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.

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, Sept. 11, 1864 – Jan. 11, 1946; Everette W., Feb. 8, 1863 – July 4, 1919

(Rebecca Jane Morton, daughter of Margaret R. Moore & 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 & Everette West Ford)

James W. Moore, April 1, 1829 – Aug. 5, 1905

(James Wesley Moore, son of Elizabeth Kirkland & John Patterson Moore; husband of Eliza Jane W. Hankins [buried at Vernon City Cemetery])

Three concrete stumps

Kennedy [double], Addie Hankins, Dec. 23, 1888 – Jan. 2, 1960; Clinton L., Nov. 16, 1886 – June 18, 1955

(Adline Rachel Hankins, daughter of Priscilla Rebecca Harvey & her first husband, John B. Hankins)

Kennedy [double], Hunter C., Feb. 9, 1927 – [no other information]; Ruby Lee, April 7, 1928 – Nov. 10, 1994

(Hunter C. Kennedy, son of Adline Rachel Hankins & Clinton L. Kennedy)

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

Fifth Row

Lillie Morton, Aug. 20, 1881 – Mar. 18, 1944

(Lillie Sims, wife of Thomas D. Morton)

Tom Morton, Sept. 14, 1876 – April 22, 1946

(Thomas D. Morton, son of Margaret R. Moore & Milton Robertson Morton; husband of Lillie Sims)

Margaret Moore Morton, Feb. 1, 1834 – Nov. 27, 1915

(Margaret R. Moore, daughter of Elizabeth Kirkland & 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 James B. Morton; served 1862 – May 1865 as Private (Blacksmith), Harrington's Co. Cavalry, CSA; husband of Margaret R. Moore)

N. F. Morten, 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? Newton F. was a son of James B. Morton)

Concrete stump

Josie Morton, 1863 – 1952

(Martha Josephine Gibson, daughter of Mary J. Davis and 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 & Milton Robertson Morton; husband of Martha Josephine Gibson)

J. Oscar Morton, Oct. 14, 1881 – Sept. 18, 1906

(Son of Martha Josephine Gibson & William Locke Morton)

Spann [double], Alma, July 20, 1909 – Aug. 19, 1999; Frank, July 10, 1903 – Aug. 7, 1974

(Alma Glover; Frank Spann, son of Liffie Price Morton & George Crockett Spann)

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

Sixth Row

Hankins [double], Emma J., June 14, 1875 - [no other information]; I. G., Sept. 17, 1874 – May 6, 1960

(Emma Jane Finch, daughter of Thomas Harvey Finch & his first wife, Talitha Douglas Morton; Isham Green Hankins, son of Susannah K. Chandler & 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 & Willis Finch; his second wife, Elizabeth [Lethia] E. Thomas, daughter of Sarah Key & John Tapley Thomas)

Guin [double], Bonnie, Oct. 19, 1905 – May 4, 1908; Connie, 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 & George Crockett Spann)

Ben W. Spann, March 15, 1880 – March 14, 1908

(Ben W. Spann, son of Mary May & William Benjamin Spann)

[The following two stones are of identical design]:

Liffie Spann, July 22, 1873 – Aug. 26, 1908

(Liffie Price Morton, daughter of Margaret R. Moore & 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 & William Benjamin Spann; husband of 1) Liffie Price Morton, 2) Donnie E. [--?--])

Katherine Spann Sgroi, Feb. 3, 1924 – Aug. 2, 1950

(Daughter of George Crockett Spann & his second wife, Donnie E. [--?--])

Seventh Row

William Milner Hankins, Jan. 28, 1903 – Sept. 8, 1969

(Son of Adaline Olivia Collins & Joel Burton Hankins)

Joe B. Hankins, Sept. 24, 1876 – April 12, 1961

(Joel Burton Hankins, son of Susannah K. Chandler & William Henry Hankins; husband of Adaline Olivia Collins)

Ada Collins Hankins, Sept. 23, 1881 – March 9, 1950

(Adaline Olivia Collins, daughter of Benjamin F. Collins & his first wife, M. A. Harris; wife of Joel Burton Hankins)

Mary E. Collins, Jan. 21, 1863 – Feb. 24, 1941

(Mary Elizabeth Morton, daughter of Margaret R. Moore & 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 & James L. Collins; husband of 1) M. A. Harris, 2) Martha Melinda Oakes, 3) Mary Elizabeth Morton)

Zillah Morton, June 10, 1846 – July 12, 1904, wife of Mardis Morton

(Zillah Todd, first wife of Mardis Thomas Morton)

Eliza Morton, died 1912 [no other information]

(Eliza Duckworth, 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 & 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; first husband of Tezzie Turner)

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 & 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; husband of Ruby Belle Morton)

Ruby Morton Collins, Aug. 4, 1893 – May 20, 1970

(Ruby Belle Morton, daughter of Mary Margaret Gilliam [or Gillam, or Gillham] & James M. Morton; wife of Forbis F. Collins)

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