New Gray Cemetery

Knoxville, Knox Co, TN

The road to New Gray Cemetery was a long delayed journey into the past.  It began with the desire of my friend Chuck to discover his Confederate heritage.  It ended with a visit to a lonely grave in a downtown Knoxville, TN cemetery.  One cannot understand the joy felt when finally coming face to face with one's heritage.  After my research provided Chuck with the details of his southern ancestry, he made plans to visit Knoxville.  The Knoxville sojourn's sole purpose was to find his gg-grandfather's grave.  Not realizing that the cemetery would be so large, he made plans to arrive in Knoxville on a Sunday when the cemetery office was closed.  Upon discovering the difficulty of the situation he reached for his cell phone in frustration and called me, back home in Tidewater.  "I can't find him.  I have looked everywhere and I just can't locate the grave."  We stayed on the phone as he continued the search.  Finally I heard him shout in frustration, "Where are you?"  John Baxter Lawson answered him immediately as Chuck looked straight at his grave.   "You can't imagine how it felt", Chuck later explained to me.  In that observation he was very wrong.  I know exactly how he felt.  There are angels smiling in heaven.  Cemetery Photographed February 12, 2003 by Chuck Rippel.

 

John Baxter Lawson

April 6, 1844

August 11, 1911

First Tennessee Cavalry; Co. E; CSA

John Baxter Lawson was the son of Jonas "James" Lawson and his wife Sarah Jones.  He married Mary M. Winters on November 24, 1864 in Morgan Co, TN.  The couple moved to Knoxville, TN where they eventually divorced.  John B. Lawson married (2) Nancy Jane Holloway on Christmas Eve 1895 in Knoxville, TN.

1860 - Working on the Adkinson farm in Morgan Co, TN
1870 Roane Co, TN Census 13th District, Post Oak Springs PO, p.459B-460, #15-15
1880 Hawkins Co, TN Census, District 17, p. 294B
1900 Knox Co, TN Census, 2nd Civil District, Vol 38, ED 69, Sheet 11, Line 90

 

 

02/24/2007 04:10:17 PM