May 6, 1960 (Emma Jane Finch Hankins, daughter of Thomas Harvey Finch & his first wife, Talitha Douglas Morton Finch; Isham Green Hankins, son of Susannah K. Chandler Hankins & William Henry Hankins)

Finch [double] Thos. H. Finch, Jan. 26, 1842 – April 26, 1929 Lethia E. Finch, April 6, 1848 – March 1, 1901 (Thomas Harvey Finch, son of Elizabeth Catherine Harris Finch & Willis Finch; his second wife, Elizabeth [Lethia] E. Thomas Finch, daughter of Sarah Key Thomas & John Tapley Thomas)

Guin [double] Bonnie Guin, Oct. 19, 1905 – May 4, 1908 Connie Guin, Oct. 19, 1905 – Dec. 16, 1905

Mardis Spann, Alabama Cox. U.S. Navy WWI, Oct. 16, 1895 – Feb. 21, 1963 (Mardis Spann, son of Liffie Price Morton Spann & George Crockett Spann)

Ben W. Spann, March 15, 1880 – March 14, 1908 (Ben W. Spann, son of Mary May Spann & William Benjamin Spann)

[The following two stones are of identical design]: Liffie Spann, July 22, 1873 – Aug. 26, 1908 (Liffie Price Morton Spann, daughter of Margaret R. Moore Morton & Milton Robertson Morton; first wife of George Crockett Spann)

Geo. C. Spann, Dec. 11, 1870 – April 12, 1942 (George Crockett Spann, son of Mary May Spann & William Benjamin Spann; husband of 1) Liffie Price Morton Spann, 2) Donnie E. [--?--] Spann)

Katherine Spann Sgroi, Feb. 3, 1924 – Aug. 2, 1950 (Daughter of George Crockett Spann & his second wife, Donnie E. [--?--] Spann)

Seventh Row

William Milner Hankins, Jan. 28, 1903 – Sept. 8, 1969 (Son of Adaline Olivia Collins Hankins & Joel Burton Hankins)

Joe B. Hankins, Sept. 24, 1876 – April 12, 1961 (Joel Burton Hankins, son of Susannah K. Chandler Hankins & William Henry Hankins; husband of Adaline Olivia Collins Hankins)

Ada Collins Hankins, Sept. 23, 1881 – March 9, 1950 (Adaline Olivia Collins Hankins, daughter of Benjamin F. Collins & his first wife, M. A. Harris Collins; wife of Joel Burton Hankins)

Mary E. Collins, Jan. 21, 1863 – Feb. 24, 1941 (Mary Elizabeth Morton Collins, daughter of Margaret R. Moore Morton & Milton Robertson Morton; third wife of Benjamin F. Collins)

Benjamin F. Collins, July 2, 1862 – July 31, 1929 (Benjamin F. Collins, son of Mary Melinda Shaw Collins & James L. Collins; husband of 1) M. A. Harris Collins, 2) Martha Melinda Oakes Collins, 3) Mary Elizabeth Morton Collins)

Zillah Morton, June 10, 1846 – July 12, 1904, wife of Mardis Morton (Zillah Todd Morton, first wife of Mardis Thomas Morton)

Eliza Morton, died 1912 [no other information] (Eliza Duckworth Morton, second [?] wife of Mardis Thomas Morton)

Three concrete stumps

Eighth Row

Steven Ray Graham, May 18, 1956 – Sept. 19, 1957, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Graham

Henry Elbert Graham Jr., Nov. 5, 1919 – May 10, 1993 [footstone:] SSgt U.S. Army WWII [same dates]

Two empty spaces; perhaps unmarked graves

Jean Roy, son of W. G. and Emma Graves, June 22, 1926 – July 6, 1929 (Parents were Emma M. Collins Graves & W. Grady Graves)

Empty space

James A. Collins, May 8, 1888 – Nov. 16, 1926 (James A. Collins, son of Benjamin F. Collins & his second wife, Martha Melinda Oakes Collins; first husband of Tezzie Turner Collins Schlosser Roper)

Empty space

Infant daughter of F. F. and Ruby Collins, March 19, 1912 [no other information]

Robert Owens Collins, Jan. 2, 1936 – June 24, 1937 (Robert Owens Collins, and the “Infant daughter” above, were children of Ruby Belle Morton Collins & Forbis F. Collins)

Forbis F. Collins, Dec. 31, 1889 – Oct. 3, 1942 (Forbis F. Collins, son of Benjamin F. Collins & his second wife, Martha Melinda Oakes Collins; husband of Ruby Belle Morton Collins)

Ruby Morton Collins, Aug. 4, 1893 – May 20, 1970 (Ruby Belle Morton Collins, daughter of Mary Margaret Gilliam [or Gillam, or Gillham] Morton & James M. Morton; wife of Forbis F. Collins)