Copyright © Janice Tracy, Mississippi Memories

Friday, November 21, 2008

Dallas and Sallie Barrett


When entering the gates of Good Hope Cemetery, you will see this marker placed there in memory of George Henry and Lucille Rumbarger Barrett. Good Hope cemetery is just barely inside Madison County, in the community long known as "Camden."

A number of Barrett family members were buried in Good Hope Cemetery over the years. One of these individuals was Grover C. Barrett, who was born August 20, 1887. According to the Woodmen of the World monument that marks the location of Grover's grave, he died on March 5, 1912, when he was "25 yrs 6 mos 15 dys." To date, I have been unable to find this young man on a census record or to determine the cause of his early death.

In addition to Grover Barrett, several other Barrett families are buried in this cemetery. Dallas and Sallie Barrett, whose common gravestone appears here, are two of those family members. Emblems engraved on the weathered and aged gravestone indicates that Dallas was a member of a Masonic Lodge, and Sallie held membership as his wife in the Order of the Eastern Star. As it is in the case of so many couples married for many years, when the death of one occurs, the surviving spouse dies shortly thereafter. According to the dates of death of this couple, Sallie died one month short of the second anniversary of her husband's death.

Gravestone of Dallas O. Barrett and Sallie R. Barrett
Dallas Barrett - born Sept. 23, 1860 b. Jan. 11, 1880
Sallie Barrett - born Nov. 13, 1947 d. Oct. 29, 1949

The U. S. Census taken in 1910 shows Dallas and Sallie Barrett were living in Beat 5, Madison County, and were the parents of four children, Tim, age 17; Henry, age 15, Edward, age 13, and Virginia, age 10. Dallas Barrett's occupation was shown as "farmer." Dallas and Sallie, according to the census were born in Mississippi. The parents of each are shown to have been born in Alabama. It was not uncommon for surnames of those enumerated on census records of long ago to have their names mispelled. In this case, the surname "Barrett" was shown on the census record as "Barret," while the gravestone bears the more conventional spelling of the name.

Another Barrett family living nearby appears on the U. S. Census record of 1910. That household was headed by W. E., a farmer, and his wife, M. E. Their large family included eight children, and their names were K. C., age 20, Curtis, age 19; Benny, age 17; Mac, age 14; Madine, age 12; Andy, age 10; Eugene, age 8; Nancy, age 6; Earl, age 4.

1 comment:

  1. I enjoyed your interesting posts about these country cemeteries. Nice to add as much personal history as you have. Looking forward to more of the same!

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